Covid inquiry: Rishi Sunak urged by bereaved families to hand over WhatsApps and not be ‘antagonist’

Families who lost loved ones during the pandemic have urged Rishi Sunak not to be an “antagonist” to the Covid inquiry amid a row over which messages the government should provide as evidence.

The Cabinet Office last week launched an unprecedented legal challenge against its own public inquiry as it argued that ministers should not have to hand over messages, WhatsApps, and other material that it has deemed “unambiguously irrelevant” to Covid-19. It said in a statement that it initiated the judicial review with “regret”, but insisted there were “important issues of principle at stake” - such as the right to privacy.

However, speaking at a press conference on Monday (5 June), the Covid-19 Bereaved Families Justice group argued that this stance has made the government an “antagonist” to the Covid inquiry. Spokesperson Lobby Akinnola, whose father died after contracting the virus in April 2020, said: “I want to ask the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Office, ‘do you want to be a contributor to the inquiry, or do you want to be an antagonist?”

“I understand the request for a right to privacy, I do. But I would just like Rishi Sunak to consider - is it really worth stopping the Covid inquiry seeing a few text messages when you hold the lives of the nation in your hands?”

He then urged the Prime Minister to give Baroness Hallett, the inquiry chair, all the evidence she is asking for, as “we need to do everything we can to save lives in the future”. The campaigner added: “The government has damaged public trust post-Covid, but there are ways to re-build that. The best apology they can give is a commitment to change.”

The debate over which evidence the government should be forced to submit to the Covid inquiry began when Hallett asked to see Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApps, messages, and notebooks written during the pandemic. The former Prime Minister said he was “more than happy” to oblige - but the Cabinet Office looked to block the evidence, launching a legal challenge over the request.

However, Johnson then announced he’d send “all unredacted WhatsApps” directly to the Covid inquiry, bypassing the Cabinet Office entirely. He said he was “not willing to let my material become a test case for others”, in an apparent reference to government concerns that handing over Johnson’s files could mean other ministers - such as Sunak - are forced to do the same.

Also present at the press conference was Stuart Tuckwood - an ex-nurse who returned to the NHS to help during the pandemic. He stressed that the government being “transparent, open, and honest” is essential when it comes to the Covid inquiry if there is “any hope that lessons can be learnt.”

He told NationalWorld: “It’s disheartening because so far I have seen no indication that the government has learnt any lessons post-pandemic.

“During Covid-19, ministers promised to give the NHS everything it needs to better tackle another crisis in the future, but since the pandemic, staff shortages continue, there’s more burnout than ever, and healthcare workers have had to take strike action just to get the government to talk to them.”

Mr Tuckwood, who now works as National Officer for Nursing at the Unison union, added: “It’s also worth noting that all the issues in the NHS that came to the surface during Covid were there before. We were asking for help, and no one listened. So there’s a fear the same mistakes will be made again.”

The Cabinet Office has said that it “fully supports the important and necessary work of the Inquiry as it seeks to establish the facts and learnings to be had from the UK’s experience of Covid” - and has promised to “continue to work closely with the Inquiry” and “provide all relevant information”.

But it’s concerned that some of the requests for material “represent an intrusion into (ministers’) legitimate expectations of privacy and protection of their personal information.” It also worries that disclosing all messages might mean - in future - ministers don’t feel able to speak freely if their communications may be aired publicly years later.

In a letter to the Covid inquiry, the Cabinet Office also said it has already submitted over 55,000 documents as evidence.