Boris Johnson's notebooks and WhatsApp messages have been handed to the Cabinet Office in their "full and unredacted" form, a spokesperson for the former prime minister has confirmed.
It comes after the chairwoman of the Covid-19 inquiry, Baroness Heather Hallett, demanded evidence including Mr Johnson’s messages, notebooks and official diaries from the pandemic. The inquiry set a deadline of 4pm on Thursday (June 1) to hand over the documents, having granted a 48-hour extension on Tuesday.
It is understood all the material requested by the inquiry has now been handed to the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office had initially claimed it did not have access to the messages and notebooks and ministers had objected to the release of “unambiguously irrelevant” material.
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Today, a spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “All Boris Johnson’s material – including WhatsApps and notebooks – requested by the Covid inquiry has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form. Mr Johnson urges the Cabinet Office to urgently disclose it to the inquiry."
The statement added: “The Cabinet Office has had access to this material for several months. Mr Johnson would immediately disclose it directly to the inquiry if asked. While Mr Johnson understands the government’s position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires."
The spokesperson added: “Mr Johnson co-operated with the inquiry in full from the beginning of this process and continues to do so. Indeed, he established the inquiry. He looks forward to continuing to assist the inquiry with its important work.”
Earlier today, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride told Sky News: "We absolutely intend to continue to be absolutely transparent and candid”. He said the government had already provided “55,000 documents, eight witness statements and corporate witness statements” to the inquiry.
He added: “I’m absolutely certain and confident that the Cabinet Office will be engaged in this in exactly the right kind of way, and in the kind of spirit that I’ve just outlined and making sure that we are absolutely robustly transparent where it is appropriate to be so. I think that’s an important qualification, so that the inquiry has all the information that it is right for it to have.”
It is understood the material includes text conversations between Mr Johnson and a host of government figures, civil servants and officials including prime minister Rishi Sunak and England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty. Messages with then-foreign secretary Liz Truss and then-health secretary Matt Hancock were also requested, as well as with former top aide Dominic Cummings.
The inquiry had also asked for “copies of the 24 notebooks containing contemporaneous notes made by the former Prime Minister”.
The first part of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, which its legal team had requested be delayed from May until June, will look at the UK’s preparedness and resilience for a pandemic, with thousands of pages of UK government evidence set to be sifted through as part of the process. Other modules will examine decisions taken by the PM and the Cabinet, and the impact of Covid on healthcare systems.
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