The COVID inquiry has issued a legal notice to the Cabinet Office for not handing over the full contents of Boris Johnson’s messages.
The Cabinet Office tried to object to handing over the communications but was overruled by Baroness Hallett, the chair of the inquiry.
Downing Street insisted the government was supplying “all relevant material” to the inquiry.
The Cabinet Office has already provided more than 55,000 documents, 24 personal witness statements and eight corporate statements to the inquiry.
But the Government believes it has no duty to disclose “unambiguously irrelevant” material, Downing Street said.
Boris Johnson says he is instructing new lawyers to represent him in the inquiry.