Has the Cabinet Office complied with Heather Hallett’s request?

www.assets.publishing.service.gov.Uk
18 pages
The King on the application of the Cabinet Office
Claimant
and
The chair of the Uk Covid 19 inquiry
Defendant
And
Mr Henry Cook
Rt Hon Boris Johnson
Interested parties

This vaguely amused me…. The King … quaint really?

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

Oh yes.

They will save the lefty lawyers for when/if it goes to court.

Weirdly - apparently it will mean a junior making legal judgement on the Baroness

This covid enquiry has been set up in the hope that huge lessons will be learned so that future governments can avoid the level of deaths and chaos that the U.K. went through.

This government is trying to thwart this.

I feel v concerned about government by WhatsApp if that’s what this is.
Have been out of the loop and only just realised that this seems to be about more than partying at Chequers.
Won’t perusing all this add endlessly to the enquiry? And won’t the revealing of ill-considered unedifying casual remarks just add to the anguish of the bereaved without achieving anything?

Please can someone bring me up to speed? Thanks

This is the Covid Inquiry, not the investigations into Johnson's lawbreaking (although there is an overlap).

That's why Cameron, Osborn and Hunt (in his former role as Health Secretary) have been called, to find out how prepared the country was for a pandemic and what could be done in the future to prepare better.

It's about the strategy which was being followed and the contracts which were handed out and so on.

I think the judge is wise and experienced enough to recognise a casual remark which had no bearing on outcomes. But that's up to her to decide, not the Cabinet.

Thank you, growstuff! Got it now. And yes, I agree that Lady Hallett seems very competent. Though returning to my orig point, it’s surely v worrying if decisions were taken just via WhatsApp. It would be a mistake if this is allowed to take years.

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

You might think this Labour MP suspension is " not in the same league". I beg to differ. According to press hecis accused of " incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour". Suppose the fact fact that Labour whips , made aware of said allegations, ignored warnings, and took no action doesn't matter either. This seems so much more serious than the Cabinet Office refusing to hand over what's app messages, due to what they say are security reasons. Wouldn't you say ? No let's bash the Gov, and turn a blind eye to Labour shenanigans.

Freya5

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

You might think this Labour MP suspension is " not in the same league". I beg to differ. According to press hecis accused of " incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour". Suppose the fact fact that Labour whips , made aware of said allegations, ignored warnings, and took no action doesn't matter either. This seems so much more serious than the Cabinet Office refusing to hand over what's app messages, due to what they say are security reasons. Wouldn't you say ? No let's bash the Gov, and turn a blind eye to Labour shenanigans.

What I meant Freya5 is that there is not a national, very high profile inquiry into the very inappropriate behaviour of one MP.
In fact, there must have been at least five similar incidents in this parliament, involving MPs of all political persuasions.
There is just no comparison of the gravity of the two issues.

Casdon

Freya5

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

You might think this Labour MP suspension is " not in the same league". I beg to differ. According to press hecis accused of " incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour". Suppose the fact fact that Labour whips , made aware of said allegations, ignored warnings, and took no action doesn't matter either. This seems so much more serious than the Cabinet Office refusing to hand over what's app messages, due to what they say are security reasons. Wouldn't you say ? No let's bash the Gov, and turn a blind eye to Labour shenanigans.

What I meant Freya5 is that there is not a national, very high profile inquiry into the very inappropriate behaviour of one MP.
In fact, there must have been at least five similar incidents in this parliament, involving MPs of all political persuasions.
There is just no comparison of the gravity of the two issues.

All these have lost the whip for sexually related incidents:
Chris Pincher
Rob Roberts
Julian Knight
Christian Matherson
Patrick Grady
Neil Parish
Paul Warburton
Imran Khan

More than five. Just since 2019

Freya5 not everyone is bashing the government. I am finding some aspects quite hilarious - case law refers to Peruvian Guano (1882) - I think it’s about what can be seen to be relevant to the review which may or may not help the evidence either way. Or something like this.
On the other hand, since Boris Johnson actually agreed to revealing his WhatsApp messages to the judge, I don’t understand quite what is going on since he chose not to be aggrieved by disclosure. So in what way is BJ an interested party?
I wonder what will happen next.

But Johnson hasn't hadn't over all his WhatsApp messages. He changed his phone some time in 2021 after his phone number was leaked. Apparently, he used his own phone (against government rules) and is now refusing to hand that phone over. There are about 18 months of messages relating to Covid on that phone.

