Government at Risk of Losing Legal Case Against COVID Inquiry, Science Minister Warns

He stated on BBC Question Time that he "very little doubt" a court would find it should hand over the documents.

The government has until now refused to submit messages sent between former prime minister Boris Johnson and 40 other ministers and officials during the pandemic.

The Cabinet Office argues that many of the messages are not relevant and that to hand them over would compromise ministers' privacy and hinder future decision-making.

The inquiry's chair, Baroness Hallett, has the power to decide what material is relevant.

George Freeman added that people's privacy is important and that the question of how private correspondence should be handled is worth testing.

He suggested that the inquiry should respect privacy for anything not related to Covid and redact it.

This is the first time a government has taken legal action against its own public inquiry.

The former prime minister has not handed over any messages from before April 2021, and has written to the Cabinet Office to ask for technical support to retrieve the content without compromising security.