Скачать или смотреть Boris Johnston's excuse for why 5,000 of his Covid Whatsapp messages went missing

Nearly six months of Boris Johnson’s Whatsapp messages, sent during the Covid-19 pandemic, are missing from the former prime minister’s old phone.

Johnson began two days of giving evidence to the Covid inquiry today, where he denied deleting the messages. His appearance has been the most eagerly awaited moment so far in an inquiry overseen by a former judge.

As reported in the Guardian in October, no WhatsApp messages from 31 January 2020 to 7 June that year, covering the arrival of the virus and the period leading up to and after the first lockdown, could be retrieved. The Times has now reported that technical teams have still been unable to access the messages.

A spokesperson for the former PM said: “Boris Johnson has fully cooperated with the inquiry’s disclosure process and has submitted hundreds of pages of material. He has not deleted any messages. The Times report refers to a technical issue in recovery of material that is for the technical team to address.”

While Johnson’s WhatsApp messages would most likely be a significant source of information for the current module of the inquiry, which is looking at government decision making, the hope is that the bulk of his messages will be retained by those to whom he sent them, who will have included them in their own evidence.

Johnson, who was PM between 2019-2022, stopped using the iPhone in question in May 2021 on security advice, after it emerged that his phone number had been accessible online for at least 15 years.

Some of the most eye-catching evidence seen so far has been from WhatsApp messages, including ones setting out the worries of people working with Johnson about his Downing Street operation.

Follow protests and accusations of a ‘toxic culture’ tap the link in bio to read seven key takeaways from his first session at the inquiry.

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