Has the Government Finally Learnt Its Lesson?
The Covid Inquiry ought to have been a boring affair.
The tragic loss of life and the other impacts of the pandemic have been horrific to witness but the investigation led by Baroness Hallett should mostly have been a bureaucratic exercise in gathering evidence and giving the public some much needed answers.
Evidence from key witnesses would always attract interest and the conclusion of the Inquiry would provide headlines as the failings of the government are highlighted but the fact that we can barely go a week without the Covid Inquiry splashed on the front pages is unusual and not right.
Fault lies with the government who just cannot seem to help bungling the whole thing. Most people know that the Conservatives are not going to come out of the inquiry covered in glory but denying Hallett key evidence was always going to smack of a cover-up even if that was not the case.
As I wrote about at the time, public inquiries are powerful legal entities as they ought to be. Their investigations need to be thorough so that their conclusions can be well-founded.
The Cabinet Office concerns about what material is actually relevant to the inquiry are probably genuine but denying the Inquiry and then taking it to court has proven to be a public relations disaster. Today’s defeat in the High Court (which the government has said it will not appeal) is merely the conclusion of a sorry affair.
There will be time to get into the judgment as the dust settles but it is important to acknowledge the importance of today’s decision. As lawyers for both the inquiry and Boris Johnson acknowledged, the work of the Inquiry would be severely undermined if the government had been allowed to redact the WhatsApp messages of the former prime minister.
If there is a silver lining then it is that today’s decision should give the Covid Inquiry an injection of public confidence as it continues its important work unobstructed.