Johnson ‘mad’ if he did not think WhatsApps would become public – civil servant

Covid inquiry told of exchange between cabinet secretary and the then PM’s principal private secretary

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Boris Johnson was “mad” if he did not think his WhatsApp messages would become public during the Covid inquiry, Whitehall’s leading civil servant told another senior mandarin in an exchange during the pandemic.

The exchange between Simon Case and Martin Reynolds was revealed as the latter appeared as a witness in the inquiry, where he was challenged about why he turned on a disappearing messages function on a WhatsApp group involving Johnson weeks after the then prime minister announced an inquiry would take place.