The Government is heading for a bitter court battle with the Covid-19 public inquiry in a last-ditch bid to prevent the release of Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages and papers.
The Cabinet Office was given until 4pm today to hand over a trove of the shamed ex-PM's WhatsApps and notepads to the Covid inquiry after days of wrangling.
Baroness Heather Hallett, who chairs the inquiry, demanded un-redacted messages between January 2020 and February 2022, along with ministerial diaries and notebooks - warning officials could face criminal proceedings if they didn't comply.
Ministers resisted the request and, 67 minutes after the crossbench peer’s crunch deadline to surrender the documents, the Government confirmed it wanted a courtroom showdown.
“The Cabinet Office has today sought leave to bring a judicial review,” it said in a 1,382-word letter to the inquiry.
“We consider there to be important issues of principle at stake here, affecting both the rights of individuals and the proper conduct of government.
“The request for unambiguously irrelevant material goes beyond the powers of the Inquiry.”
Critics said it was "deeply worrying" that Rishi Sunak was prepared to splash taxpayers' cash to try to block the handover of evidence to an inquiry the Government set up itself.
Ministers are understood to be jumpy about complying, as it could mean those currently in post, including the PM, could face embarrassment if their messages become public.
TUC Assistant General Secretary Kate Bell said: “Ministers cannot be the judge and jury over what is disclosed to the inquiry. That’s up to the independent Chair to decide.
“The fact the Prime Minister is prepared to spend taxpayers’ money to try and block the handover of evidence is deeply worrying."
She said ministers "mustn't be allowed to hide from scrutiny" on decisions that affected the nation during the pandemic.
Rivka Gottlieb, spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said: “It’s absolutely obscene that the Cabinet Office is going to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers' money on suing its own public inquiry into being unable to access critical evidence.
"Families like mine have done all we can to campaign for an inquiry that is across all of the facts and can learn lessons that will stop others going through the horrors that we have.
"Why are the Cabinet Office standing in their way? You have to assume that they’re sitting on evidence that will devastate Rishi Sunak’s reputation and that’s more important to them than saving lives in the future."
Labour's Deputy Leader Angela Rayner said: "While the rest of the country is focused on the cost-of-living crisis, Rishi Sunak is hopelessly distracted with legal ploys to obstruct the Covid Inquiry in a desperate attempt to withhold evidence.
"After 13 years of Tory scandal, these latest smoke and mirror tactics serve only to undermine the Covid Inquiry. The public deserve answers, not another cover-up.
"Instead of digging himself further into a hole by pursuing doomed legal battles to conceal the truth, Rishi Sunak must comply with the Covid Inquiry's requests for evidence in full. There can be no more excuses."
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said Rishi Sunak's promise to govern with integrity and accountability has been "left in tatters".
“This cowardly attempt to obstruct a vital public inquiry is a kick in the teeth for bereaved families who’ve already waited far too long for answers," she said.
“The Government is delaying the inquiry even further and clogging up court time, all to prevent Sunak and his Conservative colleagues from having to release their messages.”
The explosive development comes after days the Cabinet Office claimed it didn't actually have the requested documents.
Last night, Mr Johnson piled pressure on the Government by handing over evidence and calling for it to be given to the Covid Inquiry.
But it has now emerged that Mr Johnson only handed over WhatsApps from May 2021 when he was forced to replace his phone due to a "well publicised security breach".
In her statement, senior civil servant Ellie Nicholson said: "I understand that this is because, in April 2021, in light of a well-publicised security breach, Mr Johnson implemented security advice relating to the mobile phone he had had up until that time."
Mr Johnson was forced to change his mobile in 2021 after it emerged his number had been publicly available online for 15 years.
The Cabinet Office did not finish examining 24 of the ex-PM’s notebooks for issues of national security.
Speaking at a summit in Moldova 45 minutes before the 4pm deadline approached, Mr Sunak insisted: "The Government's cooperated thoroughly with the inquiry to date, handing over tens of thousands of documents, and we will continue to comply of course with the law, cooperate with the inquiry.
"We're confident in our position but are carefully considering next steps."
The Cabinet Office said it was giving “relevant material to the Inquiry today”.
However, parts its lawyers deemed “unambiguously irrelevant” or matters covering nationals security would still be withheld, pending the judicial review.
Some 61% of 2,271 people polled by Savanta said Mr Johnson’s unredacted diary entries and WhatsApp messages should be handed over.
A spokesperson for the Covid Inquiry said: "At 16:00 today the Chair of the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry was served a copy of a claim form by the Cabinet Office seeking to commence judicial review proceedings against the Chair's Ruling of 22 May 2023.
"Further information will be provided at the Module 2 preliminary hearing at 10.30am on Tuesday 6 June."
