Boris Johnson claims the Cabinet Office want to frustrate the Covid inquiry and has warned him not to release WhatsApps and notebooks

• The former Prime Minister has accused the Cabinet Office of ‘foot-dragging’
• It comes after his dramatic resignation from Parliament on Friday, June 9

Boris Johnson has accused the Cabinet Office of trying to frustrate the public inquiry into the Government’s Covid response.

The former Prime Minister, who dramatically resigned as an MP on Friday, told the Times he feels the Cabinet Office is ‘foot-dragging’ and wasting ‘public time and money’.

It comes after it warned him not to share WhatsApp messages and notebooks with the inquiry, which is being chaired by Baroness Hallett.

The Cabinet Office has gone to court to stop the release of any information it deems ‘unambiguously irrelevant’, and last week wrote to Mr Johnson to say releasing it on his own could raise national security concerns. 

The 58-year-old had offered Baroness Hallett the chance to view ‘unredacted material’ but faces opposition from the Cabinet Office, who he has now accused of blocking him from doing so.

Boris Johnson has accused the Cabinet Office of blocking him from handing over WhatApp messages and notebooks to the Covid inquiry

The former Prime Minister says the Cabinet Office is ‘foot-dragging’ and ‘costing public time and money’

Speaking to The Times, the Tory grandee claimed the Cabinet Office was refusing to return his notebooks over fears he would give them to the inquiry.

READ MORE HERE:  Boris Johnson warns No10 he’s ‘not done yet’ after his resignation

Mr Johnson said: ‘The Cabinet Office has blocked me from directly sharing unredacted material with the inquiry – despite my repeated attempts to do so. 

‘The government wants the whole matter to be decided by the courts, even though government ministers are on record saying that litigation is pointless because the government will not win. 

‘The Cabinet Office’s foot-dragging approach to the inquiry is costing public time and money. The inquiry’s work is crucial. We must explore what happened during Covid, particularly the big questions over policy decisions. 

‘Some other countries have already finished their investigations into these matters. We need to get on with this and the government’s position is now – in my view – frustrating the inquiry’s work.’

It is believed the ex-PM is taking advice from lawyers on whether he can release the material without the permission of the Cabinet Office – something that could spark legal action from the Government.

The publication reports the Cabinet Office wrote to the Covid inquiry saying it was ‘not appropriate for the Government to have to take steps that are not consistent with the very position that it has raised in the Judicial Review’.

It said it would not give ‘unambiguously irrelevant material to Mr Johnson in the knowledge that he intended simply to provide it, without protection, on to the inquiry’, adding that some of this ‘may involve issues of national security’.

But Mr Johnson hit back saying he still wanted to share the unredacted documents, claiming: ‘The Cabinet Office will not return my notebooks out of fear that I will disclose them directly to the inquiry.’

MailOnline has contacted the Cabinet Office for comment. 

Baroness Hallett (pictured), who is chairing the Covid Inquiry, has refused to back down in a Government row over access to Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages

Hundreds of formal requests for evidence have been sent out, including to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his predecessor Liz Truss

Baroness Hallett had requested unedited communications and notes by Mr Johnson for use in the inquiry into the Government’s response to the Covid pandemic.

But this was blocked by the Cabinet Office, triggering a legal challenge expected before the High Court at the end of this month. 

She said she had ‘declined’ to bow to Cabinet Office requests to withdraw her demand, while families of those who died during the pandemic said the Government’s intervention ‘beggars belief’. 

READ MORE HERE: Half of Brits believe the government should not be allowed to use WhatsApp for official work

The first strand of the inquiry, examining resilience and preparedness for the pandemic, will start its evidence hearings on Tuesday next week, which will last until the end of July. The second strand, which will focus on Government decision-making and cover the actions of Mr Johnson among others, is due to begin in October.

Hundreds of formal requests for evidence have been sent out, including to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, his predecessor Liz Truss, former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab, and Covid-era health secretary Matt Hancock.

The Government has already missed the deadline to hand over Mr Johnson’s unredacted material, with ministers instead announcing highly unusual plans to challenge the request in the courts. 

At largely administrative hearing last week, Baroness Hallett said: ‘I issued a notice… making it clear that, in my view, it is for the inquiry chair to decide what is relevant or potentially relevant. 

‘The Cabinet Office disagrees, claiming they are not obliged to disclose what they consider to be unambiguously irrelevant material. They invited me to withdraw the notice. I declined. They are now challenging my decision… by way of judicial review.’

Hugo Keith KC, counsel to the inquiry, said Mr Johnson was effectively circumventing the Government by offering to hand over information directly.

Mr Keith said: ‘The inquiry team has been liaising with his legal team.’

Information Commissioner Mr Edwards separately told the Commons public administration and constitutional affairs committee that government departments ‘shouldn’t be using disappearing messages in the conduct of government business’.

Asked what sanctions were available if such messages were used, Mr Edwards said: ‘It’s a little perilous to speculate… but there are criminal sanctions for failing to maintain a record or destroying a record.’

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