Security services ‘may hold back sensitive intelligence’ after Suella Braverman’s reinstatement as Home Secretary six days after using her personal email, David Blunkett warns
- Former Home Secretary David Blunkett spoke out over Suella Braverman’s return
- Ms Braverman resigned her post under Liz Truss but was brought back by Sunak
- She allegedly sent a sensitive policy document from a personal email account
- Blunkett claims security services could be reluctant to share sensitive details
Security services at home and abroad could be reluctant to share sensitive information because of the reappointment of Suella Braverman, a former home secretary has warned.
David Blunkett said there could be ‘two really unfortunate outcomes’ following Mrs Braverman’s return only six days after she was ousted over a breach of the ministerial code.
She allegedly sent a sensitive policy document from a personal email account on her mobile phone to Tory MP Sir John Hayes but accidentally copied in another MP’s aide.
Mrs Braverman was sacked last week, but new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reappointed her to the role on Tuesday – prompting speculation that his decision was influenced by her endorsement for his leadership bid. Lord Blunkett, who served as home secretary under former prime minister Tony Blair, said: ‘Isn’t it true there could be two really unfortunate outcomes to the reappointment of the current Home Secretary?
Security services could be reluctant to share sensitive information because of the reappointment of Suella Braverman, former home secretary David Blunkett has warned
‘One is that the security and intelligence services will be reluctant to provide the briefings and the openness needed. And the second is that other international security agencies will be reluctant to share with us if they are fearful that their information will be passed out of government itself.’
Government sources last night questioned Mrs Braverman’s version of events that led up to her leaving Liz Truss’s government.
In her resignation letter, she said ‘as soon as I realised my mistake, I rapidly reported this on official channels’.
But the Mail has been told that she was ‘caught out’. It is understood that MP Andrew Percy, whose aide had been copied in, told the chief whip Simon Hart. He told Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, who passed on the information to the Prime Minister, and No 10 then told her to resign. However, Mrs Braverman did not go immediately, but is said to have posted her resignation letter on Twitter without sending it to Downing Street in advance as she tried to make it into an ‘immigration row’ story.
David Blunkett (pictured) said there could be ‘two really unfortunate outcomes’ following Mrs Braverman’s return only six days after she was ousted over a breach of the ministerial code
Meanwhile, it was reported that Mr Case will not launch an investigation, prompting Labour to accuse Mr Sunak of ‘maintaining the ethical void in Downing Street left by his predecessors’. The party’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said: ‘This farcical lack of scrutiny, transparency and accountability does diddly squat to deliver on the new Prime Minister’s promise to restore standards in public life after years of Tory sleaze and scandal.’
Conservative MPs last night joined Labour’s calls for an inquiry into the breach. Mark Pritchard, who used to sit on Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, wrote on Twitter: ‘MI5 need to have confidence in the Home Secretary – whoever that might be.’
But the PM’s official spokesman insisted MI5 is confident in Mrs Braverman, saying: ‘The Home Secretary continues to have strong relationships with all the operational bodies that report into the Home Office and are focused very much on keeping the country safe.’
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