Home Secretary Suella Braverman has insisted she addressed concerns about a possible security breach “transparently and comprehensively”.
The Home Secretary was involved in the breach involved with emailing official government documents from her personal email account.
During heated exchanges in the Commons, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper questioned how the public could have confidence in her when she reportedly ignored legal advice on her duty to house migrants and broke ministerial rules on handling official documents.
Braverman hit back, accusing her opponents of “playing political parlour games” in a bid to get rid of her.
In a lengthy statement to MPs earlier, she said she sent official documents from her government email address to her personal account on six occasions, insisting there was “no risk to national security”.
A Home Office review identified the incidents after she was forced to resign for breaching the ministerial code by sending a draft government statement to an ally from her personal account.
Six days after she was forced to quit by Liz Truss, she was reappointed as Home Secretary by Rishi Sunak when he became Prime Minister.
In Commons, Cooper said it looks like Braverman breached the ministerial code – which requires ministers to uphold the law – three times in one day, including one occasion when she ignored legal advice.
“Every day since her reappointment there have been more stories about possible security or ministerial code breaches,” Cooper said.
“How is anybody supposed to have confidence in her given the serious responsibilities of the Home Secretary for security standards and public safety?”
My letter to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, Dame Diana Johnson. https://t.co/c5yZHrNpdr
— Suella Braverman MP (@SuellaBraverman) October 31, 2022
In her statement to the Common Home Affairs Committee, Braverman denied ignoring legal advice and said she had dealt “transparently and comprehensively” with her “error of judgment” in relation to her use of emails.
She accused her opponents of trying to get rid of her because she is serious about dealing with the “scourge” of illegal immigration.
“The system is broken,” she said. “Illegal migration is out of control and too many people are interested in playing political parlour games, covering up the truth than solving the problem.
“I know that I speak for the decent, law-abiding, patriotic majority of British people from every background that wants safe and secure borders.”
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