Johnson and Cummings sent ‘disgusting and misogynistic’ WhatsApps during COVID pandemic, ex-chancellor claims
Boris Johnson and his former adviser Dominic Cummings sent “disgusting and misogynistic” WhatsApp messages that will be released by the COVID inquiry next week, George Osborne has claimed.
The former Tory chancellor said he understands that some “pretty astonishing and frankly, shocking” messages will be made public when Mr Cummings gives evidence at the hearings at the end of the month.
Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, Mr Osborne said the messages “will show people just what a complete nightmare it was” to work in Downing Street during the pandemic and “potentially some things that are going to cause some real problems for individuals who were in charge at the time”.
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Pressed for details by his co-host Ed Balls, he said he had to “be careful here because it’s a judicial inquiry”.
But he added: “From what I understand, there are some pretty staggering things that have been said on those WhatsApp messages by not just by Boris Johnson, but key advisers like Dominic Cummings, really, pretty disgusting language and misogynistic language.
“But I think that’s all I can say because I’ve already appeared once before the COVID inquiry and I don’t want to appear again before it.”
Mr Johnson and Mr Cummings have not commented on the claims.
A string of embarrassing messages have already been released to the inquiry, including how Mr Johnson described long COVID as “b*******” and that his wife, Carrie, had been described as “the real person in charge” by the head of the UK’s civil service.
Mr Cummings has said he is due to give evidence on October 31.
He was Mr Johnson’s closest aide when the pandemic hit, and the government was forced to defend him after he drove to County Durham beauty spot Barnard Castle during the first lockdown.
He left Downing Street in November 2020 following infighting in No 10 and has since become a fierce critic of the former prime minister, suggesting he was indecisive in the response to coronavirus.
The COVID inquiry began this summer and has so far heard evidence from Mr Osborne and ex-prime minister David Cameron – who were grilled on the impact of their austerity programme on the NHS and its ability to plan for a pandemic.
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George Osborne tells the COVID inquiry that there was no planning for a lockdown and that ‘with hindsight’ more could have been done to budget for one.
The first part of the inquiry looked at the UK’s resilience and preparedness for a pandemic while the second part, which started this month, focuses on “core decision making and political governance” and will also see Mr Johnson give evidence.
As part of the inquiry, key decision makers – including ministers, former ministers and senior civil servants – have been asked to disclose communications, including those through informal channels such as WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams or Signal.
Separately, it emerged this week that the “majority” of WhatsApp messages shared among Scottish Government officials during the pandemic may have been deleted.
Jamie Dawson KC – the lead counsel in the Scotland module of the inquiry – told the hearing on Thursday that “although WhatsApps appear to have been used to send messages relating to and surrounding key decisions by some members of Scottish Government, the majority of the messages have not been retained by witnesses”.
Mr Dawson went on to say there is a “lack of certainty” around what materials are held by the government and its officials, where it is held, and what can be recovered, and the inquiry has sought more information about the circumstances in which the messages were not retained.
The UK government was taken to court after it refused to hand over Mr Johnson’s messages to the inquiry, stating the messages were irrelevant.
However, the high court ruled against the cabinet office, stating it was up to Baroness Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, to decide whether the material was relevant or not.
Lady Hallett has said she is “very concerned about the difficulties” in obtaining the messages from the Scottish government, and she “will not hesitate” to use “statutory powers” at her disposal to obtain the relevant information.
PayPal says the US Securities and Exchange Commission has abandoned its investigation into the payment giant’s US-dollar stablecoin.
PayPal said in an April 29 regulatory filing that the SEC concluded its investigation into PayPal USD (PYUSD) and wouldn’t be taking any action.
The company said it received a subpoena from the SEC’s Division of Enforcement over its stablecoin in November 2023.
“The subpoena requests the production of documents. We are cooperating with the SEC in connection with this request,” PayPal stated at the time.
In its latest filing, the firm said the SEC notified it in February that the agency “was closing this inquiry without enforcement action.”
PayPal has said its stablecoin is 100% redeemable for US dollars and “fully backed” by dollar deposits, including short-term treasuries and cash equivalents.
However, the stablecoin has struggled to gain momentum in a crowded market dominated by rivals Tether and Circle. PYUSD has a market capitalization of just $880 million, less than 1% of Tether’s (USDT) $148.5 billion.
PayPal’s stablecoin has seen better growth this year with a 75% increase in PYUSD circulating supply since the beginning of 2025, according to CoinGecko. It remains down 14% from its peak supply of just over $1 billion in August 2024.
