Rishi Sunak has broken his silence over the 4pm deadline imposed by the Covid-19 Inquiry to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatApps messages and notebooks.
The PM said the government remained “confident in its position” – but declined to say whether the material would be handed over.
Mr Sunak also refused to rule out court action to block the Covid inquiry’s request.
Asked on his visit to Moldova whether the deadline would be followed, the PM said: “It’s really important we learn the lessons of Covid … We’re doing that in spirit of rigour but also of transparency and candour.”
Earlier, cabinet minister Grant Shapps appeared to pile pressure on the government to hand over Mr Johnson’s evidence by 4pm today or face a legal dispute.
The Cabinet Office had claimed it did not have access to Mr Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and private notebooks ahead of an earlier deadline on Tuesday.
But the former prime minister said on Wednesday that the material has been handed over to the government, urging the Cabinet Office to pass the contents on to Baroness Hallett’s official inquiry.
Grant Shapps suggests government should hand over WhatsApps
Cabinet minister Grant Shapps appeared to pile pressure on the government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApps messages and notebooks to the Covid-19 Inquiry.
The energy secretary said the inquiry should be able to “get on with its job” and there was “nothing to be shy or embarrassed about” when it came to ministers’ discussions on the Covid crisis.
“I think it’s really straightforward – we have to let the inquiry get on with its job,” Mr Shapps told TalkTV when asked if he was happy as Mr Johnson to hand over his messages.
“We were all trying to do our best under some extremely complex, difficult circumstances. So there is nothing to be shy or embarrassed about. We simply did the best job we could under the circumstances.
“There are things that we did that were good. Things will have gone wrong, naturally. The inquiry is there to get to the bottom of all of that.”
Asked if the inquiry should have whatever they want from him, Mr Shapps said: “Whatever they want.”
Brexit was ‘historic economic error’, says ex-US Treasury chief
Elsewhere, the former US Treasury chief Larry Summers has described Brexit as a “historic economic error” which has helped fuel high inflation in the UK.
The senior American economist also said he would be “very surprised” if Britain avoids a recession in through the next two years.
Mr Summers said Brexit and other policies means Britain’s economic woes are “frankly more acute than they are in most other major countries.”
“The UK economic policy has been substantially flawed for some years,” the former Treasury secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“Brexit will be remembered as a historic economic error that reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy, put downward pressure on the pound and upward pressure on prices, limited import goods and limited in some ways the supply of labour,” he said.
Mr Summers added: “All of which contributed to higher inflation.”
Adam Forrest reports:
Letters to the editor: Boris Johnson is a liar and a ‘say anything’ fantasist. Where are the 40 new hospitals – and where is he?
“Steve Barclay’s interview with Laura Kuenssberg confirmed – as if any confirmation were needed – that Boris Johnson, the architect of the fictitious Tory manifesto of the 2019 election that gave these greedy and anti-social people a massive parliamentary majority, is an unconscionable liar and a “say anything” fantasist. Where are the 40 new hospitals and where is he? Not doing the job of an MP the public pays him for.
He is bunking off on multiple holidays or lucrative lecture tours neglecting both parliament and his constituents with no such negligence in collecting the benefit of a publicly funded legal defence, his pay cheque or a future handsome pension. He also nurtures the traditional expectation of appointing cronies of similar merit to top up the already overstocked and unwieldy house of lords with more Tory icing; a convention and an institution that should, like himself, be consigned to history.”
In the tug of war over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, who is likely to win?
The chair of the inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic, Baroness (Heather) Hallett, has extended the deadline she set for the Cabinet Office – and in effect for Boris Johnson – to hand over unredacted documents including 24 of Johnson’s notebooks, his diaries and his WhatsApp messages. Originally they were due by 4pm on Tuesday 30 May, but they must now be submitted by Thursday 1 June.
Both the Cabinet Office and Johnson are resisting handing over the complete set of papers and electronic data, on the grounds that some of the contents are not relevant to the inquiry.
