Boris Johnson – latest: Ex-PM goes over Sunak’s head to send unredacted WhatsApps ‘direct’ to inquiry

Boris Johnson has said he will share with the Covid inquiry all unredacted WhatsApps he has provided to the Cabinet Office, as well as footage from his old mobile phone.

In his letter to Chairwoman Baroness Hallett, he wrote: “I am sending your request all the unredacted WhatsApps that I have made available to the Cabinet Office.”

“I would like to do the same with any material that may be on an old phone which I have been previously told I no longer have secure access to.

“Given the urgency of your request, I believe we need to review this advice that has come from the security services.

“I have asked the Cabinet Office for assistance with the secure power-on so I can search through it for any relevant materials.

“I suggest forwarding all material directly to you.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has said he understands the SNP’s claims that the Westminster government is “destroying decentralisation”.

The Labor politician referred to his own conflict with the British government during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he accused the Tories of “pressuring” his region into accepting less than the £65million business support package it had requested.

His comments came as First Minister Humza Yousaf proposed against the UK Government, claiming that Scotland’s deposit return scheme could be abolished after it failed to grant an exemption under the Internal Market Act to include glass.

Boris Johnson has told the Covid-19 inquiry that he is ready to turn over “all unredacted WhatsApp” messages – including 2020 footage from a previous phone that has been disposed of for safety reasons.

In a letter to the head of inquiry, Baroness Hallett, Mr Johnson said he would be handing over to her team today all the material already given to the Cabinet Office “in an unredacted form”.

Adam Forest has the full report:

An SNP MP says he will donate to charity after making a donation Independent The investigation revealed that he had levied a driving penalty on expenses.

Dave Doogan said he realized he had made a mistake and returned the money. He also apologized to his constituents for the allegation.

Mr Doogan was one of several MPs, including a Tory minister, to charge the fines imposed by Transport for London as an expense.

There is no aspect of politics or public life that is more than a game for Johnson, and taking Sunak with him would certainly count as a win, he writes tom peck

Read Tom’s full article here:

The free trade agreement between the UK and Australia has not literally fallen by the wayside – but it might as well have, given the damage it has done to British agriculture, he writes Sean O’Grady

Read Sean’s article here:

The troubles of the Brexit bureaucracy have “reached a rock bottom” in an independent online event on Thursday, according to David Henig, the independent trade adviser. From this new starting position, “it can only get better”.

The panel agreed that changes could be made over the next few years by either a Labor or Conservative government that would ease trade without Britain returning to the EU’s single market or customs union.

Simon Calder, travel correspondent for the Independent, said the biggest sin of Brexit on travel was the UK’s refusal to recognize EU ID cards. It had a terrible impact on school trips to the UK, many of which went to Ireland instead. It would be easy for the government to relax the rules.

Suella Braverman was asked to “clarify urgently” why a large group of asylum seekers were “left on the streets”. Westminster for two nights in a row.

In a letter to the home secretaryThe leader of Westminster City Council expressed his “deep concern” at Wednesday night about 40 refugees being housed in the borough, “without adequate accommodation or support available” and without prior communication with the local authority.

The group apparently refused to enter Pimlico Hotel where the home office had asked her to sleep “four people per room.”

Demands by senior Tories to abolish the Inheritance Tax (IHT) have met with skepticism from leading economists and tax experts.

More than 50 Conservative MPs, including former Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, have urged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to abolish the tax, the newspaper said Daily Telegraph.

He was persuaded to sign a disastrous post-Brexit deal after Australians attacked a schoolboy accused of meat import quotas during negotiations.