Johnson will hand all Covid WhatsApps to inquiry

Tories claim ex-PM faces a ‘pro-lockdown stitch up’ as the economy is mentioned just four times in questions

BORIS JOHNSON has vowed to send all his Covid-era WhatsApps to the Covid Inquiry, including those on an old phone that he was told he should not switch on.

The former prime minister’s pledge came a day after it emerged he had told the Cabinet Office he had been advised not to open the personal phone over security concerns.

The messages on the locked device refer to discussions from before May 2021 and are likely to relate to conversations about the three coronavirus lockdowns ordered in 2020. It came as

Conservative MPs criticised the forthcoming Covid Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Hallett, as a “pro-lockdown stitch-up”.

In 150 questions submitted to Mr Johnson as part of the investigation, the economy is only mentioned four times. One question challenges him on whether he struck “the right balance” between easing restrictions and stimulating the economy in July 2020.

Mr Johnson was also asked whether his decision to reduce social distancing requirements from two metres to one metre was influenced by “concerns about economic factors, including the impact on the hospitality sector”.

Elsewhere, there are suggestions that ministers could have acted earlier to avoid lockdowns and proceeded to lift restrictions more slowly.

Marco Longhi, the Tory MP for Dudley, said Mr Johnson “had to rely heavily on his senior medical advisers”, adding: “Clinicians will always opt for the safest route – so stopping transmission through lockdowns would always be preferred by them.

“Attacks on Boris now will only come across as a witch hunt. Everyone is perfect with the benefit of hindsight.”

Another backbencher added: “This sounds like the same groupthink that was there before. The fact there’s two questions mentioning the economic effect means we have to look at what was done and why, and the effects it had.

“I don’t think our country would have ever gone into lockdown had it not been for other countries doing it first. In some respects it was a sorry position to be in.”

A senior Tory MP claimed the tone of the questions put to Mr Johnson was “terrifying”.

Ministers are preparing for a highprofile legal battle with the inquiry as the Government seeks to challenge the request for Mr Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks to be submitted.

Mr Johnson told Baroness Hallett, the chairman of the inquiry: “I am sending your inquiry all unredacted WhatsApps I provided to the Cabinet Office.

“I would like to do the same with any material that may be on an old phone which I have previously been told I can no longer access safely.

“In view of the urgency of your request I believe we need to test this advice, which came from the security services.”

He also told the former senior judge he would ask for his unredacted notebooks back from the Cabinet Office and share them with the panel if the Government refuses to do so.

In 2021, Mr Johnson was forced to change his mobile after it emerged his number had been publicly available online for 15 years.