Boris Johnson has been getting "short updates" on government business via WhatsApp since November 2020.- For at least five months, these summaries of his red box ministerial work were sent to a personal phone.
Boris Johnson is receiving "short updates" to his ministerial red box work on a daily basis sent to him via WhatsApp, a top official has admitted.
Since November 2020, Johnson's private office has implemented a "new daily updates process for efficiency", consisting of WhatsApp messages with "short updates and diary arrangements" related to the contents of his red box.
Sarah Harrison, chief operating officer at the Cabinet Office, said that WhatsApp was only introduced to devices issued by No 10 Downing Street in March 2021, meaning that from 16 November 2020 to March 2021, Johnson received the updates to a personal, potentially unsecured, device.
Responses, which could include decisions on submissions to his red box, are sent by Johnson via WhatsApp.
Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, the top civil servant and adviser to Johnson, raised concerns about Johnson's use of WhatsApp to give approval to formal red box submissions, the Daily Mail reported in November 2020, shortly after the process began.
Officials claimed some of the responses from Johnson were not in his "distinctive style", the newspaper reported.
One source told the Mail: "Previously, the Private Office WhatsApp was used for diary stuff, like reminding him he had a call to a foreign leader in 20 minutes. Now major decisions are sent in a 'WhatsApp' summary. It is not the same as getting full details in a document in his red box. And not as secure."
Harrison's statement, however, suggests the use of WhatsApp to make decisions on red box submissions are still continuing.
In April 2021, gossip newsletter Popbitch revealed that Johnson's personal phone number had been freely available online since 2006. Johnson later changed his number.
Harrison's statement did not say if Johnson is continuing to receive the daily updates to a personal device or a secured government device.
The admission came as part of the government's response to a judicial review of the use of personal phones, emails, and WhatsApp to conduct government business, being brought by All the Citizens with Foxglove alongside a similar case by the Good Law Project.
All the Citizens say Johnson specifically requested the WhatsApp summaries, a claim that is not rejected by Harrison.
Johnson continues to receive paper submissions to his red box, with the daily updates introduced for "administrative ease".
In a Sunday Times report published in January, one official claimed Johnson's ministerial box was left outside the door of his private flat in Downing Street on Saturdays.
"It would be there in the morning and often still there in the evening," the official told the Sunday Times. "He wouldn't have touched it."
The same report cited two officials saying Johnson's former chief advisor, Dominic Cummings, stopped highly sensitive intelligence papers being put in Johnson's red box after he found them lying around in the private flat.
Executive director of All the Citizens, Clara Maguire, said there needed to be a "full security review" of Johnson's communications.
"Given what is happening now, this isn't just a profound breach of national security but also of our NATO partners," she said.
Labour MP Fleur Anderson, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, told Insider: "This is further evidence that Boris Johnson is not a serious Prime Minister. It is no wonder the Prime Minister isn't across crucial detail – such as the memo from P&O detailing to sacking of 800 British workers – when he is avoiding reading full length briefings.
"This Prime Minister is allergic to detail and the hard graft the office of Prime Minister requires."
A government spokesperson told Insider they would not comment on ongoing litigation.
"Ministers will use a range of digital forms of communication for discussions in line with relevant guidance on information handling and security. The covid pandemic has necessarily required remote working and fast-paced communications," they added.