THE deadline for the UK Government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks to the UK Covid-19 inquiry has been extended as officials claimed they did not have all the documents demanded.
The Cabinet Office had been given until 4pm on Tuesday to comply with the order from Lady Hallett’s public inquiry, but that deadline has now been extended to the same time on Thursday.
Officials told her the Cabinet Office does not have the WhatsApp messages or notebooks called for by the inquiry.
A notice from the inquiry read: “First, an extension was requested for compliance with the ruling until Monday June 5 2023.
“Second, the inquiry was informed that the Cabinet Office does not have in its possession either Johnson’s WhatsApp messages or Johnson’s notebooks, as sought in the original section 21 Notice.
“The chair rejected the request for an extension of time to June 5 2023, but granted a short extension to 4pm on Thursday June 1 2023.”
A row was sparked by a legal request sent by the inquiry on April 28 for a number of materials, including unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries belonging to the former prime minister between January 2020 and February 2022.
In May, the Cabinet Office pushed back against the request, which was made under section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005 and which also applies to messages from former adviser Henry Cook.
In a ruling last week, Lady Hallett rejected the argument that the inquiry’s request was unlawful and claimed that the Cabinet Office had “misunderstood the breadth of the investigation”.
Refusing to comply with the request would lead to a legal clash with the official inquiry, raising the possibility of ministers seeking a judicial review of the probe’s powers.
It comes just weeks before the first public evidence sessions are expected to be held.
Speaking before the announcement of the deadline delay, former head of the Civil Service Lord Kerslake told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There’s some cover-up going on here to save embarrassment of ministers. But there’s also the Cabinet Office fighting for a principle of confidentiality.
“I have to say I think they’re misguided on this situation. I actually think it would set a helpful precedent if Lady Hallett prevailed in this fight about the information.
“We are in a bit of a mess at the moment, we don’t really know whether WhatsApp’s been used as a decision-making tool or, indeed, as just an information-sharing device.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak insisted the Government was acting “in a spirit of transparency and candour”.
“The Government has co-operated with the inquiry; tens of thousands of documents have been handed over.
“With regard to the specific question at the moment, the Government is carefully considering its position but it is confident in the approach that it’s taking.”
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “We are fully committed to our obligations to the Covid-19 inquiry.
“As such, extensive time and effort has gone into assisting the inquiry fulsomely over the last 11 months.
“We will continue to provide all relevant material to the inquiry, in line with the law, ahead of proceedings getting under way.”
According to the notice seeking the unredacted messages, the inquiry is requesting conversations between Johnson and a host of government figures, civil servants and officials.
The list includes England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty, as well as then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.
Messages with then-foreign secretary Liz Truss and then-health secretary Matt Hancock are also requested, as well as with former top aide Dominic Cummings and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The inquiry had also asked for “copies of the 24 notebooks containing contemporaneous notes made by the former prime minister” in “clean unredacted form, save only for any redactions applied for reasons of national security sensitivity”.