Growstuff I read that BJ doesn’t have the phone in question and that he gave it to an unknown government department.
Bit of a mystery. So who does have it and why won’t they release it to the judge?

Casdon

Casdon

Freya5

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

You might think this Labour MP suspension is " not in the same league". I beg to differ. According to press hecis accused of " incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour". Suppose the fact fact that Labour whips , made aware of said allegations, ignored warnings, and took no action doesn't matter either. This seems so much more serious than the Cabinet Office refusing to hand over what's app messages, due to what they say are security reasons. Wouldn't you say ? No let's bash the Gov, and turn a blind eye to Labour shenanigans.

What I meant Freya5 is that there is not a national, very high profile inquiry into the very inappropriate behaviour of one MP.
In fact, there must have been at least five similar incidents in this parliament, involving MPs of all political persuasions.
There is just no comparison of the gravity of the two issues.

All these have lost the whip for sexually related incidents:
Chris Pincher
Rob Roberts
Julian Knight
Christian Matherson
Patrick Grady
Neil Parish
Paul Warburton
Imran Khan

More than five. Just since 2019

I agree with this analysis of the different offences and importance.

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/keith-vaz-hospital-parliament-suspend-mp-labour-cocaine-prostitute-mental-health-a9175546.html

ronib

Growstuff I read that BJ doesn’t have the phone in question and that he gave it to an unknown government department.
Bit of a mystery. So who does have it and why won’t they release it to the judge?

I haven't a clue!

Ask somebody in the Department for Smoke and Mirrors!

I don't suppose somebody is playing games!

Maybe he gave it to that bloke in a dirty mac who came round one evening and said he was from MI5 and would get rid of any incriminating evidence.

No, he was wearing that cat food delivery outfit, for Larry.

I don’t think Boris Johnson knows how to access the WhatsApp messages on his old phone. It’s been turned off for two years due to a security breach.
In which case, why do the Cabinet Office think that the messages are not relevant to the investigation?

The government is contesting the issue in court, spending yet more of our money (easy when it isn’t your own isn’t it?) using the law of privacy, which it denies to rape victims.

Freya5

Casdon

I’d lay a bet it won’t be the headline, the headline will probably be the Labour MP allegedly taking prostitutes to the Commons, which is bad, but not quite in the same league.

You might think this Labour MP suspension is " not in the same league". I beg to differ. According to press hecis accused of " incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour". Suppose the fact fact that Labour whips , made aware of said allegations, ignored warnings, and took no action doesn't matter either. This seems so much more serious than the Cabinet Office refusing to hand over what's app messages, due to what they say are security reasons. Wouldn't you say ? No let's bash the Gov, and turn a blind eye to Labour shenanigans.

Start a different thread. You will get a better response. This just looks like deflecting.

Freya5 the sex pest scandals in Westminster have been reported since way back so it’s just a bit jaded by now. I guess it’s understood that the House of Commons has a pest problem so no longer breaking news.

I've read and heard that this report will take many years to complete. Hope I'm wrong. As a result I can't work up any enthusiasm for it but do wonder what happens if a new epidemic hits us whilst we are reviewing our shortcomings (or otherwise) over Covid.

Kim19

I've read and heard that this report will take many years to complete. Hope I'm wrong. As a result I can't work up any enthusiasm for it but do wonder what happens if a new epidemic hits us whilst we are reviewing our shortcomings (or otherwise) over Covid.

There have been a number of reports about the govt. handling of covid produced by Parliamentary Select Committees. This is one of them:

publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmpubacc/952/report.html

I think we have enough knowledge to go on with of how to prepare for and proceed in a new pandemic episode (I very much hope we'll have a more responsive and responsible government in place by then)

This Inquiry is much more than just a 'how to improve what we did' exercise. It will, I hope, at the very least, bring to light all the bungling incompetence and corruption which has caused so much distress and unnecessary deaths.

Apparently he handed over a phone he used from I think 2021. Saw it on the news last night. Whenever it was it was after the fiasco of the early months of Covid. Supposed to be difficult to access the earlier phone. Whatever has been going on something changed his demeanour when being questioned from a bad tempered bull to a smug, I’ve got out of this look as he announced he had handed everything over. Of course “the Prime Minister doesn’t lie” so obviously he is not doing so now.🤔😱🤣

Apparently many countries have completed their enquiries, ours is barely off the ground.