Boris Johnson’s messages are just the start of it: the government is run on WhatsApp | Marie Le Conte

If off-the-record messaging is a worrying trend, the real problem is that Westminster is one big gentlemen's club

What are WhatsApps? No, really, what are they? This may sound like a question asked by an increasingly puzzled grandad at Christmas, but it has become central to British politics.

Westminster has, over the past few weeks, waited with bated breath to see if the messages sent to and from ministers during the pandemic would be handed over to the Covid inquiry. Heather Hallett, who is running the investigation, demanded that the full cache be released before the public evidence sessions began, but to no avail. Boris Johnson has said he has given his messages to the Cabinet Office, which decided on Thursday afternoon to launch legal action to avoid having to pass them on.

Marie Le Conte is a French journalist living in London