Former British prime minister Boris Johnson's notebooks, WhatsApp messages and diaries have been handed over to the UK Covid-19 inquiry after the uk government lost its bid to prevent their release.
The Cabinet Office had been given until 4pm Monday to comply with a High Court ruling to hand over the unredacted documents.
"All requisite material has been handed over," the official spokesman for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
The government had fought the request from inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett to release the documents, arguing it should not have to hand over material that is "unambiguously irrelevant."
But the Cabinet Office's argument was dismissed by Lord Justice Dingemans and Mr Justice Garnham last week, who said the fact an order for material would produce "some irrelevant documents" did not "invalidate" it or mean it "cannot be lawfully exercised."
They said that chairwomaan Lady Hallett should be able to examine the documents and if she agrees they are "obviously irrelevant" to her inquiry, she will return them.
One complication has been the WhatsApp messages on the former prime minister's old phone.
He was advised to stop using it on security grounds in May 2021 after it emerged his number had been freely available online for 15 years.
Johnson was prime minister during the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021 before being deposed last year, partly because of illegal parties taking place in his Downing Street office when the UK was in lockdown.
He has since stood down as a lawmaker after a parliamentary committee ruled he had lied over the affair.
The inquiry is expected to last years and will look into the UK's preparedness and response to the pandemic.
