Zoom Image

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak: "Undoubtedly irrelevant" news and documents

Photo: Carl Court / AP

The British government is going to court in a dispute over WhatsApp messages from former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This was reported by the PA news agency after the deadline set by the Corona Committee of Inquiry to release the news and other documents had expired. The judges should examine whether the investigative body has the right to force the release of "undoubtedly irrelevant" messages and documents, according to a letter from the government agency Cabinet Office to the committee.

The committee, chaired by former judge Lady Heather Hallett, is to work through the controversial handling of the corona pandemic under Johnson. Hallett had given the Cabinet Office a deadline of 16 p.m. on Thursday to hand over the Conservative ex-prime minister's correspondence with key cabinet members and government officials from the time of the corona pandemic uncensored. Otherwise, she threatened with criminal consequences.

Johnson increases the pressure

The Cabinet Office had rejected the disclosure on the basis of the privacy of the persons concerned, but also initially stated that it was not in possession of the messages and notebooks, which were also requested. Johnson then increased the pressure on the government on Wednesday evening when he announced that he had handed over all the messages and notebooks to the Cabinet Office and called for them to be passed on to the committee uncensored.

There is speculation that current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak fears that his role in the pandemic could also be scrutinized again by the news. He was Minister of Finance at the time. Johnson, on the other hand, is said to have ambitions to return to the top of government.

The fact that in London even important agreements within the government are carried out via WhatsApp has been an open secret for a long time. Content from more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock had only been leaked to the public in March and had left him in need of explanation.

fek/kfr/dpa