(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Covid inquiry: Nicola Sturgeon admits to deleting WhatsApps [1] [] Date: 2024-02 Nicola Sturgeon has finally admitted to deleting her WhatsApp messages during the pandemic – as evidence shown to the Covid inquiry proves they were used for government decision-making. Speaking at a hearing in Edinburgh, the former first minister initially said only that she had not “retained” her messages, but later admitted that she had deleted them herself. Sturgeon defended doing so, claiming she believed she should not hold anything relevant to government business on a phone that could be lost, and that anything important would be put on the corporate record. She also said she did not communicate frequently using WhatsApp and that when she did it was not used for government business. What do you think? Win a £10 book voucher for sharing your views about openDemocracy. Tell us “I’m absolutely certain that the salient points that we were discussing then would be reflected on the corporate – and indeed, on the public – record,” she said. Sturgeon added that any messages “could not be kept secret” because they were decisions that would eventually be communicated to the public. “The communication of that nature was not used by me for anything other than routine exchanges, logistics, passing on information,” said Sturgeon. “The exchanges… will be littered with things like: ‘There’s a note coming to you through the system. I’m giving you a heads-up about that.’ That’s the nature of the communication.” But WhatsApps shown to the inquiry make clear that some important decisions were taken over messages – which were deleted by Sturgeon but recovered in evidence submitted by the person she was speaking to. In an exchange between Sturgeon and Elizabeth Lloyd, her chief of staff at the time, the former first minister explains how she is in a “bit of a crisis” over what restrictions to place on the hospitality sector in October 2020. “The public health argument says stick with 6pm/no alcohol for level 3. But I suspect industry will go mad – and I worry we could derail debate,” wrote Sturgeon. Counsel to the inquiry said that this was an example of a “missing exchange” that would be “relevant” to someone who wanted to know how decisions were made. Sturgeon said the exchange, which showed “a crisis of decision-making,” was something she would “prefer not to be on the public record,” but that it was on the way to a cabinet meeting, where those decisions would also be made. The former first minister, who arrived at the inquiry as a small number of protesters shouted “excess deaths”, maintained that neither she nor the government had any interest in hiding key information. “Contrary to there being any desire on the part of me or my government to keep things secret, I would suggest that the opposite was the case during the pandemic.” The inquiry has previously heard how there was a culture of deleting messages among senior civil servants, with one boasting that doing so was a “pre-bed ritual”. The inquiry continues. openDemocracy is fundraising to pay reporters to cover every day of the public hearings. Please support us by donating here. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/covid-19-inquiry-nicola-sturgeon-whatsapps-deleted-secret/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/