Boris Johnson hands his unredacted WhatsApps to Cabinet Office

Boris Johnson has handed over all of his unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks from the pandemic to the Government, in a challenge to Rishi Sunak.

The former prime minister said that he wanted the material to be given in full to the Covid Inquiry, despite the Cabinet Office so far refusing to submit unredacted messages and documents.

Baroness Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, has threatened the Government with legal action if it refuses to hand over full copies of Mr Johnson’s communications and diaries, and the messages of a key aide, by 4pm on Thursday.

But last night, Whitehall sources indicated that Mr Sunak would stand firm and refuse to submit unredacted material, from him or any minister, to the inquiry.

Cabinet Office officials were reviewing Mr Johnson’s messages on Wednesday night, and may redact them if they are deemed irrelevant.

The row between the Government and the inquiry involved officials claiming on Tuesday that they did not even have Mr Johnson’s messages, which led the former prime minister to provide them.

Mr Johnson’s team said he would be happy for all of his information to be submitted, putting pressure on Mr Sunak and other ministers to follow suit. A statement from Mr Johnson’s office said on Wednesday: “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 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.

“Mr Johnson cooperated 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.”

However, the Cabinet Office has said it does not want complete messages to be given to the inquiry because much of the information would be irrelevant and compromise ministers’ private lives.

A Whitehall source said: “We stand by the principle that irrelevant information should not go to the inquiry.”

Sunak accused of a ‘cover-up’

Downing Street insisted it was following the process concerning what information was released, indicating that it did not intend to submit unredacted messages from Mr Sunak, who was chancellor during the pandemic.

On Wednesday, the Government refused to say whether the inquiry had asked Mr Sunak for his WhatsApp messages, following accusations of a “cover-up”.

An ally of Mr Johnson claimed earlier this week that the Cabinet Office was insisting on redactions to protect the Prime Minister. The row has fuelled fears the inquiry will be unable to get to the truth of the Government’s decisions and failings during the pandemic.

It  comes in the wake of The Telegraph’s Lockdown Files, which revealed a tranche of 100,000 WhatsApps sent between Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the pandemic.

At the time, a spokesman for Mr Hancock indicated that such messages were best assessed as part of the inquiry. However, the Government’s battles behind the scenes to keep information private has since emerged.

The inquiry has so far demanded Mr Johnson and senior aide Henry Cook hand over their messages and notebooks, and is likely to ask the same of approximately 40 more senior ministers and officials.

The Cabinet Office is contesting the demand, saying the inquiry does not have a right to receive “unambiguously irrelevant material” from any minister or official.

Pressure to hand over information

On Wednesday, senior Tories called on the Cabinet Office to reverse its position. William Wragg, chairman of the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee, told the BBC: “If the inquiry requests documents and info - then whoever it has asked should comply.”

Caroline Nokes, chairman of the equalities committee, said Lady Hallett was unlikely to roll over and there would be “less pain for the Government if they hand [the messages] over quickly”.

Christine Jardine, a Liberal Democrat MP, said: “Rishi Sunak must now confirm he will hand over any messages requested by the Covid Inquiry, including those sent by him and other Conservative ministers.

“He can’t use Boris Johnson any more as an excuse to avoid handing over vital evidence. Bereaved families are still waiting for answers. They deserve so much better than yet another Conservative stitch up.”

Legal challenge from PM ‘would be a mistake’

Lord Sumption, the former Supreme Court judge, said it would be a “political mistake” for the Government to launch a legal challenge over the Covid Inquiry’s demands for evidence.

“If Lady Hallett says that [the messages] are in the public interest and the [law] says it is a matter for her to decide in the first instance then they are not going to succeed in a judicial review, so all they will achieve by resisting is to make it look as if they are hiding something,” he said.

“I think it would be both a political mistake and a legal buffer.”

He told BBC Radio 4’s World At One programme that Lady Hallett’s terms of reference were “very widely drawn” and the Inquiries Act gave her the power to demand the documents.

A Downing Street spokesman said the Government could not comment on what had or had not been asked for, as that was for the Covid Inquiry to explain.

A spokesman for the Covid Inquiry said it would not reveal whether it had asked Mr Sunak for his messages.