Boris Johnson has "forgotten his old phone code" so can't supply the messages

[cakeorwine]

Boris Johnson ‘has forgotten’ passcode for phone wanted by Covid inquiry | Covid inquiry | The Guardian

It's like getting blood out of a stone.
First he was late to supply the messages.
Then he forgets his passcode.

I am sure there are ways to get in to it.

Baroness Hallett believes that the Inquiry needs to review the WA messages. The court agreed with her interpretation of the Inquiry Act (as did every other legal commentator).

Hansard doesn't record how a Government develops and refines policy.

I think we should leave her to get on with the job the Government charged her to do.

He should try his kids' birthdays.

Oh.

You only get ten tries, don't you?

I know - I'm saying I don't care how a government develops policy. They can do it based on reading star signs for all I care.

We are free to vote them out if we think the policies thus developed are stupid.

And we have mechanisms to censure them if the policies this developed contravene other laws or guardrails.

But that's nothing to do with how they decide on the policies.

"I'm saying I don't care how a government develops policy."

And what I am saying is that we can learn from how they developed policy and improve on it wherever we can.

It's no good concentrating on the cooked sausage - you need to know what's gone in to it.

Tbh I'm probably being a bit argumentative. Sorry. I do agree with you @Notonthestairs . It is very interesting to understand the factors that went into the decision-making.

I just find the relentless reporting on who sent WhatsApps to whom to be very frustrating, making it seem like some kind of Princess Diana-esque tabloid drama. I felt the same way about the month of reporting we had on which type of cake was served at which No. 10 office party.

The Covid Inquiry want access to the whatsapp messages from a group chat that was set up to discuss the pandemic response.

If Johnson and the Government had just handed over the phone when asked, this would not have been news.

Same with the 'cake', if Johnson hadn't lied about it, it would all have died down very quickly.

I want to press on this.

Why do we have the right to see their internal deliberations?

"Boris Johnson takes liberties with the truth" is hardly a ground-breaking discovery justifying the effort of an inquiry.

Why do we have the right to see their internal deliberations?

Because they represent us.

Integrity, Accountability and Professionalism

He should wake up in a darkened room chained to a radiator with a tv flickering into life "we are going to play a game...."

"Boris Johnson takes liberties with the truth" is hardly a ground-breaking discovery justifying the effort of an inquiry.

The implication here is that it's kind of salicious, salivating, dumb down, nosey, gossipy need going on here.

Rather than just for bloody once giving a straight answer to a straight request like the rest of us mugs have to.

"Boris Johnson takes liberties with the truth" is hardly a ground-breaking discovery justifying the effort of an inquiry.

The implication here is that it's kind of salicious, salivating, dumb down, nosey, gossipy need going on here.

Rather than just for bloody once giving a straight answer to a straight request like the rest of us mugs have to.

Love it ! 😂

We have the right to see their internal deliberations because they govern us.

I certainly think if the information had been supplied as requested the WA messages wouldnt have become a news story. Its background information. Nothing will be released that isnt pertinent to the Inquiry and lots wont be released even where it is pertinent, not even to interested parties. I dont think Hallett is interested in a hatch job - thats certainly not her remit.

Its the resistance to providing the information, redacting information, Johnson suggesting he was willing to supply unredacted what the Cabinet Office wasn't, the Cabinet Office testing the legislation (against legal advice I suspect) and then Johnson's subsequent failure to recall his number - combined it is newsworthy.

I hope what we end up with is a greater understanding of how to got to where we were (not sure that makes sense but you get my drift). Fail to prepare, prepare to fail etc.

We're not having that debate because we can't because Johnson and this Tory government haven't handed over the phone.

Yes, it is important.

So stop trying to save Johnson's blushes. Or Hancock's blushes. Or Sunak's, or whoever else is trying to weasel out of something.

The material isn't being given to a newspaper to cherry pick embarrassing half-quotes out of context. It's going to the inquiry's lawyers for sifting relevant material.

You and I can have a perfectly coherent conversation about lockdown or care homes or EOTHO or border restrictions without once glancing at a WhatsApp message so I don't understand why the inquiry can't.

The judge who is leading the enquiry wants them.
The court agrees she should have them.

That should be enough for you.

Once again you are concentrating on the method of communication (WA) rather than the content (policy development, updates & decision making).

@Middlelanehogger we don't have a right to see these things, at least until it's decided we can. Hallett does. The first part of the Covid enquiry is to look at how well the government were prepared. To do this she thinks she needs to.know what else was occupying their collective minds.this seems reasonable to me.

Johnson is deliberately trying to stop her doing so, in my view. Couldn't be anything to do with, for example, the number of cobra meetings he missed, I'm account of the fact he was v v busy writing a book.

My thoughts exactly!

The police can break into any phone.

James O'Brien predicted he would not be able to remember the passcode about an hour before the breaking news! Very funny clip, either couldn't remember the passcode or had lost his thumb!

twitter.com/lbc/status/1679469982923497472?s=46

But low & behold the Cabinet Office has the pass code for the phone!

What's he going to come up with next?