'A Covid cover-up'

Tories accused as evidence of Johnson's pandemic texts and notes goes missing

- BEMGLAZE

MINISTERS were last night accused of a Covid Inquiry cover-up after Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp texts and notebooks apparently vanished. 

The Cabinet Office claimed it no longer held the material, parts of which it had insisted were irrelevant anyway.

Lib Dem Daisy Cooper said: “This will raise suspicions of a Tory cover-up.”

Last night grieving relatives of those killed by the virus demanded the texts and notebooks be handed over.

Officials had faced a 4pm deadline yesterday to give inquiry chair Baroness Heather Hallett, 73, the former PM’s messages, parts of which government lawyers wanted redacted.

But just hours before that the Cabinet Office insisted it did not have the material. Covid - 19 Bereaved Families for Justice spokeswoman Susie Flintham said: “The lengths the Cabinet Office are going to in order to stop Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and diaries from being shared with the Covid Inquiry should alarm everyone.

“This inquiry needs to get to the facts if it is to learn lessons to help save lives.

“So why are the Cabinet Office standing in their way? Our members are wondering what they are hiding.”