Johnson's still hiding messages from first year of the pandemic

Tories fight plea for disclosure

- BEN GLAZE

BORIS Johnson has not handed over WhatsApp messages from the crucial first months of the pandemic, it emerged last night. 

The ex-PM said he had given the Cabinet Office “all material” demanded by the Covid Inquiry, chaired by Baroness Heather Hallett.

However, the Cabinet Office said it had received messages from a phone Mr Johnson used from May 2021, 14 months after the first lockdown – but none from his previous phone.

Baroness Hallett last week asked for his unredacted WhatsApps from January 2020 to February 2022.

This week, the ex-PM’s office said: “All material requested by the Inquiry has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form. Mr Johnson urges the Cabinet Office to urgently disclose it to the Inquiry.”