What is the standoff between Covid inquiry and Cabinet Office about?

Wrangling over Boris Johnson’s notebooks and WhatsApp messages continues in earnest, with the government and the official Covid inquiry locked in a standoff over what should be shared.

What has the inquiry asked for?

A vast trove of documents was requested by Heather Hallett, the chair of the public inquiry into the government’s handling of Covid.

On 28 April, she ordered the Cabinet Office to hand over all messages on the phones of Johnson and a No 10 aide, Henry Cook, concerning the pandemic. These included WhatsApp messages sent from and to other senior figures in government – stretching from ministers, such as the then chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to special advisers, such as Dominic Cummings, and officials all the way up to cabinet secretary level.

Lady Hallett originally set a deadline of 12 May, but the Cabinet Office pushed back and asked her to reconsider. A new deadline was set of 4pm on 30 May, but that too has been pushed back, to 1 June.

Why did the government object?

Though Hallett specifically said she wanted the “entire contents” of the documents, the Cabinet Office disagreed with what information was deemed relevant to her inquiry.

Normally, communications between ministers – which in previous generations would have been committed to a letter or fax – stay secret. The “30-year rule” ensures that no such messages would see the light of day until long after several administrations have come and gone. It is argued that this ensures ministers and officials have the privacy to discuss and debate policies.

A public inquiry has rights to request more contemporaneous information, but it must be judged to be “potentially relevant”. The Cabinet Office disagreed with Hallett that information it redacted was relevant. It is also nervous about sharing such an extensive set of messages with a non-government body, potentially losing control of its ability to guarantee the confidentiality of the contents.

The Covid inquiry will not necessarily publish every piece of evidence it receives, however.

How could the impasse be broken?

The Cabinet Office admitted at the last minute before the latest deadline that it did not have Johnson’s notebooks or his WhatsApp messages.

Hallett has given it two more days to comply, setting a new deadline of 4pm on Thursday. She has also demanded a senior civil servant give a statement setting out further facts. Hallett wants the Cabinet Office to produce any correspondence with Johnson and his office about the notebooks and WhatsApps, and say whether it has been in possession of the notebooks at any time over the past three months. She also wants answers over whether the messages by Johnson were on a personal or government device.

Jonathan Jones, a former head of the government legal department, has suggested there are several possible outcomes. He said the inquiry could cave and not pursue the information, reach a compromise with the government so that some information is handed over while other bits remain redacted, or see legal action launched against it by the Cabinet Office.

Other potential outcomes, Jones added, included the inquiry starting criminal proceedings against the government for failing to reply or seeking an enforcement order from the high court.

What role is the Cabinet Office minister playing?

Relations have broken down between Johnson and the Cabinet Office after lawyers supporting him during the Covid inquiry felt obliged to refer some details in the former prime minister’s diaries to police.

Oliver Dowden is the deputy prime minister and the most senior minister in the Cabinet Office. Given Hallett has specifically requested Johnson’s messages with other ministers, he is likely to be nervous about irking colleagues by agreeing to hand over their WhatsApp messages, too.