What is the standoff between Covid inquiry and Cabinet Office about?

 

Explainer

What is the standoff between Covid inquiry and Cabinet Office about?

 

As dispute over Boris Johnson’s notebooks and WhatsApp messages continues, we look at the key points

 

Aubrey Allegretti

@breeallegretti

Tue 30 May 2023 12.45 BST

 

Wrangling over Boris Johnson’s notebooks and WhatsApp messages continues in earnest, with the government and the official Covid inquiry locked in a standoff over what should be shared.

 

What has the inquiry asked for?

A vast trove of documents was requested by Heather Hallett, the chair of the public inquiry into the government’s handling of Covid.

 

On 28 April, she ordered the Cabinet Office to hand over all messages on the phones of Johnson and a No 10 aide, Henry Cook, concerning the pandemic. These included WhatsApp messages sent from and to other senior figures in government – stretching from ministers, such as the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to special advisers, such as Dominic Cummings, and officials all the way up to cabinet secretary level. A bundle of about 24 notebooks kept by Johnson was also requested.

 

Lady Hallett originally set a deadline of 12 May, but the Cabinet Office pushed back and asked her to reconsider. A new deadline of 4pm on 30 May was set, but that too has been pushed back, to 1 June.

 

Why did the government object?

Though Hallett specifically said she wanted the “entire contents” of the documents, the Cabinet Office disagreed with what information was relevant to her inquiry.

 

Normally, communications between ministers – which in previous generations would have been committed to a letter or fax – stay secret. The “30-year rule” ensures that no such messages would see the light of day until long after several administrations have come and gone. It is argued that this ensures ministers and officials have the privacy to discuss and debate policies.

 

A public inquiry has rights to request more contemporaneous information, but it must be judged to be “potentially relevant”. The Cabinet Office disagreed with Hallett that information it redacted was relevant. It is also nervous about sharing such an extensive set of messages with a non-government body, potentially losing control of its ability to guarantee the confidentiality of the contents.

 

The Covid inquiry will not necessarily publish every piece of evidence it receives, however.

 

How could the impasse be broken?

The Cabinet Office admitted at the last minute before the latest deadline that it did not have Johnson’s notebooks or his WhatsApp messages.

 

Hallett has given it two more days to comply, setting a new deadline of 4pm on Thursday. She has also demanded a senior civil servant give a statement setting out further facts. Hallett wants the Cabinet Office to produce any correspondence with Johnson and his office about the notebooks and WhatsApps, and say whether it has been in possession of the notebooks at any time over the past three months. She also wants answers over whether the messages by Johnson were on a personal or government device.

 

Downing Street said the Cabinet Office did not currently have the material but admitted it had previously been given to government lawyers. Johnson’s spokesperson said they had not been asked by the government to hand over the documents again and he had “no objection” to them being passed to Hallett’s inquiry.

 

If the Cabinet Office resists doing so, it could take legal action to challenge the inquiry chair’s ruling. Jonathan Jones, a former head of the government legal department, said that if Hallett does not cave, she and Whitehall mandarins could reach a compromise so that some information is handed over while other parts remain redacted.

 

If it fails to comply with her demands then the inquiry could start criminal proceedings against the government or seek an enforcement order from the high court.

 

What role is the Cabinet Office minister playing?

Relations have broken down between Johnson and the Cabinet Office after lawyers supporting him during the Covid inquiry felt obliged to refer some details in the former prime minister’s diaries to police.

 

Oliver Dowden is the deputy prime minister and the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office. Given Hallett has specifically requested Johnson’s messages with other ministers, he is likely to be nervous about irking colleagues by agreeing to hand over their WhatsApp messages, too.