THE Covid inquiry will be given official documents – but only “where appropriate”, ministers today insisted.
It comes as senior lawyers investigating the pandemic and the Cabinet Office remain at loggerheads over disclosing Boris Johnson’s texts and diaries.
The Cabinet Office is locked in a dispute with the Covid inquiry over whether it should have to hand over thousands of WhatsApps sent between Boris Johnson, ministers and civil servants
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride insisted documents will be handed over “where appropriate”
The inquiry has given officials until 4pm tomorrow to hand over thousands of texts between the ex-PM and ministers.
But civil servants insist appropriate materials have already been handed over and the messages requested are “unambiguously irrelevant” to the inquiry’s work.
They’ve warned that handing over WhatsApps will set an unfair precedent that impinges on the right of civil servants and ministers to a personal life.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News: “I’m absolutely certain and confident that the Cabinet Office will be engaged in this in exactly the right kind of way… and making sure that we are absolutely robustly transparent where it is appropriate to be so.”
The minister added: “We’ve provided around 55,000 documents, eight witness statements and corporate witness statements, as well, to the inquiry.
“And we absolutely intend to continue to be absolutely transparent and candid.
Yesterday Mr Johnson said he had no objection to disclosing the material to Baroness Hallett’s inquiry but claimed no one had asked him for it.
Rishi Sunak, meanwhile, insisted the Government was acting “in a spirit of transparency and candour”.
His spokesman flatly denied any suggestion of a cover-up, adding: “We want to learn the lessons about the actions of the state during the pandemic.”
Yet last night the Cabinet Office repeated its threat to block the handing over of some of the material.
It said: “We are firmly of the view that the inquiry does not have the power to request unambiguously irrelevant information that is beyond the scope of this investigation.
“This includes the WhatsApp messages of Government employees which are not about work but instead are entirely personal and relate to their private lives.”
A Labour spokesman said last night “The fact the Covid inquiry has invoked legal powers to compel the handover of crucial documents in the face of legal battles and delaying tactics shows this is a Government with much to hide.”
The inquiry will begin in autumn and is expected to last until at least 2026.
