That the government has got itself into a muddle over the disclosure of WhatsApp messages and diary entries relating to Boris Johnson to the Covid public inquiry is not in doubt. For days it has stated that it was unwilling and then unable to meet the demands of Baroness Hallett, the inquiry’s chair. On Wednesday 31 May Johnson made it clear that the Cabinet Office now has the information and that he does not object to it being shared.
The options for the government are limited. It could simply refuse to co-operate but that, ultimately, will lead to a finding of contempt of court. The government could seek to judicially review Hallett’s demands but most legal observers think the government would lose (and, by the way, the irony of a government elected on a manifesto suggesting that judicial review should be curtailed bringing and losing such a case would not be lost on anyone). Or the government could assent to Hallett’s demands.
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