Boris Johnson receives details of important government business via WhatsApp, court documents have revealed.
The footage from the prime minister’s ministerial “red box” is being sent to his phone for “administrative convenience”, officials say, and does not break the rules.
But activists challenging the “government through WhatsApp” in the High Court say it’s a security risk.
They claim the use of unsafe apps and deleting messages by ministers and officials is “rampant”.
Lawyers groups Good Law Project and Foxglove challenged the government’s use of such services in the High Court, saying it breaches the Public Records Keeping Act.
The government says it has secure channels for sharing sensitive information and ministers are required to record key decision-making meetings with officials.
Documents released on the first of a three-day judicial review reveal:
- As of November 2020, Boris Johnson will receive a summary of the ‘Red Box’ material, including diary updates, via WhatsApp
- The Prime Minister and other senior ministers have downloaded Signal – an app that can delete messages instantly – to their phones. Signal has now been removed from Mr Johnson’s device and the No 10 App Store
- At least one of the six senior cabinet office officials used Signal on their personal device to communicate with colleagues
- No official record was made of the screenshot of former aide Dominic Cummings’ WhatsApp messages revealing the March 2020 discussions about Covid
The screenshot messages shared by Mr Cummings on his blog included discussions with the Prime Minister about ventilator procurement, testing in care homes and Mr Johnson’s description of then-Health Secretary Matt Hancock as ‘hopeless’.
It also emerged that all messages on Boris Johnson’s phone were deleted in April 2021 after his number was revealed to have been freely available on the internet for 15 years.
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In a testimony, Sarah Harrison, Chief Operating Officer of the Cabinet Office, said: “In light of a reported security breach, the Prime Minister has implemented security advice in relation to a mobile device. As a result, historical messages were no longer available for searching and the phone is idle.”
Rights activists say records of key decisions have been lost to the public, which could undermine next year’s probe into how the government is handling the pandemic.
Cori Crider, director of Foxglove, said: “Our democracy can only work if the decisions of those who represent us can be verified.
“This cannot happen when officials rule with secret WhatsApp chats that vanish into thin air.”
Foxglove is bringing the case on behalf of the non-profit media group The Citizens.
They say the government may be breaching its own data protection guidelines and the Public Records Act 1958, which requires legal reviews of messages if they need to be retained in the public interest.
The government argues that all significant discussions are recorded and only short-lived messages are deleted.
In her testimony, Ms Harrison said: “In my view it is unrealistic to suggest that those who work in government should refrain from interacting with each other online as everyone else does, provided always that government policy Complies with the use of such tools and in accordance with the Information Records Management Policy.
“This is particularly the case where teams are now much more dispersed – both between home and the office and geographically.”
The Foxglove and Good Law Project claims began as separate cases, but the High Court decided to try them together.
The government is expected to challenge the Good Law Project’s standing in court after the Supreme Court ruled against the organization in a separate case in February.
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