Government blocks COVID inquiry access to PM’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks

The UK authorities faces accusations of attempting a “cover-up” because it seeks to prevent the COVID inquiry from accessing Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks. Bereaved households and opposition events have expressed their disapproval after the Cabinet Office announced its intention to bring a judicial evaluate of Baroness Hallett’s order to release the documents. This transfer comes despite Johnson beforehand stating his willingness to adjust to the inquiry chairwoman’s request and submit the material immediately.
The Cabinet Office was set to offer the data by 4pm on Thursday however revealed, “with remorse,” that it might be bringing the judicial review problem. Save emphasised its dedication to full cooperation with the inquiry before, throughout, and after the jurisdictional problem is resolved by the courts.
Broudie Jackson Canter, the authorized practice representing the COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, described the government’s action as demonstrating “utter disregard for the inquiry.” Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy chief, accused Johnson of making “a determined attempt to withhold proof,” adding that the general public deserves solutions, not one other cover-up. Daisy Cooper, deputy chief of the Liberal Democrats, called the government’s judicial evaluate a “kick in the teeth” for the families who’ve misplaced family members to COVID during the pandemic.
The Cabinet Office claims that the documents and messages requested by the inquiry are “unambiguously irrelevant” and unrelated to the government’s dealing with of COVID. Legal proceedings have revealed that the WhatsApp messages offered by Johnson to the Cabinet Office only date again to May 2021, over a 12 months after the pandemic started. Johnson needed to change his cellular in 2021 when it was found that his quantity had been publicly available for 15 years.
The inquiry sent one hundred fifty questions to Johnson in February, including asking whether or not he acknowledged that he would rather “let the our bodies pile high” than order another lockdown in autumn 2020. Additionally, the inquiry questioned if Johnson obtained advice from the then Cabinet Secretary to take away Matt Hancock MP, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from his position between January and July 2020..