What have you got to hide, Mr Sunak?

The Independent's Morning Headlines email [The Independent]( June 02, 2023 [View online](   [Morning Headlines]( 1 /[Sunak government takes Covid inquiry to court to protect Boris’s WhatsApps]( Rishi Sunak has refused to back down in the extraordinary row over Boris Johnson’s messages, as his government launched legal action against the Covid inquiry in a last-ditch attempt to protect the material. Mr Sunak was accused by Labour and the Liberal Democrats of a “cover-up” and a “cowardly” attempt to obstruct the inquiry, while former civil service chief Robert Kerslake told The Independent: “They are in a hole and they should stop digging.” The Cabinet Office will seek a judicial review of inquiry chair Baroness Hallett’s demand to release the former prime minister’s WhatsApp messages and notebooks. It revealed the unprecedented move in a letter to her team. The department said it was bringing the legal challenge “with regret”, but insisted that “important issues of principle” were at stake. It claimed that the request by the inquiry amounted to an “unwarranted intrusion” into other aspects of government work, as well as into “expectations of privacy”. In another bombshell development, it emerged that Mr Johnson [only provided officials with WhatsApp messages dating from May 2021 onwards]( – despite the former PM’s claim this week that he had submitted the “full, unredacted” material when he urged the government to pass it on to the inquiry.   2 / [Police search pleasure boat as girl, 12, and boy, 17, die in beach incident mystery]( Dorset Belle searched by police after 10 swimmers pulled from sea at Bournemouth beach 3 / [Labour suspends veteran MP over claims he sexually harassed junior colleagues]( Party will investigate reports of ‘incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour’ 4 / [Phillip Schofield denies grooming young colleague in first interview since affair scandal]( Former ‘This Morning’ presenter said he ‘absolutely knows’ he ‘did a bad thing’ 5 /[Zelensky salutes ‘powerful support’ from allies at Moldova summit – as he increases pressure over jets]( Ukrainian president says it is vitally important to overturn Russian air supremacy with F-16s and Patriot missile defence systems THE BIG QUESTION [What are the 150 questions the Covid inquiry wants Boris Johnson to answer?]( The [Covid]( inquiry has sent [Boris Johnson]( a list of 150 questions and requests for his witness statement, documents released by the [Cabinet Office]( have shown. The UK [Covid-19 Inquiry]( wants to see WhatsApp messages and notebooks kept by the former prime minister to build a picture of how decisions were taken in government up to and during lockdowns. But [Rishi Sunak](file:///topic/rishi-sunak) has refused to release unredacted documents as his government on Thursday launched legal action in a last-ditch attempt to protect the material. Mr Johnson has said he would “happily” hand over the messages directly to the inquiry but has failed to explain why he has [not disclosed messages sent during the 2020 Covid lockdown](. 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