UK government loses legal battle over Boris Johnson’s COVID-era messages

Two UK judges on Thursday turned down a government request to withhold documents of ex-prime minister Boris Johnson from a public inquiry probing the handling of the coronavirus pandemic response.

The Cabinet Office, which works across the executive coordinating government activity, opposed the release of Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, diaries and notebooks.

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But the High Court judges ruled that Heather Hallett, who chairs the inquiry, “acted rationally” when making the order and that the diaries and notebooks were “very likely to contain information about decision-making” during the pandemic.

They said documents found by the inquiry to be “obviously irrelevant” will be returned.

The materials must be handed over to the inquiry by 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) on July 10, according to a spokesperson for Hallett.

The government said it will “comply fully” and work towards “an arrangement that respects the privacy of individuals and ensures completely irrelevant information is returned and not retained”.

Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the main opposition Labor party, said the judgment was a “humiliating defeat” for the government and accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of “wasting time and taxpayers’ money on doomed legal battles.”

Johnson has previously said he does not object to the inquiry — which he set up — seeing his messages and notebooks.

His government faced criticism for not taking the pandemic threat seriously enough in the early stages of the outbreak, and of not having enough protective equipment for frontline medical staff.

Ministers were also criticized for awarding lucrative contracts to friends and associates, bypassing official tendering processes.

Johnson was fined along with Sunak and dozens of aides for attending lockdown-breaking boozy gatherings in Downing Street.

A parliamentary inquiry last month concluded that Johnson had repeatedly misled parliament over the parties dubbed “Partygate.”

Johnson resigned as MP shortly before the inquiry’s conclusions were made public.

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