The UK government lost its legal challenge to the Covid-19 inquiry’s request that Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp message be released in full. This opens the door for the release of sensitive information about the government during the pandemic.
The Cabinet Office had refused to provide with all of the information requested by the inquiry, claiming some material was “unambiguously relevant”. Last month it challenged this demand in a judicial hearing.
Lady Heather Hallett (inquiry chair) had replied that she was “to decide what’s relevant” in order to gather the materials needed for an investigation into UK response to coronavirus pandemic.
In a ruling handed down by judges on Thursday, they confirmedHallett’s right to request unredacted documents. This included Johnson’s notebooks and diaries, as well as WhatsApp messages.
The Cabinet Office’s lawyers argued that the request for evidence from the inquiry was too broad, and could include private correspondence.
However, Lord Justice Dingemans & Mr Justice Garnham decided: “The mere fact that a civil proceeding request for documents for disclosure could yield some irrelevant documents doesn’t invalidate the request.”
The judges also added: “Inquiries should be allowed a certain amount of latitude that is not given to civil parties, so they can ‘fish’ documents. This means making informed, but speculative, requests for documents that are relevant to the lines of enquiry, or documents that lead to new lines.
They said that documents that Hallett agreed were obviously irrelevant should be returned to Cabinet Office.
In a press release, the inquiry stated that Hallett “was pleased the court had upheld” her requests for the Johnson materials. The inquiry has stated that it expects the information to be released by Monday at 4pm.
The government stated that it will “fully comply with this judgement and now work with the investigation team on the practical arrangement”.
A person who was briefed about the Cabinet Office’s position said that the material would be delivered by Monday at 4pm.
The ruling stated that only the chair of the inquiry and a small group would have access the the entire documents.
Hallett’s judicial support opens the door to the release of sensitive information about the pandemic, as she can rely on this ruling for future requests for proof.
was widely criticized for the government’s decision to take the investigation’s power in court.
Families of Covid victims who have lost loved ones accuse the government of trying to undermine the efforts of the inquiry to examine official decisions made during the pandemic.
Angela Rayner said that Rishi Sunak was the prime minister who “was wasting taxpayers’ time and money on futile legal battles in order to withhold proof”.
She continued: “There are no excuses left for hiding the truth.” It’s now time to turn over the evidence.
The decision leaves open the issue of whether the investigation can access the contents of the compromised mobile phone that Johnson used between February 2020 to April 2021. After a security breach, he changed his phone.
Hugo Keith KC said that last month, the Cabinet Office had agreed to provide the compromised device “to the appropriate person within the government to download its contents”.
Nicholas Chapman said that the Cabinet Office “wants time to think about its position” before it commits to handing over the messages from the compromised telephone to the inquiry.