That can’t happen if officials govern by secret WhatsApp chats that vanish into thin air.
Our democracy can only work if the decisions of those who represent us are open to scrutiny. Today in court the Citizens argued that these practices across government violate the Public Records Act 1958.
The repeated loss of critical material poses a serious risk to democracy. Almost certainly because they have been automatically deleted by WhatsApp. The government also admitted today that not one of Boris Johnson’s messages on his mobile phone prior to April 2021 were available. But how many more pieces of essential evidence that the inquiry needs to see have been lost forever? The Cummings messages will be seen by Baroness Hallett’s inquiry because they happened to be screenshotted. If records of these conversations were deleted, how can this essential evidence form part of the Covid inquiry? For example, it was revealed today that the messages the PM’s former chief advisor Dominic Cummings posted online were never recorded on government systems, as required by law. It was revealed that some of the decisions made and discussed on WhatsApp were about serious business affecting the lives of millions of people – the organisation of Test and Trace, the lack of testing in care homes and securing a strong supply of ventilators for the UK. The court heard how ministers and officials from the Prime Minister down have repeatedly used personal phones, email and WhatsApp to carry out government business. Today was day one of a three-day hearing at the London High Court into government by WhatsApp.
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