Boris Johnson and his top advisors sent “disgusting and misogynistic” WhatsApp messages to each other during the height of the pandemic, according to former Chancellor George Osborne.
The claim comes ahead of Dominic Cummings and Mr Johnson’s former Communications Director Lee Cain appearing before the official Covid inquiry next week.
The former Chancellor made the claims on his new podcast with Ed Balls.
Speaking to Mr Balls, George Osborne said: “I’ve got to be a little bit careful here — it’s a judicial inquiry.
“But from what I understand, there are some pretty staggering things that have been said on those WhatsApp messages not just by Boris Johnson, but key advisers like Dominic Cummings — really pretty disgusting language and misogynistic language.
“And I think if you didn’t think very highly of that period of government, you’re gonna feel even less highly after you’ve heard those messages next week.”
Those at the top of Government were forced to hand over their WhatsApp messages and other forms of communications to the inquiry, resulting in a lengthy legal battle between Rishi Sunak and the inquiry.
A number of embarrassing messages have already been published by the Inquriy, including some from current Cabinet Secretary Simon Case describing Mr Johnson’s wife, Carrie, as “the real person in charge”.
Another message sent by him said the Government looked like a “terrible, tragic joke”.
At one point, Lee Cain texted: “Wtf are we talking about”.
Mr Case replied: “Whatever Carrie cares about I guess”.
Other messages already published showed Dominic Cummings describing civil servants as “terrifyingly s**t” in the run-up to the first Covid lockdown.
He also claimed key decisions were being delayed because civil servants “don’t work weekends”.
The Covid inquiry hit a delay in accessing Mr Johnson’s phone and messages from the time of the pandemic, as he couldn’t remember his old passcode.
Mr Johnson had to switch numbers during his premiership after it emerged his old one had been available online for years.
Technical experts were required to successfully recover the relevant messages.
The Covid Inquiry demanded access to all one-to-one messages sent by Mr Johnson during the pandemic, to around 40 politicians, advisors and officials.
The Government attempted to block the release of raw messages, arguing many were irrelevant to the inquiry and would set a worrying precedent.
