Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Government work often done on WhatsApp during Covid, says top official

Government work often done on WhatsApp during Covid, says top official

Statement comes as it emerges that series of messages lost from Boris Johnson’s phone in April 2021
Communication within government during the pandemic was often by instant messaging, such as by WhatsApp, a senior Cabinet Office official has accepted, as it emerged that a series of messages have been lost from Boris Johnson’s phone.

The messages were lost in April 2021 amid security precautions when it was found that the prime minister’s phone number was listed on the internet, according to a statement by Sarah Harrison, chief operating officer at the Cabinet Office.

“The effect was that historic messages were no longer available to search and the phone is not active,” she wrote in a witness statement prepared for a court challenge by the Good Law Project and the Citizens, a non-profit media organisation, over the use of private messaging in government.

Among messages that would have been lost were ones with Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s then-chief adviser, in March 2021, which Cummings later presented in screenshot form, illustrating what he said was dysfunction amid the start of the Covid pandemic.

The loss of the messages comes despite official guidance, set out by Harrison in the statement, that ministers are “required to make a separate record of any conversation” relevant to work, and reminding them about an “export” function so conversations can be saved.

No 10 has a dedicated team that maintains both hard and electronic copies of relevant documents, her statement added, while WhatsApp is only allowed “for ephemeral chat and/or unclassified material.

“Users are expected to preserve any data for the public record that may be on WhatsApp or private email accounts where it should be copied [and moved to No 10 records],” she wrote, adding that No 10 staff are “constantly reminded of their responsibilities concerning the accurate keeping and capture of electronic records”.

Her statement sets out how much communication moved to electronic messaging amid remote working during Covid, often through WhatsApp groups.

“These WhatsApp groups were used for informal discussions between the participants,” it said. “These are the equivalent to the conversation that might previously have taken place in corridors, or in passing, had there not been a shift to remote working in line with the government’s guidance at that time.

“I have been reassured by No 10 officials that any relevant actions from these WhatsApp groups were copied across to formal channels and the official record where appropriate.”

The statement notes that there is also “some limited use” of ministers using private emails, mainly when travelling, and that two unnamed ministers use the secure chat service Signal “for informal conversations”.

Both groups had challenged the government over the use of informal communications, and the risk to permanent record-keeping of decisions.

In a statement, the Good Law Project said: “Given the current ‘partygate’ investigation, as well as the future inquiry into the government’s response to the pandemic, this has serious implications for transparency and holding the prime minister and his government to account.”

Johnson’s official spokesperson said he would not get into the “levels of communication” used by the prime minister but that “there are rules and guidelines” that were followed: “Those conversations can happen as long as any requisite information is provided to [their] private office and passed on, and that’s what takes place when it comes to the prime minister.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×