Everything you need to know about Boris Johnson and the UK Covid-19 Inquiry

The extraordinary row over Boris Johnson’s submissions to the Covid inquiry has continued to rumble on this week, as the government and probe’s chair battle over access to his WhatsApp messages.

Yet further allegations about Mr Johnson’s time in No 10 continue to emerge, with a new report now suggesting the former PM hosted a close friend at his country residence Chequers to help plan his wedding to Carrie Symonds while restrictions were in place in May 2021.

Here's what you need to know about the saga:

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is a public inquiry into how the government handled the pandemic. Its aim is to look at how decisions were made on things like lockdown and the NHS, and whether things could have been done better.

It was set up by Boris Johnson in May 2021 after calls from other politicians and civil society, and is due to start taking proper evidence later this year. The inquiry has broad powers to call witnesses, order the release of documents, and is chaired by Baroness Hallett, a former judge.

The inquiry is still in relatively early stages and hasn't started public hearings yet. One of the things it is doing at the moment is gathering written evidence from the time of the pandemic.

It hit the headlines this week after it effectively accused the government of withholding evidence it needed and ordered it to comply.

The inquiry has ordered the government to hand over an archive of WhatsApp messages sent by and to Boris Johnson, as well as his contemporary diaries from the time of the pandemic. It also wants the messages of one of his aides, Henry Cook.

The inquiry has said it wants the "entire contents" of the documents. But the Cabinet Office says some of the material is "unambiguously irrelevant" to the inquiry and only wants to provide redacted versions of the messages and documents.

The inquiry says this isn't acceptable for two reasons: firstly, it says it should be up to the inquiry to decide what is relevant or not. Secondly, it says even superficially irrelevant details may be relevant – for example if they show the government was distracted by others matters.

To complicate matters further, the Cabinet Office has admitted it doesn't actually have some of the messages, notably any from 2020 when lockdown actually took place – though it seems to think it can get hold of them from Mr Johnson if needed.

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The government has launched a legal challenge against the order to hand over the documents. A judicial review will take place into whether the inquiry has the powers to obtain all the messages in unreacted form.

Legal experts say this is somewhat of a long shot by the government. The inquiry has a broad remit to look into decision-making during the pandemic and powers to order the release of documents. Its powers are well-established y the 2005 Inquiries Act. But it will be up to the courts to make the final decision.

Mr Johnson has said he will cooperate with the inquiry and appears angry at the government’s apparent manoeuvring to withhold information – even though it is his information.

The former prime minister on Friday said he was “not willing to let my material become a test case for others” and says he is planning to give his messages directly to the inquiry to bypass the government.

He has so far only handed over messages from Spring 2021 onwards and says this is because he has been told not to turn on an old phone that contains the other messages for security reasons. It was thought to be compromised in 2021 amid reports that his number was widely available on the internet.

Mr Johnson has told the inquiry that he has asked the Cabinet Office to help turn the device on securely to obtain the rest of the information.

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The official position of the government is that the inquiry is overreaching and that officials and ministers are entitled to privacy. Given Mr Johnson's position, this may seem an odd reason to go to court, however.

Others in Westminster suspect that the government is using Mr Johnson's messages to fight a proxy war. The former PM's messages could become a test case for whether others in government have to hand over information.

One possibility is that the prime minister himself would rather not disclose his discussions. The inquiry has already started asking written questions to witnesses about the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, which some studies have suggested may have contributed to a deadly second wave of infections.

This would be one way to square the circle between Mr Johnson apparently being happy to release his messages, but the government saying it would rather he didn't.