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The government has launched legal action to prevent the independent Covid inquiry demanding disclosure of thousands of WhatsApp messages. What does it have to hide, asks Aubrey AllegrettiNext week the first full hearings will take place for the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry. It is expected to last at least three years and cover everything from the government’s preparedness for pandemics to the conduct of those responding to it and lessons that could be learned for next time a deadly virus must be contained.As the Guardian political correspondent Aubrey Allegretti tells Michael Safi, the aims of the inquiry itself have become clouded in recent days by an unedifiying row between the government and the inquiry’s chair over who gets to decide what information is relevant and in the public interest to examine. With the Cabinet Office arguing to hold back contents of WhatsApp group chats, Boris Johnson waded in and offered to hand over all of his material, hailing a need for transparency – and in the process dropping his former colleague, Rishi Sunak, into a row about allegations of a cover-up. Continue reading...