Penny Mordaunt, a senior UK government official, has raised concerns over the disappearance of WhatsApp messages exchanged with former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Mordaunt reported that she became aware of the missing messages in May 2021 and has since tried 14 times to address the issue with Johnson's No 10. Despite contacting Johnson's chief of staff 14 times, her efforts to arrange a meeting were ignored, and she was informed that any investigation into the matter would be at her own expense. Additionally, Mordaunt discovered that messages from another senior politician, Michael Gove, had also vanished from her phone. The issue has come to light as part of the ongoing Covid inquiry, which has also unveiled suspicions within Downing Street that Matt Hancock was the source behind a leak of the second lockdown details. The situation has been described as a 'real scandal' with both Johnson and current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the heart of it, prompting comments that if this involved a Labour government, it 'would lead the news Part 5,328,138'.
Penny Mordaunt says Boris Johnson's Covid WhatsApp messages went missing https://t.co/BSbMmPFtt5
Downing Street suspected Matt Hancock was the “chatty rat” who leaked details to the media of the second lockdown, private messages newly-released by the Covid inquiry have revealed 📱 @janemerrick23 reports https://t.co/YZag81iz6y
#CovidInquiry documents latest: No10 thought Matt Hancock was the "chatty rat" behind the leak of the second lockdown, Simon Case's text messages revealed @theipaper: https://t.co/RuK4VlmsGi
Jeez. Penny Mordaunt has told the Covid inquiry that a series of WhatsApp messages with Boris Johnson mysteriously disappeared from her phone, and that Johnson’s then chief of staff ignored 14 attempts by her to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter https://t.co/J1eX9fdWug
Penny Mordaunt says she contacted Boris Johnson's chief of staff 14 times about Johnson's deleted WhatsApp messages but was ignored, and then told she would have to pay for any investigation herself. She later discovered that messages from Michael Gove had also disappeared https://t.co/ZxnzWPWyd1
If you missed this last night: the strange case of how Penny Mordaunt has told the Covid inquiry that Boris Johnson’s messages suddenly vanished from her phone, and how she tried 14 times to discuss this with Johnson’s No 10. https://t.co/N7Da3Nj3mg
“If this was a Labour government it would lead the news Part 5,328,138”Penny Mordaunt: Boris Johnson’s messages vanished from my phone | Penny Mordaunt | The Guardian … there is a real scandal here and both Johnson and Sunak at the heart of it https://t.co/DaQ3hHZPhb
NEW: The curious case of "missing" WhatsApps from Boris Johnson: Penny Mordaunt claims today she has been sleuthing for over 2 years to understand the "disappearance" of several exchanges she had with the then-PM. She says in May 2021 she "became aware that key WhatsApp… https://t.co/TLOyCTrR7E