Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Cover-up or incompetence?
In some ways I am not surprised by the revelation in today's Independent that one of Boris Johnson’s key aides turned messages to “disappear” in a key Covid WhatsApp group only weeks after the ex-PM promised a Covid public inquiry.
The level of chaos and incompetence that surrounded Johnson's regime was so great that anything was possible. And that is before we even consider the blatant profiteering associated with the government's VIP procurement lane, in which many friends and associates of Tory MPs won multi-million pound contracts.
The paper says that Martin Reynolds was grilled by the covid inquiry about switching the function to delete messages in the then-PM’s group April 2021,just after Mr Johnson announced an inquiry. Reynolds, who was Johnson’s principal private secretary, said he “cannot recall exactly why I did so” – before adding that he did not believe it was to “prevent” the inquiry having access to the messages:
The former No 10 official – dubbed “Party Marty” for his infamous ‘bring your own booze” drinks event email during Partygate – also said he was “deeply sorry” for his role in organising the garden party and Mr Johnson’s birthday gathering at No 10.
He said he was sorry for “my part in those events” and said he wanted to “apologise unreservedly to all the families of all those who suffered during Covid for all the distress caused”.
It also emerged that chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance blasted Mr Johnson’s “ridiculous flip-flopping” on key Covid decisions – calling the then-PM “weak and indecisive” and “all over the place and completely inconsistent”.
And in scathing evidence, the nation’s top civil servant Simon Case said in September 2020 saying Mr Johnson’s inconsistent made it “impossible” to tackle the Covid crisis – saying the PM “cannot lead”.
The cabinet secretary said: “I am at the end of my tether. The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day … IT HAS TO STOP!”
Mr Reynolds, grilled on why he had deleted messages, said he may have been worried about colleagues screenshotting the WhatsApp messages and leaking them to the media.
“I can speculate as to why I might have done it … It could, for example, have been because I was worried of someone screenshotting or using some of the exchanges and leaking them,” said Mr Reynolds.
The reference to Mr Johnson being “mad” was made in WhatsApp messages between Mr Case and Mr Reynolds from December 2021. Mr Case said: “PM is mad if he doesn’t think his WhatsApps will become public via Covid inquiry – but he was clearly not in the mood for that discussion tonight! We’ll have that battle in the new year.”
Government by WhatsApp is clearly reducing transparency and accountability. Surely it is time to insist that all such messages are archived in future, and not deleted, so that ministers can be properly held to account.
The level of chaos and incompetence that surrounded Johnson's regime was so great that anything was possible. And that is before we even consider the blatant profiteering associated with the government's VIP procurement lane, in which many friends and associates of Tory MPs won multi-million pound contracts.
The paper says that Martin Reynolds was grilled by the covid inquiry about switching the function to delete messages in the then-PM’s group April 2021,just after Mr Johnson announced an inquiry. Reynolds, who was Johnson’s principal private secretary, said he “cannot recall exactly why I did so” – before adding that he did not believe it was to “prevent” the inquiry having access to the messages:
The former No 10 official – dubbed “Party Marty” for his infamous ‘bring your own booze” drinks event email during Partygate – also said he was “deeply sorry” for his role in organising the garden party and Mr Johnson’s birthday gathering at No 10.
He said he was sorry for “my part in those events” and said he wanted to “apologise unreservedly to all the families of all those who suffered during Covid for all the distress caused”.
It also emerged that chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance blasted Mr Johnson’s “ridiculous flip-flopping” on key Covid decisions – calling the then-PM “weak and indecisive” and “all over the place and completely inconsistent”.
And in scathing evidence, the nation’s top civil servant Simon Case said in September 2020 saying Mr Johnson’s inconsistent made it “impossible” to tackle the Covid crisis – saying the PM “cannot lead”.
The cabinet secretary said: “I am at the end of my tether. The team captain cannot change the call on the big plays every day … IT HAS TO STOP!”
Mr Reynolds, grilled on why he had deleted messages, said he may have been worried about colleagues screenshotting the WhatsApp messages and leaking them to the media.
“I can speculate as to why I might have done it … It could, for example, have been because I was worried of someone screenshotting or using some of the exchanges and leaking them,” said Mr Reynolds.
The reference to Mr Johnson being “mad” was made in WhatsApp messages between Mr Case and Mr Reynolds from December 2021. Mr Case said: “PM is mad if he doesn’t think his WhatsApps will become public via Covid inquiry – but he was clearly not in the mood for that discussion tonight! We’ll have that battle in the new year.”
Government by WhatsApp is clearly reducing transparency and accountability. Surely it is time to insist that all such messages are archived in future, and not deleted, so that ministers can be properly held to account.
