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Boris Johnson: help from experts

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP

According to a spokesman, British ex-Prime Minister Boris Johnson can now hand over the WhatsApp messages of his old mobile phone to an investigative body. The 59-year-old had allegedly forgotten the pin code to the mobile phone.

"Boris Johnson is glad that technical experts have now made all relevant news from the device accessible again," his spokesman said on Friday. As stated several times, he will now hand over the material unedited.

Sunak's refusal

Johnson's WhatsApp messages have been the subject of tug-of-war for a long time. They are to be submitted to a committee to assess how well the government at the time reacted to the corona pandemic.

Although it is likely to be mainly about Johnson's actions, the conservative politician had announced that he wanted to hand over the news to the committee. However, the government of his party colleague Rishi Sunak had refused to hand over correspondence with government employees and cabinet colleagues uncensored.

It is speculated that Sunak – then finance minister – and other cabinet members fear that they could be seen in a bad light by the news. A court ultimately ruled that the government must hand over Johnson's chat messages, calendars and notebooks unredacted.

Forgot your code?

The Times newspaper and the BBC recently reported that some of the news had not yet been handed over because Johnson could not remember the password of his old mobile phone with 100 percent certainty. According to the report, he had been advised in 2021 for security reasons not to use the cell phone during his reign because his number had been publicly available on the Internet for years.

The Times reported that there was concern that the device could be automatically deactivated and the contents erased if an incorrect code was entered.

Johnson's spokesman now emphasized that it had always been the case that Johnson had wanted to pass on the material and help restore it. This is now followed by a security check at the central government authority, which is responsible for the further course of events.

PTZ/dpa