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The description of the former prime minister came in an exchange between Martin Reynolds, his former Principal Private Secretary, and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Reynolds said Mr Johnson had perhaps not realised his WhatsApp messages would enter the public domain.<\/p>\n
In correspondence shared with the inquiry from December 2021, Mr Case said: \u201cPM is mad if he doesn\u2019t think his WhatsApps will become \u00adpublic via Covid inquiry.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he was clearly not in the mood for that \u00addiscussion tonight! We\u2019ll have that battle in the new year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Reynolds responded: \u201cAgreed \u2013 thanks for your help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yesterday, Mr Reynolds was asked by Hugo Keith KC, lead counsel to the inquiry, what the \u201cbattle\u201d referenced in the messages was about.<\/p>\n
He replied: \u201cI cannot recall. But I imagine that the Prime Minister \u2013 I can only speculate \u2013 had not realised that all of his WhatsApps would become public via the Covid Inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dubbed \u201cParty Marty\u201d for sending the infamous \u201cBring your own bottle\u201d email to No10 staff during lockdown, Mr Reynolds also suggested he had turned on the disappearing \u00admessage function on the WhatsApp group titled \u201cPM Updates\u201d on April 15, 2021, due to fears about potential leaks.<\/p>\n
He told the hearing in central London: \u201cI was worried [about] someone screenshotting or using exchanges and leaking them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The extent and nature of \u00addecision-
making through the messaging app has become a key plank of Baroness Heather Hallett\u2019s probe. Downing Street said yesterday that the use of disappearing WhatsApp messages is permitted as civil servants and \u00administerial private offices are required to record and log official decisions for the official record.<\/p>\n
Mr Reynolds was asked about the approach taken by Mr Johnson, who has been described as having \u201coscillated\u201d over different courses of action during the Covid \u00adcrisis, telling the inquiry: \u201cIt\u2019s fair to say the Prime Minister did, as it were, blow hot and cold on some issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Formerly one of the nation\u2019s most senior civil servants, he opened by \u00adapologising to bereaved families and the wider public for his role in \u201cPartygate\u201d. Mr Reynolds said: \u201cI would first like to say how deeply sorry I am for my part in those events and for the email \u00admessage. I would like to apologise unreservedly to all the families of all those who suffered during Covid for the distress caused.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, the civil servant accepted government protocols were \u201cinadequate\u201d and \u201cgrossly deficient\u201d when asked about a 10-day spell in February 2020 \u2013 which encompassed the school half-term holiday period.<\/p>\n
The inquiry continues.<\/p>\n
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