UK court rejects a government bid to withhold Boris Johnson's messages from a COVID-19 inquiry

A U.K. court has rejected the British government’s request to keep former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from being made public at an official COVID-19 inquiry

LONDON -- A U.K. court on Thursday rejected the British government's request to keep former Prime Minister Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from being made public at an official COVID-19 inquiry.

The Cabinet Office took the unusual step of bringing a legal challenge after the retired judge chairing the inquiry into Britain's handling of the coronavirus pandemic ordered the Conservative government to release full copies of Johnson's documents.

Government officials argued that the inquiry did not have the legal power to force them to release documents and messages that they said were “unambiguously irrelevant” to how the government handled COVID-19.

But lawyers for the inquiry said the idea that civil servants could decide what material was relevant would undermine public confidence in the process.

The judges who ruled in the Cabinet Office's case said the requested documents included WhatsApp messages exchanged between officials who were dealing with COVID-19. They added that Johnson's diaries and notebooks were also “very likely to contain information about decision-making” relating to the pandemic.