Covid inquiry: is the government attempting a cover-up?

Cabinet Office accused of ‘cowardly’ bid to obstruct the official investigation

Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak clad in masks
Sunak ‘has given the impression of seeking to protect Johnson’, said one commentator
(Image credit: Gareth Fuller/WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The prime minister has been accused of attempting a “cover-up” as he tries to block the Covid inquiry’s request for Boris Johnson’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks.

After the Cabinet Office launched an unprecedented High Court bid to avoid handing over the material, opposition politicians accused Rishi Sunak of a “cowardly” attempt to obstruct the inquiry.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.