Home secretary Suella Braverman is under mounting pressure over security breaches after it emerged she took several hours to alert the UK’s top civil servant to an “error of judgment” involving sensitive documents.
She also came under scrutiny on Sunday for allegedly failing to heed legal advice on the prolonged detention of migrants at an asylum processing centre at Manston in Kent.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak’s early days in office have been overshadowed by the row over his reappointment of Braverman as home secretary.
Braverman was ousted as home secretary by the then prime minister Liz Truss on October 19 after she sent a government document about immigration from her personal email to a Conservative MP, in breach of ministerial rules.
At the time, Braverman said that as soon as she realised her mistake she “rapidly” alerted “official channels”.
But on Sunday her allies admitted she took several hours to flag her “error of judgment” to cabinet secretary Simon Case.
The document Braverman shared with the Tory MP related to a proposed new government policy to increase immigration that could boost economic growth and was therefore market-sensitive.
She accidentally also sent a copy of the policy to a parliamentary staff member at 7.25am on October 19 and at 8.30am the recipient sent the home secretary a message saying it had been dispatched in error.
The BBC revealed on Sunday that Braverman then sent a message at 10.02am from her personal Gmail account to the staffer saying: “Please can you delete the message and ignore.”
Conservative chief whip Wendy Morton was alerted and tried to track down the home secretary.
Braverman’s allies confirmed it was not until around midday that she told her officials to raise the security breach with Case.
They insisted that she raised the issue “proactively” with the cabinet secretary and that the delay of more than four hours was attributed to Braverman’s “very packed schedule”.
One person close to Braverman said the first Case learned about the security breach was when it was raised by the home secretary’s office, drawing a distinction with the fact the Tory chief whip already knew about it.
Yvette Cooper, shadow home secretary, said that “in addition to the many outstanding questions about other alleged security breaches . . . this also raises questions about the accuracy of Suella Braverman’s response and how seriously she takes these issues”.
“Rishi Sunak promised ‘integrity, professionalism and accountability’ — choosing to reappoint Suella Braverman to one of the most important jobs in government just six days after this breach took place fails on all three counts,” she added.
Michael Gove, levelling up secretary, however, insisted on Sunday that Braverman was “brave” and that she was only receiving political flak because she was tackling illegal immigration.
The Sunday Times said Braverman had failed to act on legal advice that thousands of asylum seekers were being held at Manston for unlawfully long periods of time.
About 2,600 migrants are being held at the site — which was designed as a short-term processing centre for no more than 1,600 — in conditions last week described by David Neal, chief inspector of borders and immigration, as “wretched”.
“The situation at Manston is one of the minister’s own making having ignored official advice to take action to avoid the human suffering unfolding at the site,” said Enver Solomon, head of the Refugee Council, a charity.
The Home Office did not deny that Braverman had received legal advice, but said: “The home secretary has taken urgent decisions to alleviate issues at Manston and source alternative accommodation. Claims advice was deliberately ignored are completely baseless.”
The Home Office also said the UK asylum system was under “incredible pressure” with record numbers of people arriving in the UK in small boats.
About 1,000 people crossed the English Channel on Saturday, according to the Ministry of Defence, bringing the total who have entered the UK via that route to almost 40,000 so far this year.
On Sunday, a man hurled “two or three” petrol bombs into an immigration centre at the port of Dover, where migrants are processed, according to Kent police.
“One minor injury has been reported,” said the police. “The suspect has been identified and located. Enquiries into the incident remain ongoing.”
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