The British government is investigating the leak of private text messages between UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and billionaire inventor James Dyson.
"We have instructed the Cabinet Office to look into this," Johnson’s spokesman said when asked whether there will be an inquiry into the leak.
In the messages, which date back to March 2020, Johnson assured Dyson that the his employees wouldn’t have to pay extra tax if they were to come to the UK to make ventilators during the COVID pandemic.
While the deal between Johnson and Dyson elicited criticism from Labour, the prime minister said Wednesday that he would make no apology for providing the aforementioned tax assurances.
According to The Guardian, Labour also wrote to Sir Bernard Jenkin, chair of the liaison committee, and asked it to question the PM on the use of his personal phone.
"The prime minster is due to appear before the committee before the summer recess, and at that meeting committee members may question the prime minister on any matter," Jenkin said.
Rachek Reeves, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office and the author of the letter to Jenkin, also argued that it's essential Johnson "make public all the correspondence he receives by text," as the newspaper put it.
"Revelations today seem to confirm a growing feeling that if one has access to a telephone number of someone like the prime minister or the chancellor of the exchequer, then they are able to gain special treatment, potentially even significant financial ones," she said.
