Boris Johnson says he'll give WhatsApps directly to Covid Inquiry in headache for Sunak

Boris Johnson has created a fresh headache for Rishi Sunak by saying he'll provide his WhatsApps and notepads directly to the Covid-19 Inquiry - in spite of Government legal action.

It is a fresh challenge to the struggling PM's authority as the row over Westminster's decision to launch a judicial review

Ministers are worried that allowing Baroness Heather Hallett - who is heading the Inquiry - access to unedited messages could cause embarrassment to key Government figures.

It would also set a huge precedent for future inquiries - but Mr Johnson says he's not prepared to become a "test case".

Instead he said he would be demanding his material back from the Cabinet Office so he can hand it over himself if it refuses to do so.

In a letter to Baroness Hallett, the former PM wrote: "The Government yesterday decided to take legal action.

"It was not my decision to do so. While I understand the Government's position, I am not willing to let my material become a test case for others when I am perfectly content for the inquiry to see it.

"I am therefore providing the material directly to your inquiry today in unredacted form."

Mr Johnson said he would ask for his unredacted notebooks back from the Cabinet Office and share them with the Covid inquiry if the Government refuses to do so.

He wrote: "I no longer have physical access to my notebooks because they were removed from my office by the Cabinet Office.

"I have asked that the Cabinet Office pass these to you. If the Government chooses not to do so, I will ask for these to be returned to my office so that I can provide them to you directly."

Baroness Heather Hallett, who chairs the inquiry, demanded un-redacted messages between January 2020 and February 2022, along with ministerial diaries and notebooks - warning officials could face criminal proceedings if they didn't comply.

Ministers resisted the request and, 67 minutes after the crossbench peer’s crunch deadline to surrender the documents yesterday, the Government confirmed it wanted a courtroom showdown.

“The Cabinet Office has today sought leave to bring a judicial review,” it said in a 1,382-word letter to the inquiry.

“We consider there to be important issues of principle at stake here, affecting both the rights of individuals and the proper conduct of government.

“The request for unambiguously irrelevant material goes beyond the powers of the Inquiry.”

Critics said it was "deeply worrying" that Rishi Sunak was prepared to splash taxpayers' cash to try to block the handover of evidence to an inquiry the Government set up itself.