Actually, his controversial actions should be examined in the British Corona investigation. But the ex-prime minister succeeds in making the current government look bad.
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to hand over his WhatsApp messages from the time of the corona pandemic directly to an investigative committee. The British news agency PA reported today, citing a letter from the conservative politician to the panel. This is the end of a day-long tug-of-war over the chat history.
Johnson bypasses the current government of his party colleague Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Until recently, she had refused to hand over the ex-prime minister’s correspondence with government employees and cabinet colleagues without censorship.
The responsible authority, the Cabinet Office, allowed a deadline set by the investigative committee to expire yesterday, despite threats of criminal penalties, and announced that it would go to court. But that now seems pointless.
burden on the government
The investigation, led by former judge Lady Heather Hallett, is intended to deal with the controversial handling of the corona pandemic under Johnson. The focus should be on the actions of the ex-premier. But there is speculation that Sunak, who was finance minister at the time, and other cabinet members fear the news could cast them in a bad light.
But the government is already making a bad impression. The leader of the opposition Labor Party, Angela Rayner, spoke of a “desperate attempt to withhold evidence”. The lawyer for the bereaved organization Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, Elkan Abrahamson, accused the government of “complete disregard” of the investigation, as the BBC reported. According to the death certificate, almost 227,000 people in Great Britain died of Covid-19.
Chaos around the WhatsApp messages
Johnson continues to confront the government by sharing the WhatsApp messages. Unlike Sunak, he has little left to lose. He had to resign as prime minister last summer due to ongoing scandals. However, he is said to have ambitions to return to the top of the government.
Johnson had already exposed the government on Wednesday evening when he announced that he had handed over his WhatsApp messages and notebooks to the Cabinet Office and asked them to forward them to the commission of inquiry. Until then, the authority had stated that it was not in possession of the messages.
In his letter on Friday, he announced that he would deliver more WhatsApp messages if the government granted him access to an old cell phone. The 58-year-old had to shut down his mobile phone for security reasons in 2021 after it was revealed that he was using an old number that had been publicly available on the Internet for 15 years.
Johnson during the pandemic
Johnson’s record in the pandemic is very controversial. At first he downplayed the danger of the corona virus. For example, he publicly boasted that he shook hands with Covid patients. He later became ill himself and had to be treated in the intensive care unit.
He was very reluctant to impose lockdowns and then violated his own measures. A separate investigative committee in parliament is to clarify whether he lied to parliament in the so-called “Partygate” scandal. On the other hand, Johnson managed to portray the British vaccination campaign as a great success.
It has been an open secret for a long time that in London even important agreements within the government are settled via WhatsApp. Content from more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages from former Health Secretary Matt Hancock only became public in March and left him in need of explanation.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
