Fix this impasse and get Covid probe going

THE Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday lumbered on for 12 long years at a cost of some £200million, generating plenty of heat but precious little new light on the events of that appalling day.

More recently the inquiry into child sex abuse, set up in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal, lasted seven years and cost £186million. It gave hundreds of victims the opportunity to tell their heart-rending stories but whether it will achieve much in policy terms is a moot point.

The truth is that by the time these probes were completed, most people had lost sight of why they were set up in the first place.

Now it looks as though the Covid inquiry will dwarf them both. Announced two years ago it has already cost £100million, long before calling its first witness.

The Cabinet Office has handed over 55,000 documents. But inquiry chief Baroness Hallett is demanding more. She wants all communication, personal as well as professional, sent to and from Boris Johnson throughout the pandemic – WhatsApp messages, private diaries etc.

To his credit, Mr Johnson has complied, sending all his unredacted notebooks and messages to the Cabinet Office saying they should be ‘urgently disclosed’. The ball is now in Downing Street’s court.

If successful in acquiring this information, Lady Hallett may well demand similar releases from Rishi Sunak and dozens of other ministers, advisers and civil servants.

With the hearings already expected to run to mid-2026, this tsunami of extra material, all of which will have to be pored over, is hardly likely to speed up proceedings.

This paper believes passionately in open government and applauds Mr Johnson’s frankness. But there are dangers inherent in the principle of opening up every exchange between ministers and officials to public inspection.

Removing the right to hold any private conversations or meetings could have a baleful effect on the machinery of government, with politicians and their advisers unwilling to speak freely for fear of future recriminations.

Confidential exchanges between journalists and those who run the country could also become impossible, profoundly affecting press freedom.

The current situation is that the Cabinet Office has agreed to hand over material it regards as relevant, while Lady Hallett insists on having everything, saying it is for her to decide what is relevant.

We sincerely hope common sense will prevail without the need for legal action, which would slow this inquiry down to an even more glacial pace and benefit only lawyers. It’s worth noting that the Swedes have already completed their own Covid inquiry. We should follow their example and get on with it.