Allies of Boris Johnson have challenged the UK government after it reportedly told the Covid-19 inquiry it could not hand over the former prime minister’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks because it did not have them.
The public inquiry announced on Tuesday it had granted a 48-hour extension from 4pm on Tuesday to its deadline for the government to respond to its demand for Johnson’s unredacted messages, notes and diaries.
The inquiry, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett, said it had rejected the Cabinet Office’s request for more time and also revealed the department had told it that the government did not have Johnson’s WhatsApp messages or notebooks.
The announcement followed a stand-off between ministers and the inquiry over whether the requested documentation should be supplied unredacted, amid concerns in Whitehall about the precedent such a move could set.
Downing Street on Tuesday repeated its assertion that material that was “unambiguously irrelevant” to the probe should not be handed over. “It is not appropriate to compel the government to disclose unambiguously irrelevant material given the precedent it would set,” it said.
Johnson’s spokesman said he “has no objection to disclosing material to the inquiry”. “He has done so and will continue to do so. The decision to challenge the inquiry’s position on redactions is for the Cabinet Office.”
An ally of the former prime minister appeared to challenge the Cabinet Office’s assertion that it did not have his messages and notebooks, saying that Johnson’s team had at all times “co-operated fully with the Cabinet Office-appointed legal team who have had access to all that material”.
The person said that to date Johnson’s office was “not aware of having received any instructions or requests from the Cabinet Office regarding this material”.
The ally accused the government of insisting on redactions of Johnson’s documents in order to protect Rishi Sunak, the current prime minister. “The WhatsApps the government really doesn’t want disclosed are Sunak’s. Boris is just a distraction in this. The government is taking this position because it doesn’t want current ministers included,” the ally said.
Downing Street confirmed on Tuesday morning that under the inquiry process relevant figures, including Johnson, had worked with legal advisers — including senior counsel hired by the Cabinet Office — before handing over documents to the inquiry.
In its notice on Tuesday, the inquiry told the Cabinet Office it had to provide a record of searches made for Johnson’s requested documents.
It also asked for a chronology of correspondence with Johnson and his team, including all requests made to him for the disclosure of the material and his responses, as well as any “action taken by the Cabinet Office to obtain the potentially relevant material”.
The inquiry also asked for the government’s assessment of whether the WhatsApp messages it sought from Johnson were on a personal or a government device.
The Cabinet Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Downing Street said the rules around ministers’ WhatsApp messages were clear and that “substantive decisions” should be recorded as a matter of course while other messages could be deleted.
“The substantive and relative content, including decision making, is copied across to the official record in appropriate format for preservation,” it said. “We wouldn’t, as is standard, retain irrelevant material.”
On a visit in Kent, Sunak said the government was still considering its response to the demand to hand over Johnson’s documentation to the Covid public inquiry.
“We want to make sure that whatever lessons there are to be learned are learned and we do that in a spirit of transparency and candour,” he told broadcasters.
Lord William Hague, former foreign secretary, argued against the government handing over the WhatsApp messages, warning that “the problem here is the precedent set”.
He told Times Radio it could discourage people from offering ministers “honest, uninhibited advice” in future crises if they believe their messages could be made public at a later date.
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