The inquiry into the dealing with of the pandemic has requested to see Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages from when he was prime minister.
Hugo Keith KC, counsel for the inquiry, revealed that 1000’s of paperwork had been requested for.
“We have sought agendas, minutes and other documents associated with the core decision-making forum such as Cabinet meetings, Cobra meetings and ministerial implementation groups,” he mentioned.
“We’ve asked for ministerial submissions, Number 10 daily briefing documents, records of written and oral advice to ministers and details of internal communications including a WhatsApp group, which included the prime minister, Number 10 and other senior officials.”
The inquiry has requested proof for its second half, which is able to scrutinise political selections and actions in relation to the pandemic between early January 2020 and February 2022, when the remaining COVID restrictions had been lifted.
The Cabinet Office, Foreign Office, the Department of Health and Social Care, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) are among the many departments and teams which have been requested to supply proof.
Initial responses from authorities departments mentioned tens of hundreds of thousands of paperwork might doubtlessly be related to the general theme of module two.
Reviews of paperwork within the Cabinet Office alone might take greater than three years, it mentioned.
Mr Keith mentioned the inquiry would take a “targeted approach”, searching for paperwork related to the important thing narrative occasions and selections coated by the second module.
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Earlier, as he opened the second stage of the statutory inquiry, Mr Keith mentioned the hearings would study whether or not lives might have been saved by earlier lockdowns.
In his opening deal with, Mr Keith mentioned the disaster positioned “extraordinary levels of strain” on well being, care, monetary and academic methods and companies, on prime of particular person bereavements.
Baroness Heather Hallett, the chairwoman of the inquiry, will study the effectiveness of obligatory lockdowns in controlling the unfold of coronavirus.
This will embody “the relationship between the timeliness and the length of the lockdown, and the trajectory of the disease”, Mr Keith mentioned.
He continued: “How were economic and societal impacts, including the impact on physical health, healthcare provision, mental health, education and societal wellbeing, assessed and weighed in the balance?
“And maybe, my girl, the one most vital query: is it potential to say what the doubtless results of earlier or totally different selections to intervene would have been? The counterfactual proposition.
“Bluntly, would lives have been saved if the lockdowns had been imposed earlier or differently?”
Source: information.sky.com”