Battle to withhold Covid messages is about much more than Boris Johnson

Rishi Sunak must weigh up how it would look for his government to try to conceal material from a government-commissioned inquiry

Why would ministers fight tooth and nail to prevent the release of Boris Johnson’s uncensored WhatsApps and diaries, and the correspondence of a relatively anonymous former political aide called Henry Cook?

Rishi Sunak has little interest in protecting his No 10 predecessor and rival from any embarrassment. His relationship with Johnson remains almost as strained as when they were neighbours in Downing Street and Sunak is now reluctant even to pick up the phone to Johnson for a rapprochement.