Government to take Covid inquiry to court after huge row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages
THE Cabinet Office will take the Covid inquiry to court over its demand to receive unredacted copies of Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and diaries.
After a days long stand-off between civil servants and senior lawyers investigating the pandemic, a judge will decide whether the messages have to be handed over.
In a fiery letter to the inquiry, government lawyer Parm Sahota said: “The Cabinet Office has today sought leave to bring a judicial review.
“We do so with regret and with an assurance that we will continue to cooperate fully with the inquiry before, during and after the jurisdictional issue in question.”
The letter argued there are “important issues of principle at stake” and these affect the “rights of individuals and the proper conduct of government”.
It added the demand for “unambiguously irrelevant material” goes beyond the power of inquiry chief Lady Hallet.
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“Individuals, junior officials, current and former Ministers and departments should not be required to provide material that is irrelevant to the Inquiry’s work,” Ms Sahota said.
It cime Boris chucked a Covid grenade at Rishi Sunak by demanding all his pandemic material are handed to the public inquiry in full.
He said he’d handed everything over to the Cabinet Office and asked it be given to Baroness Halett uncensored.
The Cabinet Office will challenge Lady Hallett’s idea of what is relevant material for her probe, arguing that it could have “absurd” implications.
“The concept of relevance simply cannot cover all Government business and all the policy areas that were live over the two-year period,” Ms Sahota said.
“That would be absurd.
“It would also mean that the inquiry would be utterly swamped with material of no value to its work.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner accused the PM of being “hopelessly distracted with legal ploys to obstruct the Covid Inquiry”.
She raged: “After 13 years of Tory scandal, these latest smoke and mirror tactics serve only to undermine the Covid Inquiry. The public deserve answers, not another cover-up.
“Instead of digging himself further into a hole by pursuing doomed legal battles to conceal the truth, Rishi Sunak must comply with the Covid Inquiry’s requests for evidence in full. There can be no more excuses.”
Lib Dem Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP added: “This cowardly attempt to obstruct a vital public inquiry is a kick in the teeth for bereaved families who’ve already waited far too long for answers.
“Rishi Sunak’s promise to govern with integrity and accountability has been left in tatters.
“The government is delaying the inquiry even further and clogging up court time, all to prevent Sunak and his Conservative colleagues from having to release their messages.”