Senior Tories express doubts over Covid inquiry legal challenge

Two senior Conservatives have expressed doubts over Rishi Sunak’s controversial decision to launch legal action against the public inquiry into the government’s handling of Covid-19.

George Freeman, the science minister, said he believed the challenge was unlikely to succeed, while the former Downing Street chief of staff Gavin Barwell said it should not have been launched at all.

The government announced on Thursday it would seek a judicial review of the demand by Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, to see unredacted WhatsApp messages and notebooks from the former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson has offered to hand them over directly, prompting speculation that No 10 is trying to prevent setting a precedent that could eventually result in Sunak’s own messages being handed to the inquiry.

Lord Barwell, the former MP for Croydon Central, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: “We’ve already waited too long to set this inquiry up, and I think people want answers quickly. So I think from a timing point of view, it is a mistake to prolong this process.”

He added: “We’re having the inquiry to give people confidence we’re getting to the truth. And if the government is controlling what the inquiry can and can’t see, then people are not going to get confidence in the outcome.”

Barwell’s comments came hours after Freeman told BBC One’s Question Time programme he believed the government would lose its legal challenge.

“I think it is really important that the rules of this are made clear and I absolutely have very little doubt that the courts will find that Baroness Hallett will decide what evidence she deems relevant, and then we’ll get on with it,” he said.

“I think personally it’s quite likely that the courts will rule that Baroness Hallett will decide what evidence [is relevant], but I think it’s a point worth testing.”

The Cabinet Office announced on Thursday it would launch the judicial review case after days of wrangling over what material Hallett should be able to see. Hallett has demanded Johnson’s messages and notes in full, but the government wants to edit them first to remove anything that might have national security implications, or that officials deem to be “unambiguously irrelevant”.

The legal case has caused condemnation from opposition parties and upset among families of the pandemic’s victims.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said the public “deserve answers, not another cover-up”.

Rivka Gottlieb, a spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice group, said: “Why are the Cabinet Office standing in their way? You have to assume that they’re sitting on evidence that will devastate Rishi Sunak’s reputation and that’s more important to them than saving lives in the future.”