Rishi Sunak Refuses To Hand Over WhatsApp Texts To UK's Covid Inquiry
NDTV
Rishi Sunak administration's denial sets up a legal battle that risks amplifying accusations of a cover-up.
Rishi Sunak's administration refused a demand from the UK's Covid-19 inquiry to hand over former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's WhatsApp messages and pandemic diaries, setting up a legal battle that risks amplifying accusations of a cover-up.
The Cabinet Office on Thursday said it's filing for a judicial review into the request for the unredacted documents by Heather Hallett, the retired judge appointed by the government itself to lead the inquiry. A spokesperson for the probe said in an email that a preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
The approach will open Sunak up to further accusations that he is attempting to cover up sensitive information, given that the requested documents are also likely to include his own correspondence with Johnson, as he was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time.
The government has refused for days to hand over the documents, arguing they are "unambiguously irrelevant" to the official probe into how ministers and officials handled the coronavirus outbreak. But opposition politicians, families of Covid victims, doctors and even some members of his governing Conservative Party have urged him to comply.
