Government War on Transparency Threatens COVID Inquiry: What We Learnt from this Week’s Hearing

The Government currently has hold of Boris Johnson’s old phone – which contains potentially thousands of messages between him and other key figures on the handling of Coronavirus in the crucial first year of the pandemic. 

It comes as the official probe into the Government’s handling of the pandemic finds itself embroiled in a bitter fight over access to crucial evidence, as the Cabinet Office withholds key documents relating to former Prime Minister Johnson’s tenure – while mounting a legal challenge against the inquiry’s demands for unredacted materials.

The Government says it needs to redact materials it deems “unambiguously irrelevant” to the inquiry. 

The ousted former PM was forced to abandon his old phone in May 2021 when it emerged that his number was available on the internet on the press release of a think tank from around 2006. Neither Johnson nor the COVID Inquiry have the expertise to safely download the phone’s contents, the inquiry heard. 

It has now been agreed that the Cabinet Office will take responsibility for handling the phone and accessing its material in a secure environment. But the arrangement has raised concerns about the integrity of the process – given the department’s current legal challenge against the inquiry over redactions. The High Court hearing over ministers’ refusal to provide full, unredacted materials is expected to take place at the end of the month. 

The battle over Johnson’s information involves conversations with currently serving ministers including PM Rishi Sunak, with opposition figures claiming there is a “cover-up” underway at the heart of government over potentially embarrassing messages. 

COVID bereaved families say the Government’s actions raise major serious concerns about transparency in the pursuit of accountability after the pandemic.

The Welsh and Scottish Governments indirectly criticised the Cabinet Office’s stance – pledging to respect a “duty of candour” and the importance of full transparency.

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Palpable Anger

During the course of the day’s proceedings, the lead counsel for the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC, expressed his intense disappointment and frustration with the Cabinet Office’s apparent lack of cooperation. 

He demanded that the Cabinet Office clarify its position on unrestricted access to Johnson’s notebooks, diaries, and his old phone by the end of the week. 

“We are under very severe constraints of time,” he said. “And we are now of course actively engaged in litigation against the Cabinet Office in the High Court.  They have had ample time to make their position clear.”

The condemnation directed at the Cabinet Office was dryly acknowledged by chair Baroness Hallett, who welcomed its lawyer with “not the most popular brief today”. 

Asked for clarity on whether Johnson’s old phone messages would be redacted by the Cabinet Office, the department’s lawyer said: “The position is that the Cabinet Office is working out its position”. 

“Right,” replied chair Baroness Hallett. 

The Government’s lawyer would also not confirm whether officials would attempt to redact the former PM’s diaries – which would be farcical as Johnson has offered to give them to the inquiry in unredacted form. 

Hugo Keith KC said: “I would invite [the chair] to order that by the end of this week, given the amount of correspondence which has gone to and fro, for the Cabinet Office to formally indicate what its position is in relation to unrestricted that is to say unredacted access to the notebooks [and old phone] belonging to Mr. Johnson.”

Baroness Hallett went on to issue the demand for clarity from the Government, saying: “Very well. I make the directions that you seek and I expect those matters to be resolved by the end of the week.”

Speaker after speaker representing bereaved families berated the Government for obstructing the inquiry and its chair, Baroness Hallett. 

The inquiry also heard that Rule 9 requests for documents have been issued to a host of senior former and current ministers, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former Deputy PM Dominic Raab, and former Health and Social Care Secretary Matt Hancock, as well as Liz Truss and others.

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Damaging Delays

The timing of their challenge, just before the inquiry’s official start, threatens to delay the process, causing frustration among the COVID bereaved families. Calls have been made for a statutory “duty of candour” to ensure the Government’s full cooperation.

Delays and inadequate responses ha