Rishi Sunak tells Covid inquiry he was not told to save WhatsApp messages

Rishi Sunak has said he was not advised that he should save WhatsApp messages from his phone, even after the Covid inquiry was set up, and he has no messages remaining from the pandemic period.

Giving evidence to the inquiry on Monday, the prime minister said he had changed his phone many times in recent years and never backed up his messages, a relatively straightforward process that many users do routinely.

The Guardian first reported in October that Sunak planned to tell the inquiry that he was unable to hand over messages from the Covid period, when he was chancellor, as he had failed to save them.

Elsewhere in his testimony, Sunak told the inquiry he could not recall details about the meetings in which the first lockdown was decided, or how much scrutiny was given to concerns the NHS could be overwhelmed.

Asked by Hugo Keith KC, the main inquiry counsel, about the missing messages, Sunak said: “I’ve changed my phone multiple times over the past few years, and as that has happened the messages have not come across.

“As you said, I’m not a prolific user of WhatsApp in the first instance, primarily communications with my private office, and obviously anything that was of significance through those conversations or exchanges has been recorded officially by my civil servants as one would expect.”

Asked if he had been advised that he should try to save messages, especially after Boris Johnson formally established the Covid inquiry in May 2021, Sunak said: “I don’t recall anyone in my office making that recommendation or observation to me at the time.”

Last week, Johnson confirmed to the inquiry that he had been unable to retrieve his own WhatsApp message for a crucial period at the start of the crisis, saying this appeared to be because his phone had been reset.

In other evidence on Monday, Sunak said he could not remember how ministers debated whether and when to put in place the first lockdown in March 2020, or how much debate focused on predictions that the NHS would be overwhelmed without one.

“I don’t remember those precise conversations,” he said, prompting Keith to observe: “This was of course one of the most momentous decisions in the history of this nation.”

Pressed by Keith about his memories of the decision on 23 March 2020 to impose a lockdown, and the cabinet meeting the next day, Sunak replied: “I can’t precisely recall that particular meeting.”

Sunak also said he had not seen the apparent dysfunction in Johnson’s Downing Street recounted by others, saying matters “felt fine to me”.

Sunak denied using private conversations with Johnson to push the Treasury view outside formal structures, while saying the “practical reality of being neighbours and sharing a garden” meant they would often chat informally.

He said: “It’s clearly impractical to think that every single conversation between two cabinet ministers can be recorded in that way. I think everyone would accept that.”

Sunak began his testimony by making a general apology to people affected by Covid, saying “how deeply sorry I am to all of those who lost loved ones, family members, through the pandemic, and also all those who suffered in various different ways throughout the pandemic and as a result of the actions that were taken”.

He added: “I’ve thought a lot about this over the past couple of years. It’s important that we learn the lessons so that we can be better prepared in the future. It’s in that spirit and with enormous respect for all of those who are affected that I’m here today.”