Boris Johnson – latest: Ex-PM goes over Sunak’s head to send unredacted WhatsApps ‘directly’ to inquiry

The public is “sick and tired” of the government’s attempts to “duck scrutiny”, the Lib Dems said as they announced they would try to force Rishi Sunak to publish “all material” relevant to the Covid inquiry.

Christine Jardine, the party’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman, said the Lib Dems will table a humble address motion next week as the row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages rumbles on.

“People are sick and tired of the government’s attempts to duck scrutiny by refusing to hand over these messages in full,” Ms Jardine said. “Rishi Sunak promised to govern with integrity and accountability, instead it’s just more chaos and cover-ups.

"Bereaved families deserve full transparency instead of this endless game of smoke and mirrors.”

She added: "It’s time for MPs to come together, end this Conservative cover-up and force the government to come clean."

Speaking on Sky News, she denied her party is "playing politics" although the motion is unlikely to get a vote.

A Labour MP suspended by the party over sexual harassment allegations is facing fresh claims he “boasted” about bringing sex workers into parliamentary bars.

Geraint Davies has been suspended pending an investigation into reports of “incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour”.

One woman has submitted a formal complaint after the Politico website initially reported that five other women made sexual harassment claims against the politician. The MP said he did not “recognise” the claims.

Adam Forrest reports:

Rail union boss Mick Lynch has claimed the government is “directly responsible” for an ongoing row over pay as some 20,000 train workers take part in a fresh wave of strikes.

Mr Lynch, RMT general secretary, accused ministers of costing the economy “£5bn in the course of this dispute” as he hit out at big dividend payments to train company shareholders.

Strikes by railway workers continued on Friday, causing fresh travel disruption for passengers. Members of the RMT, union employed by train operators across England, walked out in a long-running dispute over jobs, pay and conditions.

Train services were disrupted by the action, which comes almost a year after the RMT held its first strike in the same dispute.

More comments from Mr Lunch below:

A shadow minister has said he was unaware of rumors about a colleague suspended over allegations of sexual harassment.

Alex Norris, shadow levelling up minister, spoke to Sky News earlier this morning after Welsh MP Geraint Davies had the whip removed following reports of “unacceptable behaviour”.

Mr Davies said he did not recognise the claims of multiple women who say he subjected them to unwanted sexual attention.

Reports say the Swansea West MP’s behaviour was an “open secret”.

“What I read yesterday was what everybody else read,” Mr Norris told Sky News earlier. “That was the first time I’d seen or heard those things”.

Boris Johnson is yet to hand over any WhatsApp messages showing discussions he had during the 2020 Covid lockdowns, the government has said.

The UK Covid-19 Inquiry wants to see WhatsApps messages and notebooks kept by the former prime minister to build a picture of how decisions were taken in government.

But the former PM has only handed over a message archive dating to May 2021 or later, according to a witness statement published by the Cabinet Office on Thursday and sent to the inquiry.

Jon Stone and Adam Forrest report:

“Wasting time” is not what those worst affected by Covid want to see from the government, the former justice secretary has said as he weighed in on the row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages to the official inquiry into ministers’ handling of the pandemic.

Sir Robert Buckland KC, the MP for Swindon South who held the justice brief under Mr Johnson, said Baroness Hallett, the former appeal court judge in charge of the inquiry, “has the power” to decide what is relevant, making the Cabinet Office’s legal bid “a fool’s errand”.

“This is wasting time…this is not what the victims and those who are really affected by the events of Covid crisis will want to see,” he told LBC radio. Listen to more of Mr Buckland’s interview below:

The government will likely lose its legal challenge against the Covid inquiry, a minister has predicted.

Science minister George Freeman, appearing on BBC Question Time, insisted the decision to launch judicial review proceedings was not a “cynical waste of time” but admitted he thought the prospect of success unlikely.

Dominic McGrath reports:

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live politics coverage.

We’ll be covering the ongoing row over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry, the suspension of a Labour MP accused of sexual harassment and the latest round of train strikes.

Stay tuned for updates on these and other stories from Westminster and elsewhere.

Our live coverage of the row over handing Boris Johnson’s Covid files to the inquiry is on hold for now. We will bring you further updates as soon as possible.

Labour former justice secretary Lord Falconer predicted the courts would reject the government’s “hopeless” challenge.

It was unarguably for the inquiry, not the Cabinet Office to decide the relevance of documents, he said.

Green MP Caroline Lucas said it was unforgivable of Mr Sunak to disrupt the inquiry this way, adding: “A huge insult to bereaved, NHS and care staff and us all.”