UK government fights demand to hand over Boris Johnson’s messages to COVID-19 inquiry

By JILL LAWLESS
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — When Boris Johnson was U.K. prime minister, he established an independent inquiry into his government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the inquiry wants to see what Johnson wrote to other U.K. officials as the outbreak raged. But the government is fighting a demand to hand over the material. Inquiry chairwoman Heather Hallett has asked the government for full copies of Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks, after initially being given redacted versions. The government says it should not have to hand over material that is “unambiguously irrelevant” to the inquiry. Hallett, a retired judge, says all the material is potentially relevant. She has extended until Thursday a deadline for the government to hand over the documents or face further action.