Boris Johnson said he was told not to activate his old phone anymore for security reasons. Photo: Jeff Pugh
Boris Johnson has not given his WhatsApp since the first year of the pandemic to the government, it appeared when ministers sued to fight the Covid investigation.
Baroness Hallett, chair of the investigation, ordered the cabinet to provide unedited posts about the Covid crisis by 4:00 p.m. Thursday or face trial.
The cabinet insisted and refused to release the former prime minister's unredacted messages and minister's notebooks, arguing that the investigation required «definitely irrelevant» information that could jeopardize the ministers' privacy.
Instead Since then, officials have taken the unprecedented step of seeking judicial review to limit the powers of the investigation, which means both sides will now be fighting for their corners in court.
Mr Johnson claimed to have handed over all of his unredacted WhatsApp messages to Cabinet on Wednesday, and then government lawyers chose which materials to submit for investigation.
However, after the deadline, the Cabinet said that Mr. Johnson did not hand over the personal phone he used until May 2021, more than a year after the start of the pandemic and in the same month when he announced that the Covid investigation would be
Mr. Johnson's spokesman admitted Thursday night that he had the phone, but was told by security officials not to turn it on. The cabinet said this meant they could not transmit the WhatsApp messages it contained.
On Thursday evening, a spokesman for Mr. Johnson said: “Following a widely publicized security breach in April 2021, security officials advised Mr. Johnson to never turn on the old device. As a result, the historical messages are no longer searchable and the phone is inactive.
“Mr. Johnson has absolutely no objection to providing phone content for a query. He wrote to the cabinet asking if security and technical support could be provided so that the content could be accessed without compromising security.» » />Baroness Hallett sent Mr Johnson 150 questions about how he is coping with the pandemic. Photo: UK Parliament/PA. true
This is another farce that has come to the attention of the investigation as allegations of a government «cover-up» fuel fears that it will fail to uncover the truth about ministerial miscalculations and decisions during the pandemic.
A former Cabinet minister said: “Boris has something to hide, and now the Cabinet of Ministers seems to be resisting. Who else has something to hide?”
The Cabinet released the documents on Thursday. It emerged overnight that Mr. Johnson had only sent messages since May 2021, when he purchased a new phone.
Ellie Nicholson, Co-Head of Public Inquiry Response at the Cabinet Office, testified: “Before May 2021, there were no messages on WhatsApp. It is my understanding that this is because, in April 2021, in light of a well publicized security breach, Mr. Johnson followed the security advice regarding the mobile phone he had prior to that time.
“It is my understanding that Mr. Johnson owns this device and that it is a personal device.
It has been revealed that his mobile phone number has been available online for 15 years, according to a May 2021 report that was published at the bottom of a press release while he was a junior shadow minister.
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She said that the cabinet had asked Mr. Johnson to hand over the phone and offered to be assessed by security experts, but he didn't.
Parm Sahota, Solicitor of the Treasury, spoke about the government's decision to take the request to court in a letter to Lady Hallett.
«We believe that important policy issues are at stake, affecting both the rights of individuals and the proper conduct of the government» , — she said.
“Requesting unequivocally irrelevant material is beyond the authority of the investigation. Individuals, junior officials, current and former ministers and agencies should not be required to provide materials that are not relevant to the work of the investigation.
Full Response to Government
“This represents an unwarranted intrusion into other aspects of government work. It also represents an invasion of their legitimate expectations regarding the privacy and protection of their personal information.”
The representative of the investigation said that a full response to the government's decision will be given on Tuesday.
It was also revealed Thursday that Baroness Hallett sent 150 questions to Mr Johnson about how he is handling the pandemic, including using WhatsApp and scientific advice on lockdown.
In a letter dated Feb. 3, she asked him if whether he really felt «able to properly challenge» the advice of government scientists who urged him to shut down the country.
She cited reports that Mr. Johnson felt he was «manipulated» by Sage during first quarantine, and asked if it made him look for other opinions.
Baroness Hallett interrogated him about the speech of Matt Hancock, the former Minister of Health, asking if he had «concerns» about his speech.
The Telegraph's lock files revealed a tranche of 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Mr Hancock and other ministers and officials in the midst of a pandemic.
Lord Robin Butler, Cabinet Secretary from 1988 to 1998 and chair of the 2004 review of intelligence use in the run-up to the Iraq war, told the BBC that the litigation could «damage the relationship» between the investigation and the government.
Angela Reiner, Deputy Labor Leader, said: «After 13 years of scandal with the Conservatives, this latest smoke and mirror tactic only serves to undermine the Covid investigation. The public deserves answers, not another cover-up.»
Families of the victims could view the public inquiry as a «whitewash and cover-up» if the government doesn't hand over Boris Johnson's unredacted documents, their spokesman said.
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