Earnings on PYUSD, Coinbase partnership
That growth could be bolstered by a company announcement on April 23 introducing rewards for PYUSD in a new loyalty offering that will enable US users to earn 3.7% annually for holding the asset on the platform.
Meanwhile, on April 24, PayPal announced a partnership with Coinbase to increase the adoption of PYUSD.
“We are excited to drive new, exciting, and innovative use cases together with Coinbase and the entire cryptocurrency community, putting PYUSD at the center,” said Alex Chriss, PayPal President and CEO.
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The payments giant also reported robust first-quarter earnings and the completion of significant share repurchase activities.
The firm beat Wall Street estimates, earning $1.33 per share in the first quarter, topping analyst expectations of $1.16. Revenue rose 1% from a year before to $7.8 billion.
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Asset manager BlackRock has filed to create digital ledger technology shares from one of the firm’s money market funds, which will leverage blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for investors.
The DLT shares will track BlackRock’s BLF Treasury Trust Fund (TTTXX), which may only be purchased from BlackRock Advisors and The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY), the firm said in its April 29 Form N-1A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The money market fund holds over $150 million worth of assets, invested almost entirely in US Treasury bills and cash.
BlackRock said that the shares “are expected to be purchased and held through BNY, which intends to use blockchain technology to maintain a mirror record of share ownership for its customers.”
Unlike the BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), DLT shares won’t be tokenized but will instead be used as a transparency tool to verify ownership.
BlackRock will continue to maintain traditional book-entry records as the official ownership ledger.
BlackRock didn’t propose a ticker or set a management fee for the DLT shares in its filing.
A minimum initial investment of $3 million worth of DLT is required for institutions seeking to purchase the digital shares.
BlackRock follows Fidelity’s March 21 filing to list an Ethereum-based OnChain share class, which seeks to track the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX) — an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.
While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, Fidelity expects it to take effect on May 30.
Wall Street heavyweights continue to explore blockchain use cases
Asset managers have increasingly turned to blockchain to tokenize Treasury bills, bonds and private credit over the past few years.
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The treasury tokenization market is currently valued at $6.16 billion, led by BlackRock’s BUIDL at $2.55 billion, while the Franklin Templeton-issued Franklin OnChain US Government Money Fund (BENJI) secures over $700 million worth of real-world assets, according to rwa.xyz.
Ethereum remains the chain of choice for tokenizing treasury assets, and currently houses over $4.55 billion worth, while the Stellar network and Solana round out the top three at $474.9 million and $274.5 million, respectively.
The potential of RWA tokenization has also been championed by BlackRock’s CEO, Larry Fink, who believes the technology could revolutionize investing.
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The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control can’t restore or reimpose sanctions against the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, a US federal court has ruled.
Austin federal court judge Robert Pitman said in an April 28 judgment that OFAC’s sanctions on Tornado Cash were unlawful and that the agency was “permanently enjoined from enforcing” sanctions.
Tornado Cash users led by Joseph Van Loon had sued the Treasury, arguing that OFAC’s addition of the platform’s smart contract addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list was “not in accordance with law.”
OFAC had sanctioned Tornado Cash in August 2022, accusing the protocol of helping launder crypto stolen by the North Korean hacking collective, the Lazarus Group.
The agency dropped the platform from the sanctions list on March 21 and argued that the matter was “moot” after a court ruled in favor of Tornado Cash in January.
This latest amended ruling prevents OFAC from re-sanctioning Tornado Cash or putting it back on the blacklist.
Initially, the court denied a motion for partial summary judgment and granted in favour of the Treasury. However, the Fifth Circuit reversed the decision and instructed the lower court to grant partial summary judgment to the plaintiffs, which led to the sanctions being revoked.
In March, the Treasury argued there was no need for a final court judgment in the lawsuit.
Crypto body petitions White House over Tornado Cash
On April 28, the DeFi Education Fund petitioned White House crypto czar David Sacks to have prosecutors drop charges against Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm.
Related: Samourai Wallet, feds ask for time to mull dropping crypto mixer case
Storm was charged in August 2023 with helping launder over $1 billion in crypto through the protocol, and his trial is still set for July.
The group said that the Department of Justice was attempting to hold software developers criminally liable for how others use their code, which they argued was “not only absurd in principle, but it sets a precedent that potentially chills all crypto development in the United States.”
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