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The Cabinet Office and the official inquiry into the Government’s handling of the Covid crisis, led by retired senior judge Baroness Hallett, are locked in a battle of wills over the diary and WhatsApp messages of Boris Johnson.
The Cabinet Office insists the Inquiry already has all the relevant material, and may take legal steps to withhold them. Lady Hallett, on the other hand, has responded with “Let me be the judge of that.” Maybe not those exact words.
EXCLUSIVE: Bloomberg has obtained written legal advice from the government‘s top lawyer Sir James Eadie KC to the Cabinet Office
It advises them NOT to hand over “politically sensitive” material about ministers’ private discussions to the Covid inquiryhttps://t.co/7FCiG4X7r9
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 30, 2023
Our government is terrified at the prospect of us knowing the extent of its corruption and contemptuous incompetence.
The real reason behind the Cabinet Office’s refusal to hand over documents/WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry.Surprising unfiltered honesty from The Times. pic.twitter.com/HYyU8mZfIy
— sarah murphy (@13sarahmurphy) May 30, 2023
Cabinet Office officials then claimed that they don’t actually have all the requested material.
So after saying Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps and diaries are “unambiguously irrelevant” to the Covid inquiry and so can’t be released, while threatening to go to court in order to avoid releasing them, the Cabinet Office now says they don’t even have them.
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) May 30, 2023
Tuesday’s 4 pm deadline for handing over the material has been extended to Thursday, but it’s anybody’s guess whether it can be resolved by then.
NEW
Covid Inquiry extends todays 4pm deadline requesting unredacted diary entries and WhatsApp messages from former PM Boris Johnson.
Original extension request until 5th June rejected, but short extension granted to 4pm on Thursday 1 June 2023.@LBC @LBCNews
— Henry Riley (@HenryRiley1) May 30, 2023
Tweeters have been reacting to, speculating on and, of course, joking about the situation. Here’s what they’ve been saying.
1.
Live scenes as Government Ministers are forced to relinquish their WhatsApp chats to Lady Hallett pic.twitter.com/Glu5x5361k
— Sangita Myska (@SangitaMyska) May 30, 2023
2.
The Cabinet Office have now confirmed that they don’t have the diaries and WhatsApp messages that were previously handed to them and which they threatened legal action to avoid disclosing.#CovidInquiry
— Parody Rishi Sunak (@Parody_PM) May 30, 2023
3.
The Cabinet Office claiming they’ve now lost Boris Johnson’s diaries and WhatsApp messages is a chinny reckon so vast it’s visible from space.
— Jason (@NickMotown) May 30, 2023
4.
Because nothing says ‘I’m innocent’ like suing your own inquiry to avoid sharing unredacted diary entries…https://t.co/vU8IeR2OVq
— Marina Purkiss (@MarinaPurkiss) May 29, 2023
5.
Whatever you think they’re hiding, it’s almost certainly far worse https://t.co/fstR4FxJ7i
— HappyToast★ (@IamHappyToast) May 30, 2023
6.
“There is nothing in these WhatsApp messages of any relevance, which is why we are doing everything we can to keep you from seeing them.” https://t.co/MmkJOXiiMm
— Omid Djalili (@omid9) May 30, 2023
7.
This week, I shall mostly be deleting WhatsApp messages… pic.twitter.com/Juuj6bMwjV
— Sir Jack Caramac
(@JCaramac) May 30, 2023
8.
Boris Johnson doesn’t want his WhatsApp messages made public for the same reason that a known criminal caught outside a bank with a shotgun would prefer the jury not be informed of an extensive online search history for “How to Rob a Bank”.
— paul bassett davies (@thewritertype) May 30, 2023
9.
Let’s get this straight. The Cabinet Office is committed to the Covid inquiry. Just so long as it is the Cabinet Office that determines what is and isn’t relevant to the inquiry
— John Crace (@JohnJCrace) May 30, 2023
The post The Covid Inquiry-Cabinet Office deadlock over Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and diary holds fast – 18 best Twitter takes appeared first on The Poke.
