It's going to be a long drawn out affair this is.
It's not even kicked off yet and already there's a stalemate and threats of legal action.
On one side you have the Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Hallett (who is a retired judge who led the inquiry into the London bombings in 2005) and on the other side you have The Cabinet Office.
In simple terms the Inquiry wants to see ALL messages sent and received from all the relevant people involved with the decision making during Covid.
A fair enough demand you would think?
However the Cabinet Office argues that they should only send everything connected with the decisions made and keep everything none related away from the Inquiry - as otherwise it would set a precedent.
It is argued with some merit, that if every future decision is completely open to scrutiny then that would inhibit speaking freely, for fear of one day coming back to ruin peoples careers.
Think of it a bit like Parliamentary privilege where MP's can say anything they want IN Parliament without fear of being sued.
Seems to me that everything should be made available to the Inquiry or otherwise everyone will believe there is a cover up going on.
As it stands at the moment a deadline was set by the inquiry for all the messages to be provided to it by the Cabinet Office - and that deadline as just been missed. -
Deadline passes in row over WhatsApp release to Covid inquiry
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65775321
It's not even kicked off yet and already there's a stalemate and threats of legal action.
On one side you have the Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Hallett (who is a retired judge who led the inquiry into the London bombings in 2005) and on the other side you have The Cabinet Office.
In simple terms the Inquiry wants to see ALL messages sent and received from all the relevant people involved with the decision making during Covid.
A fair enough demand you would think?
However the Cabinet Office argues that they should only send everything connected with the decisions made and keep everything none related away from the Inquiry - as otherwise it would set a precedent.
It is argued with some merit, that if every future decision is completely open to scrutiny then that would inhibit speaking freely, for fear of one day coming back to ruin peoples careers.
Think of it a bit like Parliamentary privilege where MP's can say anything they want IN Parliament without fear of being sued.
Seems to me that everything should be made available to the Inquiry or otherwise everyone will believe there is a cover up going on.
As it stands at the moment a deadline was set by the inquiry for all the messages to be provided to it by the Cabinet Office - and that deadline as just been missed. -
Deadline passes in row over WhatsApp release to Covid inquiry
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65775321