Mordaunt mentioned that Cabinet Office officials estimated a hefty £40,000 fee to investigate her phone. Johnson previously informed the inquiry that a potential factory reset may have led to his loss of about 5,000 messages from January to June 2020.

In her submission, Mordaunt explained that upon revisiting her messages for clarity on government decisions about care homes, she noted that messages to Johnson from March 2018 to March 2020 were absent. Speculation arose that Johnson might have deleted messages due to a security concern, but no clear explanation was provided.

Despite repeated attempts to meet with Dan Rosenfield, Johnson's chief of staff, she received no response. Mordaunt was open to having her phone forensically examined and discovered that while she was willing to comply, she would incur the substantial cost herself.

Later, in January 2023, the National Cyber Security Centre confirmed that no official advice had been given to the prime minister to delete messages. Mordaunt, also noting the disappearance of messages involving Michael Gove, has expressed willingness to have her phone examined by the inquiry if it would be helpful.