It’s hard to get your head around what is going on within the Tory party at the moment. The issue with private WhatsApp messages is a case in point. Baroness Hallett, who is leading the COVID inquiry into government and ministers actions before, during and after the pandemic, has asked for the unredacted WhatsApp messages of Johnson and others to be handed over. The Government has argued that this is unnecessary and that it will decide what to send to the inquiry. Hallett on the other hand has responded that it is up to her to decide what is necessary, relevant or not.
It’s fairly straightforward up to this point when Johnson decides, seemingly unilaterally, to forward his WhatsApp messages directly to the inquiry. Now we know that Johnson never does anything without a reason and we are left wondering if this is another twist in the knife against Sunak. Surely he can’t have forgiven his disloyalty. He was, after all, one of the leading rebels who, in the end, brought Johnson’s premiership to a sticky end. Et tu Sunak?
Now we have the ridiculous situation of the government taking the issue to court for a judicial review of the rights of an inquiry that it itself set up.
But is it ridiculous? Perhaps not. There are two issues at play here, the necessity for those in government to have some space in which to discuss things in private and, government by WhatsApp.
Think about it, you can’t have every discussion between ministers recorded only to be analysed and pored over outside the heat of the moment. Space is required for ideas to be formulated, shot down, rebuilt, reshaped and finally turned into decisions. Making every minutiae public would create stagnation with nobody ever wanting to say anything in case it was misinterpreted at a later date. What the public should know is what the decisions are, why they are needed and how they were made, not every single step along the way.
WhatsApp might well be a great medium for having these kinds of preparatory discussions. It is quick and easy to use. Responses can be immediate and group discussions can be had even when the participants are kilometres apart.
The problem arises when discussion and decision making become mixed up, when the informal aspects of government are intertwined with formal governance. Government by WhatsApp is wrong yet so is expecting those in power to always get decisions right. Government is hard and whatever decision is made is going to upset someone.
A judicial review isn’t going to sort this out.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 