COVID WHATSAPP GROUPS 'TO DISCUSS COFFEE ORDERS - NOT PANDEMIC POLICY'
Covid WhatsApp groups used by senior government figures were to discuss coffee orders, not pandemic policy, a former health minister has claimed.
Lord Bethell, who was responsible for life sciences between March 2020 and September 2021, insisted major decisions were made in formal meetings amid a row between the Government and the Covid inquiry.
The Cabinet Office is preparing to take the inquiry to court after Baroness Hallett, its chairman, demanded Boris Johnson’s unredacted messages from the time of the pandemic.
While Mr Johnson is now handing these over directly to the inquiry, ministers believe “important principles” including privacy are at stake and are refusing to cooperate with the release of “unambiguously irrelevant” information relating to people’s private lives.
‘Frothy material’
Asked if he was concerned about being asked to release his own messages, Lord Bethell told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Not really, because most of the WhatsApp messages are about coffee and who needs to have what kind of coffee for what kind of meeting. Most of this is about frothy material, not about meaningful decision-making.”
Pressed on whether any decisions were made or discussed on the platform, the Tory peer replied: “What I am saying is that the decision-making took place through the red box system with formal submissions by officials, minuted meetings between ministers and officials and an extremely well organised Whitehall machine.
“There is no way that big decisions were taken over WhatsApp. That was the claim made by people who were marketing stolen WhatsApps and it is just plain wrong and we should move on from it.”
Earlier this year, The Telegraph’s Lockdown Files – based on more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages between Matt Hancock, the former health secretary, and other ministers and officials – revealed the extent to which key policy areas were discussed on the platform.
Mr Hancock wrote in one group chat “let’s use this when we need to move fast”, while Mr Johnson was told it was not “worth an argument” with Nicola Sturgeon over face masks in school, prompting them to be introduced for the first time.
The investigation prompted the Information Commissioner’s Office to warn of the risks of senior politicians using the platform, especially around transparency.
‘Entirely within the rules’
Rishi Sunak’s press secretary said in March it was “not unusual” for Mr Sunak to communicate using WhatsApp, with his official spokesman adding: “The rules set out that ministers are able to discuss government business over text messages or WhatsApp, that’s entirely within the rules, understandably part and parcel of modern government.”
Downing Street insisted it was still a requirement for “substantive decisions” to be communicated to ministers’ private offices.
2023-06-05T10:45:59Z dg43tfdfdgfd