Braverman ‘defends’ sending government documents to private email

‘I was never advised that this was not permissible’

• Pramod Thomas
• 22 October, 2024

By: Pramod Thomas

FORMER home secretary Suella Braverman has come under scrutiny after it was revealed that she sent government documents to her private email 127 times while serving as attorney general.

Report from the Times said that between 2021 and 2022 she sent emails containing 290 documents to her personal email in a potential breach of the ministerial code.

The information emerged following a Freedom of Information campaign by the newspaper, leading to a tribunal ruling that ordered the Attorney General’s Office to release the details. Although it remains unclear whether any sensitive or classified information was shared, the case has raised serious questions about her conduct.

Ministers are banned from sending sensitive emails and documents to their private accounts due to security reasons.

Despite this rule, Braverman, a prominent Tory politician, defended her actions during a recent interview with LBC, offering what she described as a “tedious” explanation.

The British Indian former minister explained that the documents she forwarded were not related to national security but were necessary for her work as attorney general.

She added that she was unable to access her government email account from her personal laptop.

“That’s not very practical when you are reading a lot of documents online and you simultaneously need to write lengthy documents and pieces as part of your work. Sometimes you need two screens. So it’s a bit tedious as an explanation. There’s nothing to do with spies or state secrets here. There was nothing sensitive that was transferred,” she was quoted as saying.

“It was literally a way to enable me to view documents on one screen and simultaneously type on another screen so that I could explain my views those people.”

When asked by presenter Nick Ferrari if she would repeat her actions, Braverman said, “I was never advised that this was not permissible, bit we were in a strange scenario where a lot of that was done during Covid and lockdown, when there was a lot of working from home and I wasn’t getting as many papers in physical copy.”

Braverman, who has held senior positions in Boris Johnson’s and Liz Truss’s governments, was previously forced to resign as home secretary in October 2022 after a separate incident involving the misuse of her personal email.

She sent an official document from her personal email to fellow right-wing MP Sir John Hayes, which constituted a significant violation of ministerial rules. The document was considered highly sensitive, relating to migration and immigration rules, and had potential implications for market-sensitive information.

At the time, she accepted responsibility for her actions and resigned from her position, acknowledging the seriousness of the breach.

In November last year, then prime minister Rishi Sunak sacked Braverman from her position as home secretary after she disregarded advice from Downing Street and published a controversial article alleging political bias within the Metropolitan Police.

In her piece, she claimed that the police enforced a “double standard,” adopting a stricter approach towards right-wing demonstrations compared to pro-Palestinian protests.

In this latest case, Braverman’s explanation has not satisfied critics, who argue that her actions reflect a disregard for security protocols.

In another development, Braverman endorsed Robert Jenrick in Tory leadership race against Kemi Badenoch because of his pledge to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

“Robert Jenrick is that leader. His plan to reform migration policy by withdrawing from the ECHR and placing a cap on visas is not just necessary; it is the foundation upon which we can rebuild trust and win back millions of voters who have lost faith,” she wrote in the Telegraph.