In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Suella Braverman once again apologized for violating security regulations and detailed the events that led to her resignation under former prime minister Liz Truss.
Six times, Suella Braverman admitted forwarding official papers from her government email address to her email address.
In a letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee, she again apologized for violating security regulations and detailed the events that led to her resignation under former prime minister Liz Truss.
The Home Office confirmed she had used her email address to send an official government document, and Ms. Braverman added in her letter: “On six times, I had sent official papers from my government email to my email.
“The examination verified that all of these incidents occurred while I was conducting virtual Home Office meetings or using public telephone lines to conduct interviews.”
This afternoon, Ms. Braverman is set to deliver a statement in the House of Commons.
She is facing a second scandal as the Channel issue escalates and the Manston processing center becomes overcrowded.
Labour has accused her of remaining mute on the subject because questions remain regarding her “personal security lapses.”
In her letter, the home secretary argued that the four-page document outlining high-level migration policy suggestions contained no national security material and was not classified as top secret.
She explained that she sent the documents to her phone, in violation of the ministerial code, because she frequently participated in virtual meetings while traveling.
Ms. Braverman said: “It was not viable to utilize a single device to hold the meetings and view the materials at the same time.
Therefore, I had on rare occasions and in exceptional circumstances emailed them to my email account so that I could read them and conduct critical government business.
As stated in her resignation letter, Mrs. Braverman’s staff maintains that she promptly reported the matter to Simon Case, cabinet secretary.
Others have asserted that Mrs. Braverman did not inform the cabinet secretary of the infraction.
Here is the chronology of events as described in her letter:
- -7:25 a.m.: Sent email from a personal account to Rt Hon Sir John Hayes and his secretary, but inserted erroneous address, sending document “inadvertently and unknowingly” to someone else.
- 9 a.m.: Began consecutive meetings
- At 10 a.m., she checked her email and received a message from a stranger stating, “This was sent to me in error” – “I realized I had made a mistake.”
- 10:02 a.m.: Replied “please remove and disregard” and then went into meetings.
- I met two constituents at 11:20 a.m.
- At 11:50 am, I “accidentally” ran into then-Chief Whip Wendy Morton and Andrew Percy MP, who informed me that my email had been forwarded to a member of his staff and that “he was concerned.”
- At noon, I returned to my parliamentary office to “take action on my error.”
Ms. Braverman stated that when she realized she had sent the email to MP Andrew Percy’s employee by mistake, she “determined to notify my officials as soon as possible.”
She stated that before contacting the civil service, she “coincidentally” encountered the chief whip and Mr. Percy, who expressed their worries to her.
After this discussion, Ms. Braverman requested that a special adviser inform her private secretary of what transpired, at which point the cabinet secretary and prime minister’s office were notified.
The home secretary claimed, “The cabinet secretary was informed for the first time as a result of my activities.”
She stated, “Separately, and unbeknownst to me at the time, the chief whip had also informed the prime minister of this matter; I was unaware of this until after these events occurred.”
The prime minister has “complete faith” in the home secretary
The letter followed days of criticism of incoming Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s reappointment of Ms. Braverman, despite his campaign pledge to lead “with integrity.”
Labour has urged the government to reveal its assessments of Ms. Braverman’s security breach, with leader Sir Keir Starmer accusing Mr. Sunak of brokering a “grubby bargain trading security for support” in the Tory leadership campaign, which he won with Ms. Braverman’s support.
Ms. Braverman stated in the letter that she apologized to Mr. Sunak when he entered No. 10 and reiterated her apology publicly.
She stated, “During my appointment discussion with the incoming prime minister, I brought up this error and apologized to him. I would like to do so again here.”
“I further reassured the prime minister that I would not use my email for official business and confirmed my awareness of the ministerial code and commitment to it.”
Following the publishing of the letter, Downing Street stated that the prime minister has full confidence in the home secretary.
In addition, the spokesperson stated that Mr. Sunak was comfortable that Ms. Braverman comprehended the subsequent guidance she was provided.
