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Boris Johnson has told the Covid-19 Inquiry that he is willing to hand over “all unredacted WhatsApp” messages – including 2020 material from a previous phone discarded for security reasons.
The former prime minister is under fire once again after it emerged on Thursday that he had only handed over Covid-related messages from May 2021 or later to Cabinet Office officials.
In a letter to inquiry chair Baroness Hallett, Mr Johnson said he would today hand over all the material already given to the Cabinet Office “in unredacted form” to her team.
Earlier, a minister said Rishi Sunak’s legal bid to prevent the inquiry from obtaining WhatsApp messages sent by Boris Johnson to government colleagues during the pandemic was likely to fail.
Science minister George Freeman, appearing on BBC Question Time, insisted the Cabinet Office decision to launch judicial review proceedings was not a “cynical waste of time” but admitted he thought the prospect of success unlikely.
The Cabinet Office is seeking a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett’s order to release the documents, arguing it should not have to hand over irrelevant material.
Breaking: Johnson vows to send unredacted WhatsApps direct to chair
Boris Johnson said he would share with the Covid inquiry all the unredacted WhatsApps he provided to the Cabinet Office, as well as material from his old mobile phone.
In his letter to chairwoman Baroness Hallett, he wrote: “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 been 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.”,
Adam Forrest reports:
Britain Coronavirus Inquiry
How on earth did a Brexit trade deal come to be signed by Boris on a bit of paper from the loo?
The UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement wasn’t literally written on bog roll – but it may as well have been, so much did it damage British agriculture, writes Sean O’Grady
Read Sean’s piece here:
Brexit: ‘Things can only get better’ say experts
The problems of Brexit red tape have hit a “low ebb”, according to David Henig, the independent trade adviser, in an Independent online event on Thursday. From this new baseline, “things can only get better”.
The panel agreed that there were changes that could be made, either by a Labour government or a Conservative one, over the next few years that would make trade easier without Britain going back into the EU single market or customs union.
Simon Calder, the Independent’s travel correspondent, said that the biggest single sin of Brexit on travel was the UK’s refusal to recognise EU identity cards. It has had a terrible effect on school trips coming to the UK, many of which are going to Ireland instead. It would be easy for the government to relax the rules.
John Rentoul reports:
Brexit: ‘Things can only get better’ say experts
The problems of Brexit red tape have hit “low ebb”, according to David Henig, the independent trade adviser, in an Independent online event on Thursday. From this new baseline, “things can only get better”.
Dozens of refugees ‘left on the streets’ in Westminster for two nights
Suella Braverman has been asked to “urgently clarify” why a large group of asylum seekers were “left on the street” in Westminster for two nights running.
In a letter to the home Secretary, the leader of Westminster City Council expressed his “deep concern” that around 40 refugees were placed in the borough on Wednesday night “without appropriate accommodation or support available” and no prior communication with the local authority.
The group apparently refused to enter a Pimlico hotel where the Home Office had asked them to sleep “four people per room”.
Sophie Wingate reports:
Economists dismiss Tory push to scrap inheritance tax
Calls by senior Tories to abolish inheritance tax (IHT) have been met with scepticism from senior economists and tax experts.
More than 50 Conservative MPs, including former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, have urged prime minister Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt to scrap the tax, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Sophie Wingate reports:
How Boris blundered into £10bn Australia trade deal concession scrawled on paper in the loo
He was bounced into signing a disastrous post-Brexit agreement after the Australians seized on a schoolboy howler over meat import quotas during negotiations.
Adam Forrest reports:
150 questions the Covid inquiry wants Boris Johnson to answer
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry wants to see WhatsApp messages and notebooks kept by the former prime minister to build a picture of how decisions were taken in government up to and during lockdowns.
But Rishi Sunak has refused to release unredacted documents as his government on Thursday launched legal action in a last-ditch attempt to protect the material.
Here are some of the key questions the inquiry intends to ask:
Public ‘sick and tired’ of government ‘ducking scrutiny'
The public is “sick and tired” of the government’s attempts to “duck scrutiny”, the Lib Dems said as they announced they would try to force Rishi Sunak to publish “all material” relevant to the Covid inquiry.
Christine Jardine, the party’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman, said the Lib Dems will table a humble address motion next week as the row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages rumbles on.
“People are sick and tired of the government’s attempts to duck scrutiny by refusing to hand over these messages in full,” Ms Jardine said. “Rishi Sunak promised to govern with integrity and accountability, instead it’s just more chaos and cover-ups.
"Bereaved families deserve full transparency instead of this endless game of smoke and mirrors.”
She added: "It’s time for MPs to come together, end this Conservative cover-up and force the government to come clean."
Speaking on Sky News, she denied her party is "playing politics" although the motion is unlikely to get a vote.
Suspended Labour MP ‘boasted about taking prostitutes to parliament’
A Labour MP suspended by the party over sexual harassment allegations is facing fresh claims he “boasted” about bringing sex workers into parliamentary bars.
Geraint Davies has been suspended pending an investigation into reports of “incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour”.
One woman has submitted a formal complaint after the Politico website initially reported that five other women made sexual harassment claims against the politician. The MP said he did not “recognise” the claims.
Adam Forrest reports:
Government ‘directly responsible’ for ongoing rail dispute, union boss claims
Rail union boss Mick Lynch has claimed the government is “directly responsible” for an ongoing row over pay as some 20,000 train workers take part in a fresh wave of strikes.
Mr Lynch, RMT general secretary, accused ministers of costing the economy “£5bn in the course of this dispute” as he hit out at big dividend payments to train company shareholders.
Strikes by railway workers continued on Friday, causing fresh travel disruption for passengers. Members of the RMT, union employed by train operators across England, walked out in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.
Train services were disrupted by the action, which comes almost a year after the RMT held its first strike in the same dispute.
More comments from Mr Lunch below:
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2023-06-02 11:15:13Z
CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3MvdWsvcG9saXRpY3MvYm9yaXMtam9obnNvbi1yaXNoaS1zdW5hay13aGF0c2FwcC1jb3ZpZC1sYXRlc3QtYjIzNTAxNTguaHRtbNIBAA
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