LONDON – The United Kingdom government will have to hand over Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages, notebooks, and diaries by Monday after it lost a high court challenge brought by the country’s Covid-19 inquiry chairman, reported German news agency dpa.
In a judgement yesterday, Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham dismissed the government’s legal bid.
A spokesman for the inquiry said that chairman Lady Hallett was “pleased” the court had upheld her order and that former prime minister Johnson’s data and documents would be handed over.
Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats branded the high court judgement a “humiliating defeat” for the Conservative government.
Johnson was prime minister during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 before being deposed last year, partly because of illegal parties taking place in his Downing Street office when the UK was in lockdown.
He has since stood down as a lawmaker after a parliamentary committee ruled he had lied about the affair.
The inquiry is expected to last years and will look into the UK’s preparedness and response to the pandemic. – Bernama, July 7, 2023
