Top Tory claims aides would have sent brutal WhatsApps about Winston Churchill

31 October 2023 , 08:19

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A Tory minister said aides would have made similar remarks about Winston Churchill if WhatsApp existed back then (Image: Popperfoto via Getty Images)

A top Tory says scathing WhatsApp messages about Boris Johnson were "tittle tattle" - and if the app existed during World War Two, Winston Churchill would face similar embarrassment.

Transport minister Richard Holden claimed the Government "stepped up" during the Covid crisis - despite alarming messages between aides branding Mr Johnson a "tragic joke" and "Trump-level mad". The messages exposed a shuddering lack of confidence in the then-Prime Minister in the early days of the crisis.

But Mr Holden dismissed the furore - claiming similar things would have been said about wartime leaders in the past. He said he was "absolutely positive" that there would have been similar messages about Churchill if his aides used WhatsApp.

He told Times Radio: "If there was conversations between people and they were recorded throughout history as they are on WhatsApp then would it be similarly embarrassing, you know would Churchill and Chamberlain have faced a similar, what their colleagues said about them on X or Y day, I'm absolutely positive they would have done. I think that's tittle tattle.

"I don't think that's the important issue here. The important issue at stake is what we can learn as a country from our response."

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He defended the Johnson administration, saying: "The entire Government stepped up and responded in those circumstances."

It comes after the Covid Inquiry learned the head of the civil service secretly blasted Boris Johnson for causing havoc during the pandemic. In explosive WhatsApp messages, Cabinet Secretary Simon Case accused the PM of making the Government look like a “tragic joke” with “bulls***” ideas.

The exasperated top official warned that Mr Johnson alternated between fearing the virus was getting worse and “let it rip” mode when he argued the country was “pathetic” and “needs a cold shower”. In one chat, Mr Case wrote: “He cannot lead… A weak team definitely cannot succeed in these [circumstances]. IT HAS TO STOP!" He added: "I am at the end of my tether… Gov't isn't actually that hard but this guy is really making it impossible."

And former No10 Dominic Cummings wrote in another frank exchange: "As always discussions with these ministers is moronic. They cannot understand priorities. They didn’t even understand what they were talking about for most of this mtng."

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Dave Burke