Deadline looms to release Boris Johnson messages in Whitehall Covid inquiry clash

The government has just a few hours to hand over Boris Johnson’s messages and diaries before it faces being dragged to court by its own Covid-19 inquiry.

Ministers have until 4pm on Tuesday to respond to a demand by the inquiry to turn over the official records showing what was going on in government during the pandemic.

The government has so far refused to release some material, claiming it is “unambiguously irrelevant” to the inquiry – but Baroness Hallett, who is leading the probe, says she needs to see it.

Mr Johnson is reported to have cited national security and argued that releasing his diaries would breach government rules on disclosure.

But the reluctance to release the material comes amid further allegations against the ex-PM regarding breaches of lockdown, apparently gleaned from an examination of the diaries.

Some of Mr Johnson’s entries were referred to police by the Cabinet Office earlier this month amid concerns that he received visitors in his country mansion Chequers in breach of Covid rules.

The Johnson camp claims the referrals to the police are a “political stitch-up” but government sources have dismissed those claims as “rather tedious”.

The ex-PM’s former deputy chief of staff told Independent TVthis week that the scandal risks being the “last nail in the coffin” of Mr Johnson’s political career.

Cleo Watson, who says she was like a “nanny” to the former PM during the Covid lockdown, warned that “dozens” more people could face investigations if the police decide to launch a fresh inquiry into alleged Covid breaches at Chequers.

The Independent understands that no decision has yet been taken on whether to disclose the requested material to the Covid-19 inquiry, which was set up by Mr Johnson himself in May 2021.

The Cabinet Office has already provided more than 55,000 documents, 24 personal witness statements and eight corporate statements to the inquiry.

But the inquiry is also seeking unredacted messages between Mr Johnson and a host of government figures, civil servants and officials.

The list includes England’s chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty, as well as then-chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance.

Messages with then-foreign secretary Liz Truss and then-health secretary Matt Hancock are also requested, as well as with former top aide Dominic Cummings and then-chancellor Rishi Sunak.

The inquiry had also asked for “copies of the 24 notebooks containing contemporaneous notes made by the former prime minister” in “clean unredacted form, save only for any redactions applied for reasons of national security sensitivity”.

Baroness Hallett has said it will be for the inquiry to judge the material’s relevance and that even messages and diaries not relating to Covid-19 could show whether the inquiry was distracted by other matters during the national emergency.

The government’s position is that the inquiry does not have the power to compel the release of irrelevant material. It could seek a judicial review of the inquiry’s notice to disclose the info.

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to our obligations to the Covid-19 inquiry. As such, extensive time and effort has gone into assisting the inquiry fulsomely over the last 11 months.

“We will continue to provide all relevant material to the inquiry, in line with the law, ahead of proceedings getting underway.”