Boris Johnson – latest: Ex-PM goes over Sunak’s head to send unredacted WhatsApps ‘directly’ to inquiry

WhatsApp row rumbles on as ex-PM vows to bypass government and send information straight to inquiry

Sunak refuses to rule out court action against Covid Inquiry

Boris Johnson has told the Covid-19 Inquiry that he is willing to hand over “all unredacted WhatsApp” messages – including 2020 material from a previous phone discarded for security reasons.

The former prime minister is under fire once again after it emerged on Thursday that he had only handed over Covid-related messages from May 2021 or later to Cabinet Office officials.

In a letter to inquiry chair Baroness Hallett, Mr Johnson said he would today hand over all the material already given to the Cabinet Office “in unredacted form” to her team.

Earlier, a minister said Rishi Sunak’s legal bid to prevent the inquiry from obtaining WhatsApp messages sent by Boris Johnson to government colleagues during the pandemic was likely to fail.

Science minister George Freeman, appearing on BBC Question Time, insisted the Cabinet Office decision to launch judicial review proceedings was not a “cynical waste of time” but admitted he thought the prospect of success unlikely.

The Cabinet Office is seeking a judicial review of inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett’s order to release the documents, arguing it should not have to hand over irrelevant material.

Key Points

• Government legal action likely to fail, minister admits
• Johnson offers to send unaltered files directly to inquiry
• Government takes inquiry to court to protect Boris’s WhatsApps
• Deadline for government to hand over WhatsApps expires
• Government says ‘important principles at stake'
• Ex-PM contradicts Cabinet Office claim

[1 June 2023 14:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

In the tug of war over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, who is likely to win?

The chair of the inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic, Baroness (Heather) Hallett, has extended the deadline she set for the Cabinet Office – and in effect for Boris Johnson – to hand over unredacted documents including 24 of Johnson’s notebooks, his diaries and his WhatsApp messages. Originally they were due by 4pm on Tuesday 30 May, but they must now be submitted by Thursday 1 June.

Both the Cabinet Office and Johnson are resisting handing over the complete set of papers and electronic data, on the grounds that some of the contents are not relevant to the inquiry.

The Tories’ civil war looks set to intensify as the pro-Johnson faction goes head to head with both the chair of the Covid inquiry and the current leadership, writes Sean O’Grady:

[1 June 2023 13:29 · Eleanor Noyce]

Boris’s ‘ratty rat’ rage against Rishi Sunak could help bring the Tory government down - John Rentoul

“Prime ministers tend to resent their successors, but Boris Johnson’s feud with Rishi Sunak is more poisonous than most. Johnson has not forgiven Sunak for resigning as chancellor and triggering the avalanche of ministerial resignations that swept him from office.

Relations were bad before then, although Sunak has never been explicit about what it was about their approaches to the economy that were “fundamentally too different”, which he said contributed to his resignation.

Since then, Sunak has tried to avoid open warfare, well aware that Johnson has strong support among the grassroots members of the Conservative Party. That attempt at de-escalation seemed to be working. Only one in five Tory members now say that Johnson should take over as prime minister again before the next election, according to a self-selected straw poll for Conservative Home.”

The prime minister is trying to avoid all-out war with his predecessor, writes John Rentoul:

[1 June 2023 13:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

Revealed: Damning note from Britain’s top civil servant that ‘doomed’ Liz Truss

Meanwhile, Liz Truss was forced out of Downing Street by Britain’s top civil servant, it has been claimed.

The former prime minister, who lasted just 49 days in the job, was forced to resign in the wake of her disastrous mini-Budget. Tory MPs had turned on Ms Truss, calling for her to quit after her tax cuts sparked turmoil in financial markets.

But, according to a new account by one of her biographers, it was a note from civil service head Simon Case which “doomed” her premiership.

Archie Mitchell investigates:

[1 June 2023 12:30 · Eleanor Noyce]

The Covid inquiry has a fiendishly tough question on its hands: Can it trust Boris Johnson?

“In her more than half a century-long career as one of the country’s most distinguished criminal lawyers, you have to suspect that the Covid inquiry chair Baroness Hallett has had to contend with rather trickier conundrums than the one she currently faces. Which is this: do you trust Boris Johnson?

This is the question that’s making life difficult in Downing Street, as well as in wherever Johnson himself is currently hanging out (he spent the weekend at a summer fete in Henley, where he continues to deny he intends to stand for election next year, a lie so ridiculous it’s barely even a lie, at least not on his scale). But it’s not, one has to think, making life very difficult for Baroness Hallett.”

Who would ever be a politician ever again if all of your private messages are just going to be sent to a public inquiry and then published, presumably to great embarrassment? Tom Peck writes:

[1 June 2023 12:07 · Eleanor Noyce]

Government court action ‘increasingly likely’, says ex-legal chief

Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief, has said it was “looking increasingly likely” that the Cabinet Office would seek a judicial review to try to block the Covid Inquiry’s request for Boris Johnson’s messages and notebooks.

