UK Asks Court To Curb Powers Of COVID Inquiry To See WhatsApp Messages
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government on Friday asked London’s High Court to stop a public inquiry into its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic forcing it to hand over some internal WhatsApp messages. Advertisement Britain’s Cabinet Office refused to provide WhatsApp messages concerning the government’s handling of the pandemic and other political issues earlier this month, saying some of the material sought was “unambiguously irrelevant”. The inquiry was ordered by the government itself in 2021 and is chaired by a former senior judge, Heather Hallett, who asked the government to provide two years’ worth of WhatsApp messages between senior figures, including former prime minister Boris Johnson and 40 different individuals. However, the Cabinet Office has brought a legal challenge over the inquiry’s demands, which its lawyer James Eadie told the court was brought “with some considerable reluctance”. He argued in court filings that documents relevant to the inq...