Top Tory Steve Barclay has insisted the Government trusts the Covid Inquiry chairwoman - despite trying to block the release of unredacted WhatsApps to her.
The Health Secretary also claimed Rishi Sunak's Government "stands ready to fully comply" with Baroness Heather Hallett's probe just days after launching a costly legal battle.
Last week the Cabinet Office launched a judicial review - estimated to cost well into the six figures - seeking to block the disclosure of WhatsApp messages from ex-PM Boris Johnson.
The messages include correspondence with dozens of Cabinet ministers and senior officials involved in the Government's response to the pandemic, including Mr Sunak.
Yesterday Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Hallett stood by her request and stressed it was for her to decide what information is relevant to the inquiry, not the Cabinet Office.
Tackled on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on whether he and the Prime Minister trusts Baroness Hallett, Mr Barclay replied: "Yes, I do.
"I think we're extremely fortunate in this country with the quality of the judiciary and in particular in this question, so that is not in question at all."
He added: "I think there is huge support for the Inquiry - that's why the Government has set it up for those who lost loved ones during the pandemic. The Government stands really to fully comply with the Inquiry .
The Health Secretary also defended the court action against the Inquiry - attempting to frame it as the Cabinet Office seeking a "clarification" on "some small technical questions".
He said the inclusion of WhatsApp messages and their use within Government is a "new area" for a public inquiry.
Mr Barclay said: "It's the courts that will decide where the boundaries are. Wherever those boundaries are set by the court then the Government will comply with that."
The PM denied he's trying to stop WhatsApps being handed to the Covid Inquiry as he's embarrassed about what his own messages contain.
Speaking on a trip to Washington, Mr Sunak was asked by the BBC whether he was worried about something embarrassing him.
He said: "No, not at all. I am cooperating and providing information to the inquiry.
"It's actually taking a lot of my own time, but that's right that I do that.
"But obviously there's a legal proceeding ongoing on one particular thing at the moment, which I can't comment on, but more broadly, the work that the inquiry is doing is important and necessary, and those involved should cooperate in a spirit of candour and transparency.
"That's what I'm doing and that's what the Government's doing."
Asked whether he was happy for all messages to go forward to the inquiry without black marks being put through them, he replied: "As I've said, it's important for me and others to cooperate with the inquiry in a spirit of candour and transparency.
"That's what I'm doing. And I'm spending a lot of my time on it because it is important that we learn the lessons of Covid. Beyond that, because of the legal proceedings that are ongoing. I can't comment any further."
During a session of Deputy Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Angela Rayner accused the Government of wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds on "loophole" lawyers in the legal fight with the Covid inquiry.
She said: "He pretends that it's complicated but it's simple. They set up the inquiry to get to the truth, then blocked that inquiry from getting the information that it asked for and now they're taking it to court.
"I know he considers himself a man of the people, so using his vast knowledge of working class Britain, does he think working people will thank him for spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of their money on loophole lawyers, just so the Government can obstruct the Covid inquiry?"
Deputy PM Oliver Dowden said the Government will provide the inquiry with all documents requested.
But he added they will protect "what is wholly and unambiguously irrelevant because essential (she) is calling for years worth of documents and messages between named individuals to be in scope and that could cover anything from civil servants' medical conditions to intimate details about their families."
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