UK COVID Inquiry: Mordaunt Claims Johnson's Messages Vanished From Her Phone

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The Facts

  • UK cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt has told the official COVID inquiry that a series of WhatsApp messages between her and former prime minister Boris Johnson disappeared from her phone.

  • Mordaunt has claimed that no explanation was offered by Downing Street's security team for the sudden disappearance of messages exchanged with Johnson between March 2018 and 2020, despite her "attempts to clarify this issue."

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The Spin

Narrative A

The COVID inquiry is designed to establish the facts concerning governmental behavior during the pandemic. Its purpose is being completely undermined by the circus surrounding the disappearance of Johnson's WhatsApp messages. However, the truth of the government's incompetence is still clear for everybody to see: at a time when the British public most needed strong leadership, they were let down.

Guardian

Narrative B

Inquiries are consequential when their focus is forward-looking, but this investigation is only looking back at calamities the public is already aware of. While further scrutiny may be cathartic, it will not enable a pandemic to be more successfully contained in the future. Unless the direction of the COVID inquiry takes a sharp turn, it will end up an expensive, wasted opportunity.

Spectator (UK)

Metaculus Prediction