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Johnson willing to send all Covid inquiry lockdown messages ahead of legal clash

02 Jun 2023 2 minute read
Photo Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Boris Johnson said he has sent “all unredacted WhatsApps” directly to the Covid-19 inquiry ahead of a legal clash between the probe and the Cabinet Office over access to the messages.

The former prime minister told the inquiry’s chairwoman Baroness Hallett he would “like to do the same” with messages that are on an old mobile phone he stopped using due to security concerns.

The messages on the locked device refer to discussions from before May 2021 and are likely to relate to conversations about the three coronavirus lockdowns ordered in 2020.

It comes as ministers prepare for a high-profile legal battle with inquiry as the Government seeks to challenge the request for Mr Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks to be submitted.

Mr Johnson told Baroness Hallett in a letter sent on Friday: “I am sending your inquiry all unredacted WhatsApps I provided to the Cabinet Office.

“I would like to do the same with any material that may be on an old phone which I have previously been told I can no longer access safely.

“In view of the urgency of your request I believe we need to test this advice, which came from the security services.

“I have asked the Cabinet Office for assistance in turning it on securely so that I can search it for all relevant material.

“I propose to pass all such material directly to you.”


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Barbara H.
Barbara H.
10 months ago

It looks like he doesn’t want to take the entire responsibility for the actions of his governement. The people who encouraged his resignation are probably looking at their own interactions with him and realise the gig is up. The people who died deserve better than this fiasco

Mab Meirion
Mab Meirion
10 months ago

When a bunch of modern day con-men take over a country’s government and then systematically ruin that country financially, economically, ethically, socially and culturally for decades into the future, what a plot for a movie it would be…

Last edited 10 months ago by Mab Meirion

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