UK government to take COVID inquiry to court over ‘irrelevant’ messages'

The UK government said on Thursday that it will seek a judicial review of an order from an inquiry set up to investigate its handling of COVID to hand over what it deems are "irrelevant" messages, including some WhatsApp chats of former prime minister Boris Johnson. Baroness Heather Hallett is a retired judge charged with conducting a public inquiry into the government's handling of the pandemic.

She had demanded a tranche of documents which include all the unredacted WhatsApp messages of then prime minister Johnson. The Cabinet Office had until 1600 local time on Thursday to hand over the material but it issued a statement instead to say that it was "irrational" for the inquiry to demand such breadth of material.

"This application for judicial review is brought because there are real concerns that individuals, junior officials, current and former Ministers and Departments should not be required to provide material that is irrelevant to the inquiry's work," the Cabinet Office said in a statement.

"It is emphasised, in conclusion, that the Cabinet Office well understands the Chair's evident concern to ensure that she has all the material and documents she needs to reach soundly based conclusions on the matters she is inquiring into. The Cabinet Office shares that concern and has sought, and will continue to seek, to assist the Inquiry including by the provision of relevant documents," it said.

The legal action comes after days of wrangling, which saw Johnson himself pile pressure on the Rishi Sunak led government by claiming to have handed over all his WhatsApp messages. However, the Cabinet Office said that Johnson's messages did not cover the whole period the inquiry wanted because he was using a new phone from May 2021 and sought further information from the former prime minister.

Responding to the judicial review, Opposition Labour Party's deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of undermining the inquiry and said he was ''hopelessly distracted with legal ploys to obstruct the COVID Inquiry in a desperate attempt to withhold evidence''. Sunak, who is in Moldova for a European Political Community summit, told reporters earlier in the day that he is confident of his government's stance on the COVID inquiry.

''The government has cooperated thoroughly with the inquiry to date, handing over tens of thousands of documents and we will continue to comply of course with the law, cooperate with the inquiry. We are confident in our position but are carefully considering next steps,'' he said.