Sunak says Government ‘confident’ in position on Covid Inquiry demands

Rishi Sunak was speaking less than an hour before a deadline to hand over Boris Johnson’s papers and WhatsApp messages.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a bilateral meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky at the EPC Summit (Carl Court/PA) (PA Wire)

Rishi Sunak said the Government was still “carefully considering next steps” with just minutes to go before the deadline to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks to the Covid-19 inquiry.

The Prime Minister said the Government was “confident” in its position, but did not set out how it intended to respond to inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett’s demand for the documents to be submitted.

She has given the Cabinet Office until 4pm to disclose the information she has requested or face the threat of a criminal prosecution.

Speaking at a summit in Moldova, Mr Sunak said: “I think it’s really important that we learn the lessons of Covid so that we can be better prepared in the future.

“And we’re doing that in the spirit of rigour but also transparency and candour.

“We’ve co-operated, the Government’s co-operated thoroughly with the inquiry to date, handing over tens of thousands of documents, and we will continue to comply of course with the law, co-operate with the inquiry.

“We’re confident in our position but are carefully considering next steps.”

The Government had previously argued that it did not have the messages and notebooks, but Mr Johnson’s office confirmed he has handed them over to officials.

The Cabinet Office has also argued that it should withhold “unambiguously irrelevant” material, but Lady Hallett has ruled that everything should be disclosed and she will decide what is or is not necessary for her work.

Mr Johnson’s decision to publicly confirm he has handed over the material – stripping the Cabinet Office of one of its defences – and his suggestion that it should be disclosed to the inquiry has heaped pressure on his successor’s Government.

Whitehall officials are concerned about the wider precedent that will be set by handing over swathes of unredacted WhatsApp conversations, with fears that the inquiry will seek similar levels of disclosure from other senior figures including Mr Sunak himself.

Lady Hallett issued her demand for the material under Section 21 of the Inquiries Act 2005, and failure to comply could lead to prosecution and a potential fine or jail term for an individual found guilty of the offence.

The Government could seek a judicial review of her notice, questioning whether the demand for the documents falls within the scope of her inquiry – but legal experts have suggested the Cabinet Office would have a weak case given the wide remit set out in Lady Hallett’s terms of reference.

Last-ditch efforts to find a compromise continued on Thursday as the deadline – which had already been extended by 48 hours – loomed.