The Covid inquiry might finally get its hands on Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages, after the government worked out what the password to his phone is.
According to The Times on Thursday, the former prime minister had forgotten the code to unlock his old device, which he stopped using in May 2021.
This led to concerns that a botched attempt at unlocking the iPhone could lead to it being disabled, and erasing key messages from the start of the pandemic.
But the Financial Times reported the problem could now be resolved, as government officials have found a record of the password and it matches Johnson’s hazy recollection.
One ally of the ex-PM told the paper: “It’s not true that Boris doesn’t remember his pin number, it’s just that he doesn’t have 100 per cent confidence he remembers it.
“Separately, the government has found its own version of the pin number.”
According to Politico, the inputting of the password will be done by government-appointed “technical experts” rather than Johnson himself.
The government was supposed to have handed over all relevant material to the inquiry by 4pm on Monday.
Last month, the Cabinet Office revealed it had no WhatsApp communications for Johnson before May 2021 as the result of a “well-publicised security breach” – specifically the Popbitch website revealing at that time that his number had been publicly available online for 15 years.
And last week, the government lost its legal bid to block Johnson’s unredacted documents being given to the Covid inquiry.
Baroness Hallett, the chair of the official inquiry into the pandemic, had issued a legal order to force the Cabinet Office to hand over the evidence.
But the government opposed the move and launched a judicial review, arguing some of the material was “unambiguously irrelevant”.
In a ruling last Thursday, the High Court sided with the inquiry.
The government said it would “comply fully” with the judgement, and Baroness Hallett gave the Cabinet Office until 4pm on Monday to hand over all Johnson’s messages.