As with everything else involving Boris Johnson, theatricality looms large in the dispute over whether his WhatsApps, diaries and notebooks should be released without redaction to the official Covid-19 inquiry. The Cabinet Office had until 4pm on Thursday to comply with a demand from the inquiry chair, Lady Hallett, to hand them all over. After the deadline passed, the standoff soon morphed into a high-stakes court challenge by ministers. Apart from anything else, this means further delays to an already slow inquiry process.
This dispute could have been seen coming. Ever since Lady Hallett was appointed in 2021 to conduct what Mr Johnson called “a forensic and thoroughgoing” inquiry into the UK’s response to the pandemic, it was blindingly clear that she would need to see all the evidence about the government’s handling. Since Lady Hallett was appointed under the Inquiries Act 2005, it was also clear that she had the powers to compel witnesses and evidence. Her moral position was strengthened further this week when Mr Johnson handed all his papers to the Cabinet Office and said they should be passed to the inquiry.
