Sir David Omand , who ran the UK intelligence agency before becoming permanent secretary of the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, criticised the way government was conducted in the pandemic and said future crises should be handled with "proper process".
Speaking in evidence to a new parliamentary inquiry and as the UK heads into a general election year, Omand said the complexities and nuances of "any decent strategic analysis ... cannot be conveyed in a WhatsApp exchange".
His intervention will put pressure on the government to ensure decisions are properly made and recorded. It will also fuel calls for Labour, which is ahead in the polls, to set out its plans.
Keir Starmer's party has pledged to overhaul the government ethics system and improve transparency but has not set out how it would rethink Whitehall's decision-making process and the business of government.
The inquiry into strategic thinking in government was ordered in the wake of the pandemic by the liaison committee, which holds the prime minister to account.
Omand, who is also a professor of war studies and senior adviser to a cyber-investment company, said ministers and officials often engaged in "gossip" and "informal exchanges" as they gathered for cabinet meetings, which helped them let off steam.
He said: "It is understandable that WhatsApp messages might fulfil a comparable function during lockdowns that limited much face-to-face contact.
"But to judge by the evidence now made public by the Covid-19 inquiry such exchanges (leaving aside the vile misogyny) had become the foreground means of forcing outcomes, not just sharing background mood music. That Covid rationale no longer applies, if it ever did. It is essential to have a proper decision-making process if we are to survive a crisis in good order."
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