Great Britain
Dispute over Whatsapp messages: Johnson hands over data
Boris Johnson, ex-Prime Minister, communicated with government officials via Whatsapp during the Corona period. photo
© Frank Augstein/AP/dpa
It is an open secret that in London even important government agreements are settled via Whatsapp. News from the Corona period is currently causing controversy – with a surprising turnaround.
In the dispute over Whatsapp messages from former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, there was a surprising turn on Wednesday.
As a spokesman for the ex-prime minister said, Johnson handed over all Whatsapp messages and notebooks requested by an investigative body to the government agency Cabinet Office.
Johnson puts pressure on Sunak’s government
Johnson is thus putting the government of incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak under pressure to pass on the data uncensored, as requested by the Corona investigation committee. A deadline that actually expired at 5:00 p.m. CEST on Tuesday had previously been extended by 48 hours to Thursday. The Conservative government had refused to pass on the data in its entirety, but also claimed that it did not have it.
The independent investigative committee led by former judge Lady Heather Hallett is tasked with reviewing the controversial handling of the corona pandemic under Johnson. The current Prime Minister Sunak was Minister of Finance at the time. It is therefore speculated that he and other cabinet members fear that Johnson’s Whatsapp correspondence could also contain compromising material for them. Hallett had threatened the government with criminal consequences if the documents were not handed over.
It has been an open secret for a long time that in London itself important agreements within the government are made via Whatsapp. Content from more than 100,000 Whatsapp messages from former Health Minister Matt Hancock only became public in March and had left the ex-minister in need of explanation. A journalist who ghost-wrote for Hancock had forwarded the news to The Daily Telegraph newspaper.