UK Covid Inquiry: The questions former SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon must answer - from missing WhatsApp messages, secrecy culture, private emails

Political opponents have accused the former first minister of overseeing a culture of secrecy after it emerged she failed to retain any of her Covid WhatsApp messages, while top officials in the Scottish Government confirmed they routinely deleted theirs.

Representatives of bereaved families say critical evidence “was being destroyed on an industrial scale, despite individuals knowing a public inquiry would require this material”.

Ms Sturgeon, whose communication skills during the pandemic were widely praised, will now face tough questions from some of the finest legal minds in the business. Will her answers stand up to scrutiny?

Missing WhatsApps

In a statement last weekend, Ms Sturgeon said while she had not retained her own WhatsApp messages, she “was able to obtain copies” which were submitted to the inquiry.

“To be clear, I conducted the Covid response through formal processes from my office in St Andrew’s House, not through WhatsApp or any other informal messaging platform,” she added.

Messages provided to the inquiry by her ex-chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, call this last sentence into question. They show the pair discussed Covid rules – such as the number of people allowed at weddings – and these conversations appear to have influenced decisions.

The WhatsApps provided by Ms Lloyd cover a period of about six-and-a-half months, from August 31, 2020 to March 16, 2021. She told the inquiry she had been unable to recover those sent and received in the months before this. This is frustrating, as the initial pandemic period saw a number of key developments, not least the first lockdown and the controversial decision to move hospital patients into care homes.

Catherine Calderwood, the former chief medical officer, was also forced to resign in April 2020 after being caught breaking Covid rules to visit her holiday home in Fife. We can only speculate about the messages that may have been sent on the back of this.

Perhaps more WhatsApps from those first few months will emerge, but the ones between Ms Sturgeon and her closest adviser, at any rate, appear lost to history. The messages that were handed over provide a tantalising glimpse behind the curtain.

The revelation that Ms Sturgeon described Boris Johnson as a “f**king clown” during the height of the pandemic understandably grabbed the headlines, but it’s those exchanges discussing Covid policy and restrictions that may ultimately interest the inquiry more.

A culture of secrecy?

Ms Sturgeon is also likely to face questions about the general culture she presided over. The widespread deletion of WhatsApps by her officials and fellow ministers has been the focus of intense media interest.

The inquiry previously heard Gregor Smith, Scotland’s chief medical officer, advised colleagues to delete messages every day. Jason Leitch, the national clinical director, also deleted messages regularly.

Both say they were following the Scottish Government’s own guidance, which says messages should be deleted after any key points or decisions have been logged. But given it was widely acknowledged early in the pandemic that a public inquiry would take place, should this really have been the practice?

This guidance was also inconsistently followed. While some failed to retain messages, others kept them, including First Minister Humza Yousaf, former finance secretary Kate Forbes and Ms Lloyd. Indeed, the latter told the inquiry she wasn’t even aware of the WhatsApp policy.

In August 2021, Ms Sturgeon was asked by a journalist if she could guarantee to bereaved families that she would disclose all her personal emails and WhatsApps. “I think if you understand statutory public inquiries, you would know that even if I wasn't prepared to give that assurance – which for the avoidance of doubt, I am – then I wouldn’t have the ability,” she said. “This will be a judge-led, statutory public inquiry.”

At the very least, this response strongly implied the former first minister would retain and hand over her WhatsApps. So why didn’t she?

The inquiry has also expressed an interest in the Scottish Government’s transparency during key moments in the pandemic, such as the early outbreak of Covid at a Nike conference in Edinburgh in February 2020.

Private emails

In addition, Ms Sturgeon could face questions over the use of her private SNP email account. The inquiry has previously seen an exchange between the former first minister and Devi Sridhar, a professor of public health at Edinburgh University, in which Ms Sturgeon said the academic could send her information “privately” using her SNP email address, “and/or officially” using her government email. "Either way fine by me,” she added.

Concerns have long been raised over the use of private email addresses, which are not subject to Freedom of Information laws. A source close to Ms Sturgeon told journalists all emails sent by Ms Sridhar were forwarded to Scottish Government channels.

Decision-making processes

Elsewhere, there will likely be a focus on the decision-making processes followed by Ms Sturgeon, particularly at key moments during the pandemic. How were decisions arrived at, and who was involved in making them?

On Thursday, Mr Yousaf told the inquiry the former first minister sometimes “needed a tighter cast list and wanted one”. This came after he was questioned about a WhatsApp exchange with Prof Leitch, in which the national clinical director appeared to take a dig at Ms Sturgeon’s leadership style.

“There was some First Minister ‘keep it small’ shenanigans as always,” Prof Leitch wrote in May 2021. “She actually wants none of us.” Mr Yousaf said this was “a classic example of Jason perhaps over-speaking”. But is there some truth to it?

Politicising the pandemic?

Questions have also been raised over the potential politicisation of the pandemic. The inquiry has looked at minutes from a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet in June 2020, which say it “agreed that consideration should be given to restarting work on independence and a referendum, with the arguments reflecting the experience of the coronavirus crisis and developments on EU exit”.

Ms Lloyd, who attended the meeting, downplayed this when giving evidence. She said she did not recall any “substantive discussion” about independence. The constitution was not generally a subject under discussion during the pandemic, she added.

In November 2020, Ms Lloyd messaged her boss on WhatsApp expressing frustration over the planned winding down of the UK Government’s furlough scheme. She wanted to put pressure on the UK Government, writing: “Think I just want a good old fashioned rammy so can think about something other than sick people.”

Opposition politicians have leapt on this as evidence the SNP were playing politics during a global crisis. Ms Lloyd told the inquiry it related to a time when the Scottish Government wanted to apply restrictions, but was being hindered by decisions down south.

“I’m looking for a public spat with a purpose,” the former adviser said. “Public spats could often deliver results. If public pressure on the UK Government was there, it had been shown in the past that they would sometimes change their mind if they felt that pressure, and what I want them to do is change their mind.”

No doubt Ms Sturgeon will be asked about these issues too. What role did party politics play during the pandemic? What about independence?

The former first minister will give evidence on Wednesday. The entire day has been set aside. Given the number of things to get through, it’s just as well.