First minister Humza Yousaf said he will launch a review into the use of mobile messaging apps such as Whatsapp by the Scottish government after his predecessor called Boris Johnson a “f****** clown” in a message.
The announcement follows ongoing scrutiny into private message exchanges between ministers and officials during the pandemic.
Speaking at First Minister’s Questions, Mr Yousaf said: “I do believe that there are challenges in relation to our use of WhatsApp, it has not been frankly the Government’s finest hour in relation to handling those requests and I put my hands up to that, unlike of course other governments.
“That’s why I have commissioned officials to deliver an externally-led review, not a government review but an externally-led review, into the use of mobile messaging apps and the use of non-corporate technology in the Scottish government, and that should take particular account of our interaction with statutory public inquiries.
“When it comes to being transparent, the government handed over 28,000 messages, 19,000 documents, I myself as First Minister of the government have handed over my WhatsApp messages.”
Last week, the former Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon came under fire after the inquiry heard that she had erased all messages sent and recieved during the pandemic.
The former leader of the SNP claimed previously she had never used informal messages to make decisions during the pandemic.
However, it had been revealed that Ms Sturgeon had been routinely deleting her whatsapp messages, which she has since argued was in line with governemnt policy.
Today, the Covid Inquiry published messages between Ms Sturgeon and her chief of staff, Liz Lloyd, where Ms Sturgeon had described Boris Johnson as a “clown”, following the former prime minister’s appearance on TV to announce the second national lockdown.
The exchange between the former first minister and Ms Lloyd in October 2020 contained a series of explicit messages that were highly critical of the former leader.
In the Whatsapps, Ms Sturgeon hit out at the UK government’s communications, stating: “This is f****** excruciating - their comms are awful.
“His utter incompetence in every sense is now offending me on behalf of politicians everywhere.”
Ms Lloyd said she was “offended” on behalf of special advisers everywhere.
Ms Sturgeon replied: “He is a f****** clown.”
The revelations follow months of debate around the use of Whatsapps in internal government decision making, after Mr Johnson and Rishi Sunak failed to hand over key Whatsapp messages to the Covid-19 Inquiry. Both the former and current prime ministers have said that they no longer have access to the messages.
Mr Yousaf’s announcement today follows comments from Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross and Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, who have both said the evidence heard at the Covid-19 inquiry proved there was a “culture of secrecy” at the heart of the Scottish government.
Giving evidence to the Inquiry today, Humza Yousaf has said he used his own personal phones to conduct government business during the course of the pandemic rather than a government-issued phone.
Jamie Dawson KC asked Mr Yousaf: “Is it the case that you used your own personal phones, plural for WhatsApp messages during the course of the pandemic rather than a government issued phone?”
Mr Yousaf said: “Yes that’s correct.”
The messages were then all deleted “after a month for cyber security purposes”, according to a document from October 2023 that details how ministers used informal communications during the pandemic.
But Mr Yousaf realised some messages were recoverable as he had retained a previous phone handset.
Mr Yousaf has maintained that he has personally handed over all his relevant whatsapps to the inquiry.