Sir Jonathan, who said the option would be “fun”, said it was “difficult” to see how a compromise could be reached before 4pm.

He said the Covid Inquiry chair could bring criminal proceedings for failure to comply with the notice if the deadline passes at 4pm – but described the scenario as “pretty extraordinary”.

[1 June 2023 12:00 · Eleanor Noyce]

Labour suspends veteran MP over claims he sexually harassed junior colleagues

Elsewhere, a long-serving Labour MP has been suspended over allegations he sexually harassed junior colleagues.

The party has launched an investigation over claims Geraint Davies gave five young female colleagues unwanted sexual attention, first reported by Politico.

The Swansea West MP has been administratively suspended from the party and had the whip removed pending the investigation.

Reporters spoke to more than 20 MPs and Labour staff who alleged a pattern of “excessive drinking, sexual comments and touching” by Davies dating back at least five years.

One former staffer alleged Mr Davies approached her, then aged 22, when she was “extremely drunk” before buying her a drink and suggesting they could go back to his flat. He then sent the woman a string of “sexually suggestive messages”, it is claimed.

Archie Mitchell writes:

[1 June 2023 11:45 · Eleanor Noyce]

Majority say Boris’ messages should be handed over

Three in five (61%) say Boris Johnson’s unredacted diary entries and WhatsApp messages should be handed over to the Covid Inquiry, according to a new Savanta poll.

Seven in ten (71%) say it is likely Rishi Sunak would have known if Mr Johnson had broken further lockdown restrictions.

Almost half (44%) say Partygate matters just as much now as it did when Mr Johnson was PM; 26% say it matters more, 25% less.

A third (29%) say Mr Johnson believed he was following lockdown rules; 59% say he knowingly broke the rules.

Chris Hopkins of Savanta said: “If perceptions remain negative, or even get worse, it seems difficult for Sunak and the government to pivot away from the controversy without directly throwing Johnson and his allies under the bus.”

[1 June 2023 11:30 · Eleanor Noyce]

ICYMI: Sunak warned government faces embarrassing loss in ‘bizarre’ battle over Boris WhatsApps

Rishi Sunak’s government has been warned it faces an embarrassing loss if it goes up against the Covid-19 inquiry in court over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages.

It came as calls grew for the material to be handed over by Thursday’s 4pm deadline, as the government continued to signal it would resist the demand from inquiry chair Baroness Hallett.

Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief, told The Independent that the “cards are stacked” against the Sunak government if the increasingly “bizarre” dispute goes to court.

“It’s a mess,” said the senior KC. “It’s likely the court will have to rule on it – it doesn’t seem either side is minded to back down. I’m not aware of any precedent for the government refusing to give information to a public inquiry it set up. It’s all pretty extraordinary.”

Adam Forrest and Kate Devlin report:

[1 June 2023 11:17 · Eleanor Noyce]

Grant Shapps suggests government should hand over WhatsApps

Cabinet minister Grant Shapps appeared to pile pressure on the government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps messages and notebooks to the Covid-19 Inquiry.

The energy secretary said the inquiry should be able to “get on with its job” and there was “nothing to be shy or embarrassed about” when it came to ministers’ discussions on the Covid crisis.

“I think it’s really straightforward – we have to let the inquiry get on with its job,” Mr Shapps told TalkTV when asked if he was happy as Mr Johnson to hand over his messages.

“We were all trying to do our best under some extremely complex, difficult circumstances. So there is nothing to be shy or embarrassed about. We simply did the best job we could under the circumstances.

“There are things that we did that were good. Things will have gone wrong, naturally. The inquiry is there to get to the bottom of all of that.”

Asked if the inquiry should have whatever they want from him, Mr Shapps said: “Whatever they want.”

[1 June 2023 10:57 · Eleanor Noyce]

What’s at stake in a legal battle over the Covid WhatsApps?

“It seems inevitable that a judicial review will take place on the matter of whether the Cabinet Office can redact evidence demanded from the government by Baroness Hallett’s Covid inquiry. Boris Johnson has released his diaries, WhatsApp messages and other material unredacted – thus avoiding any possible criminal sanction for withholding or destroying evidence. How much of it Johnson wants the inquiry to see is unclear, but he seems content to allow the Cabinet Office to deal with it.

There is talk of a “cover-up”, in effect by Rishi Sunak, who it is suggested is conspiring to use government lawyers and the prestige of his office to prevent the disclosure of the material to the inquiry, even on a confidential basis.”

Now that Boris Johnson has handed the material requested by the Covid inquiry to the Cabinet Office, the ball is in Rishi Sunak’s court, writes Sean O’Grady: