Nicola Sturgeon’s pandemic WhatsApp messages ‘all deleted’, UK COVID inquiry hears
All of Nicola Sturgeon’s WhatsApp messages throughout the pandemic seem to have been deleted, the UK COVID inquiry has heard.
The listening to, which is at present sitting in Edinburgh, additionally heard proof through which high Scottish authorities advisor Professor Jason Leitch described erasing the messages as a “pre-bed ritual”.
Jamie Dawson KC, counsel to the inquiry, stated former first minister Ms Sturgeon appeared to have “retained no messages whatsoever”.
The listening to additionally heard proof that her deputy John Swinney’s WhatsApp messages have been both deleted manually or through the use of the app’s auto-delete perform.
Ms Sturgeon has beforehand insisted she has “nothing to hide” and by no means used the casual messaging to make choices throughout the pandemic.
She will give proof to the inquiry within the coming weeks.
Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney pictured at Holyrood earlier this month
Mr Dawson highlighted a desk submitted by the Scottish authorities which appeared to verify Ms Sturgeon had not retained her WhatsApp messages.
He stated: “In the summary table that we see here, we can see that under the box ‘Nicola Sturgeon’ it says that ‘messages were not retained, they were deleted in routine tidying up of inboxes or changes of phones, unable to retrieve messages’.
“What that tends to recommend is that on the time a request was made, Nicola Sturgeon, the previous first minister of Scotland, had retained no messages in any respect in connection together with her administration of the pandemic.”
He requested Lesley Fraser, the director-general company of the Scottish authorities, if that was right.
“That’s what that indicates to me,” she replied.
Ms Fraser additionally confirmed the Scottish authorities had been unable to produce Ms Sturgeon’s messages from its company file.
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Ms Fraser defined that ministers might have managed their messages involving their personal workplaces in such a means to be able to cease the messaging turning into “unmanageable”.
She stated some messages have been merely “banter” that didn’t should be retained, and others might have been misplaced when telephones have been upgraded.
In response to the inquiry proof, a spokesperson for Ms Sturgeon stated: “Any messages she had, she handled and dealt with in line with the Scottish government’s policies.
“Nicola has offered numerous written statements to the UK inquiry – totalling tons of of pages – and welcomes the chance to offer oral proof to the inquiry once more this month when she’s going to reply all questions put to her.”
The inquiry was also shown transcripts of a conversation involving national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch and Ken Thomson, the Scottish government’s former director-general of strategy and external affairs.
Mr Thomson warned that the contents of a chat was “FOI-recoverable” and sent an emoji face with a mouth zipped shut.
Professor Leitch responded: “WhatsApp deletion is a pre-bed ritual.”
Scottish Tory chief Douglas Ross stated each Ms Sturgeon and Mr Swinney have “huge questions to answer” and claimed their actions might have been unlawful.
He stated: “What were they trying to hide? Shamefully and outrageously for families of those who died during the pandemic, we may never know.
“Nicola Sturgeon’s repute, which has been tarnished by a sequence of scandals within the final 12 months, now lies in tatters.
“Secrecy and evasion were the hallmarks of her government – and this shameful cover-up, which amounts to a digital torching of vital evidence, is the most scandalous example of it.”