Tech experts retrieve Boris Johnson’s pandemic WhatsApps from old phone | Politics News

Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages have now been retrieved from his old phone and will be handed over to the COVID inquiry unredacted, his spokesman has said.

The probe into the government’s handling of the pandemic demanded to see the former PM’s messages from the height of lockdown as part of its ongoing work.

But after settling a disagreement with the Cabinet Office over whether the messages were needed, they still couldn’t get their hands on them.

Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said the former PM had been advised to keep his old phone switched off due to security concerns, but reports also circulated that he had forgotten his passcode.

Now, his spokesman says “technical experts” had “successfully recovered all relevant messages from the device”, meaning they could be given to the inquiry.