The UK Covid Inquiry has heard that Scottish Secretary Alister Jack deleted all of his WhatsApp messages from the pandemic in November 2021 to free up storage capacity on his phone. He expressed regret about this decision and has since stated that he would not have done so if he could “turn the clock back”. However, he claimed that he deleted no messages related to government business because he did not use WhatsApp for this purpose.
Mr. Jack also refused to believe Nicola Sturgeon’s denial that she tried to politicize the pandemic. Ms. Sturgeon and other senior figures from the Scottish government have previously been criticized for deleting messages sent during key phases of the crisis.
During the inquiry, Mr. Jack said that he was unaware of any mobile messaging policies that applied to government ministers at the time. He further added that he did not consider retaining any of his WhatsApp messages to help him recall events from the pandemic. He described himself as a “bit of a Luddite” and said he would have sought a different solution for his lack of storage capacity if he could turn the clock back.
Mr. Jack also accused the Scottish government of creating a “manufactured grievance” over the UK government’s furlough scheme in late 2020. He denied suggestions from the inquiry counsel that the relationship between the governments was akin to “children squabbling with each other”.
Finally, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross said Mr. Jack was “wrong” to delete his messages but said that was not equivalent to deletions by Scottish ministers. He added that there was a “massive difference” between the Scottish secretary and Ms. Sturgeon, who said she deleted messages in line with government policy
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