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Friday 2 June 2023

Important principles at stake



Boris Johnson to bypass Cabinet Office and hand over unredacted messages directly to COVID inquiry

Boris Johnson says he has sent "all unredacted WhatsApps" directly to the COVID inquiry ahead of a legal clash between the probe and the Cabinet Office over access to the messages.

The move means Mr Johnson is bypassing the Cabinet Office, which has launched a legal challenge against the request from the inquiry to hand over the material in unredacted form.

The Cabinet Office said there are "important principles at stake" - such as the issue of privacy.



It's a slightly odd situation this - inside information would be required to make complete sense of it. As ever, a touch of cynicism seems indicated. 

Maybe the WhatsApp information goes some way to counteract a Cabinet Office desire to pin as much blame as possible on Boris. In which case, one of the "important principles" is that civil servants are never responsible when schemes go pear-shaped.

2 comments:

Sam Vega said...

That sounds very likely. It's more probable that some authoritarian group in the Civil Service put pressure on him, as he generally comes across as an unprincipled libertarian. He never showed the slightest interest in science or restricting people's freedoms.

A K Haart said...

Sam - there are suggestions that the messages show Sunak in a poor light, but the civil service seems more likely.