Boris Johnson hands over his Whatsapps and urges Cabinet Office to give them to Covid inquiry

Boris Johnson has thrown down the gauntlet to Rishi Sunak by handing over his unredacted Whatsapps and notebooks and urging the government to give them to the Covid-19 Inquiry.

Heaping pressure on the prime minister ahead of a deadline of 4pm on Thursday, the former Tory leader urged the Cabinet Office “urgently disclose” the material to Baroness Hallett’s inquiry.

It comes as Mr Sunak’s government was warned it faced an embarrassing defeat if it challenged the Covid inquiry in court in an effort to withhold Mr Johnson’s WhatsApp messages.

Senior Tories also urged Mr Sunak to end the row – saying it was “less painful” to back down and hand over the Johnson files to Lady Hallett’s team.

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said that “all” the material requested by the Covid inquiry “has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form”.

The Cabinet Office has had “access to this material for several months”, the former PM’s spokesman added, but made clear Mr Johnson had handed all the requested material to the government today.

With the government continuing to signal it will resist the demand from inquiry chair Baroness Hallett, the ex-PM’s team also warned that “Mr Johnson would immediately disclose it directly to the inquiry if asked”.

The spokesman said: “While Mr Johnson understands the government’s position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires.”

“Mr Johnson co-operated with the inquiry in full from the beginning of this process and continues to do so. Indeed, he established the inquiry. He looks forward to continuing to assist the inquiry with its important work,” he added.

The Cabinet Office – which had told the inquiry did not have all the material demanded – is concerned about setting a precedent by handing over all the requested documents in unredacted form.

But Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief, told The Independent that the “cards are stacked” against the Sunak government if the increasingly “bizarre” dispute goes to court.

“It’s a mess,” said the senior KC. “It’s likely the court will have to rule on it – it doesn’t seem either side is minded to back down. I’m not aware of any precedent for the government refusing to give information to a public inquiry it set up. It’s all pretty extraordinary.”

He added: “The powers of a public inquiry are wide. There is logic to the position the Covid inquiry is taking – that it has to see the material to decide on its relevance. The cards are stacked in favour of the inquiry. The bar for getting a court to strike down a request [from a public inquiry] is high.”

Former Supreme Court justice Lord Sumption also said attempts to withhold the messages were likely to fail – saying he did not think the Cabinet Office’s arguments would “cut much ice” in the courts. “I frankly can’t see the courts quashing [Lady Hallett’s] decision,” he told the BBC’s World At One.

Arguing that going to court would be a “political mistake”, he added: “They are not going to succeed in a judicial review so that all they will achieve in resisting is to make it look like they are hiding something.”

Sir Jonathan said that if the Sunak government refused to hand over the Johnson material by the deadline, Baroness Hallett’s team could either go to the High Court to seek an order – or launch a criminal lawsuit by arguing that the refusal to provide information violates the Inquiries Act 2005.

In her recent exchange of letters with the Cabinet Office, the chairwoman pointed out that failure to comply could be a criminal offence and punishable with a fine of up to £1,000 or even imprisonment for a maximum of 51 weeks.

“Presumably [the Covid-19 inquiry] would try to hold some senior figure in the Cabinet Office responsible,” said Sir Jonathan on the possibility of criminal proceedings, before describing the scenario as “extraordinary” and “the least likely outcome”.

The ex-Treasury solicitor said it was “quite likely” the government will seek a judicial review before 4pm on Thursday to “test the validity” of Baroness Hallett’s request.

Urging a rethink, Sir Jonathan said: “It would be quite a climbdown for the government to say it will provide information, but I think it should consider doing so to avoid extreme scenarios.”

No 10 has said that while there is nothing to stop Mr Johnson handing any personal evidence directly to the inquiry, any “government-owned” material would need to be disclosed by the government.

The Covid inquiry would not be drawn on whether it could ask and accept material directly from Mr Johnson, if Thursday’s deadline passes without a climbdown from the Cabinet Office. A source said the inquiry would “cross that bridge if it comes to it”.

Former Tory cabinet minister Malcolm Rifkind told The Independent that Mr Johnson should be allowed to hand over his WhatsApps messages directly to Lady Hallett. “If he’s willing to that he should be able to do so. It’s his WhatsApp messages – not theirs [the Cabinet Office].”

Mr Rifkind also said a compromise could still be reached – suggesting that the government and Lady Hallett agree on a “independent” broker to look over the messages and decide what should be redacted.

Senior Tory MP Caroline Nokes said the “reluctance” by the government to provide the WhatsApps and notebooks “seems a nonsense”. She told Talk TV that it would be “less pain for the government if they hand [the material] over quickly”.

Senior Tory William Wragg, chair of the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, also urged the government to back down. “If the inquiry requests documents and info – then whoever it has asked should comply,” he told the BBC.

Historian Sir Anthony Seldon, who has chronicled Mr Johnson’s time in No 10, said it was a “simple no-brainer” for the messages to be handed over. “This event was so seismic and the premiership of Boris Johnson was so catastrophic, we have to get out the full facts,” he told TalkTV.

With the deadline looming and Mr Sunak facing accusations of a “cover up”, work and pensions secretary Mel Stride insisted that the government had “nothing to hide”. Mr Stride told Sky News claiming the inquiry already has “all the information that it is right for it to have”.

Meanwhile, a Johnson ally told The Independent the ex-PM should sue the Cabinet Office for the recent referral to the police over possible fresh Covid rule breaches at Chequers at No 10.

“If I was Boris I would go legal and flush out any cover ups,” they said. “I think the plotters have overplayed their hand in trying to destroy Boris and their actions are beginning to unravel.”

The Independent has approached the Cabinet Office for comment.