The Tories’ civil war looks set to intensify as the pro-Johnson faction goes head to head with both the chair of the Covid inquiry and the current leadership, writes Sean O’Grady:
Boris’s ‘ratty rat’ rage against Rishi Sunak could help bring the Tory government down – John Rentoul
Relations were bad before then, although Sunak has never been explicit about what it was about their approaches to the economy that were “fundamentally too different”, which he said contributed to his resignation.
Since then, Sunak has tried to avoid open warfare, well aware that Johnson has strong support among the grassroots members of the Conservative Party. That attempt at de-escalation seemed to be working. Only one in five Tory members now say that Johnson should take over as prime minister again before the next election, according to a self-selected straw poll for Conservative Home.”
The prime minister is trying to avoid all-out war with his predecessor, writes John Rentoul:
Revealed: Damning note from Britain’s top civil servant that ‘doomed’ Liz Truss
Meanwhile, Liz Truss was forced out of Downing Street by Britain’s top civil servant, it has been claimed.
The former prime minister, who lasted just 49 days in the job, was forced to resign in the wake of her disastrous mini-Budget. Tory MPs had turned on Ms Truss, calling for her to quit after her tax cuts sparked turmoil in financial markets.
But, according to a new account by one of her biographers, it was a note from civil service head Simon Case which “doomed” her premiership.
Archie Mitchell investigates:
The Covid inquiry has a fiendishly tough question on its hands: Can it trust Boris Johnson?
“In her more than half a century-long career as one of the country’s most distinguished criminal lawyers, you have to suspect that the Covid inquiry chair Baroness Hallett has had to contend with rather trickier conundrums than the one she currently faces. Which is this: do you trust Boris Johnson?
This is the question that’s making life difficult in Downing Street, as well as in wherever Johnson himself is currently hanging out (he spent the weekend at a summer fete in Henley, where he continues to deny he intends to stand for election next year, a lie so ridiculous it’s barely even a lie, at least not on his scale). But it’s not, one has to think, making life very difficult for Baroness Hallett.”
Who would ever be a politician ever again if all of your private messages are just going to be sent to a public inquiry and then published, presumably to great embarrassment? Tom Peck writes:
Government court action ‘increasingly likely’, says ex-legal chief
Sir Jonathan Jones, the government’s former legal chief, has said it was “looking increasingly likely” that the Cabinet Office would seek a judicial review to try to block the Covid Inquiry’s request for Boris Johnson’s messages and notebooks.
Sir Jonathan, who said the option would be “fun”, said it was “difficult” to see how a compromise could be reached before 4pm.
He said the Covid Inquiry chair could bring criminal proceedings for failure to comply with the notice if the deadline passes at 4pm – but described the scenario as “pretty extraordinary”.
Labour suspends veteran MP over claims he sexually harassed junior colleagues
Elsewhere, a long-serving Labour MP has been suspended over allegations he sexually harassed junior colleagues.
The party has launched an investigation over claims Geraint Davies gave five young female colleagues unwanted sexual attention, first reported by Politico.
The Swansea West MP has been administratively suspended from the party and had the whip removed pending the investigation.
Reporters spoke to more than 20 MPs and Labour staff who alleged a pattern of “excessive drinking, sexual comments and touching” by Davies dating back at least five years.
One former staffer alleged Mr Davies approached her, then aged 22, when she was “extremely drunk” before buying her a drink and suggesting they could go back to his flat. He then sent the woman a string of “sexually suggestive messages”, it is claimed.
Archie Mitchell writes:
Majority say Boris’ messages should be handed over
Three in five (61%) say Boris Johnson’s unredacted diary entries and WhatsApp messages should be handed over to the Covid Inquiry, according to a new Savanta poll.
Seven in ten (71%) say it is likely Rishi Sunak would have known if Mr Johnson had broken further lockdown restrictions.
Almost half (44%) say Partygate matters just as much now as it did when Mr Johnson was PM; 26% say it matters more, 25% less.
A third (29%) say Mr Johnson believed he was following lockdown rules; 59% say he knowingly broke the rules.
Chris Hopkins of Savanta said: “If perceptions remain negative, or even get worse, it seems difficult for Sunak and the government to pivot away from the controversy without directly throwing Johnson and his allies under the bus.”
