Boris beware, I know what it’s like to have private messages leaked

THe Cabinet office now has until 4pm tomorrow to clarify whether it does, in fact, have access to Boris Johnson’s personal WhatsApp messages, and if these should be released to the Covid inquiry led by Baroness Hallett.

It claims the correspondence, covering more than two years, need not be disclosed in full, as large parts are ‘unambiguously irrelevant’.

this is not out of consideration for Johnson. there is little love lost between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, oliver Dowden, and the former PM — whose supporters have alleged that Dowden was behind the referral of fresh Partygate allegations to the police last week, something he denies.

It’s more the ramifications of releasing the messages.

Given the way Whitehall operates now, the chances of unredacted WhatsApps between Johnson and people such as rishi Sunak and Liz truss — or any of the other 40 or so people involved — remaining confidential are pretty much zero, given the number of people determined to damage Conservative reputations.

Baroness Hallett is digging her heels in. She has made it clear that she doesn’t trust the Cabinet office to make the right judgment on what is deemed relevant to her inquiry. And, honestly, I don’t blame her: the last thing she wants is to be accused of presiding over a whitewash.

the whole thing could end up in the hands of lawyers, no doubt costing the poor taxpayer another huge chunk of money we haven’t got. And for what? Just to satisfy the egos of everyone involved.

But there is also a broader issue here, to do with the way our lives are now lived almost exclusively online. And how that electronic record, in the wrong hands, can end up turning our words, actions and even thoughts against us.

I’ve been stung badly by this sort of thing in the past. In 2016, after the Brexit vote, an email I sent to my then husband, Michael Gove, was leaked and published totally out of context, much to the delight of the armies of embittered remainers desperate to discredit him.

It was one of those things I just dashed off, a note of encouragement written at a time of huge emotional and political upheaval. By then we had been in the thick of it for so long, I was tired and testy and slightly at the end of my tether with everyone.

My eMAIL was brief and to the point, and I didn’t mince my words — as wives tend not to with husbands. Well, not this wife, at any rate.

It also referred, obliquely, to matters and events that only he, I and a few others understood. And which I have never, to this day, disclosed, for the simple reason that they are private. (Privacy: remember that?)

Had I even the slightest inkling that it would be leaked and plastered all over the media, I’d have phrased things very differently.

these Boris WhatsApps will likely be the same: not written or conceived as official documents, intended to be scrutinised, but as private, off-the-cuff exchanges. And in the same way that Matt Hancock’s WhatsApps were twisted out of context after they were released by Isabel oakeshott, a similar thing will surely happen here.

Having one’s words and motives weaponised in this way is brutal. It makes a person feel violated, exposed and helpless. My experience also taught me a very important lesson: you shouldn’t judge people on the basis of just a few words taken out of context and more than likely written on the hoof.

that, for me, is the big problem with Hallett’s insistence on being able to examine all Johnson’s WhatsApps for this inquiry.

Setting aside those of a private and personal nature, which decency dictates should not be seen (or disseminated) by third parties, there is the question of how useful they will actually be to her; how accurately they will reflect the full picture.

In reality, they may turn out to be rather misleading. Many will simply be fragments of wider, far more complex conversations, some of which may have taken place verbally.

others will have been written on the spur of the moment, unconsidered, emotional, raw. they may be thoughts that were never acted on.

Is that so wrong? this is government. People need to feel they can say what has to be said, even if it doesn’t tick all the approved boxes. they need to be able to challenge, to push back, to argue their corner. otherwise, nothing brave or bold would ever happen. And Covid was a time that required great bravery and very bold decision-making indeed.

If I had any faith that such messages would remain confidential, I would have no issue with Baroness Hallett examining them. I’m sure she is a thoroughly intelligent and responsible woman. But what if they are leaked and then taken out of context? If that happens, ultimately, they will do more harm than good in the quest for the real picture.