Westminster, (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The Labour Party will give MPs a “binding vote” on forcing the Prime Minister to disclose exactly what and when he knew about Suella Braverman’s security lapses when he re-appointed her as home secretary.
Opposition MPs will point to reports that have emerged since the Home Secretary’s reappointment that suggests she was responsible for several leaks, including at least one while she was Attorney General and sent official Home Office documents to her private e-mail on no less than six occasions in recent weeks.
They will highlight reports that officials and other ministers have been alarmed by Suella Braverman’s “disregard for legal advice on dangerous overcrowding at Manston” during her first period as Home Secretary, something she strongly denied.
Labour will demand that the Prime Minister reveals, “whether he was warned about all the breaches of security, whether he sought further information and advice on the security risk she posed, whether he raised these issues with Suella Braverman when she was appointed, and whether he disregarded security advice?”.
Labour’s motion will force the Government to share with Parliament, or the Intelligence and Security Committee, the relevant government security and risk assessments regarding the Home Secretary’s alleged leaks and security lapses, and the information given to the Prime Minister before her reappointment.
They previously used a similar motion that required the Government to publish redacted documents about the appointment of Evgeny Lebedev to the House of Lords.
The motion would be binding and if passed the government would be forced to send the relevant documents with similar provision for redactions on grounds of national security.
The timing of the vote coincides with a mighty row over the appointed as a Gavin Williamson as the Cabinet OfficeMinister, with responsibility for cybersecurity and the National Security Council as he is under investigation for bullying the former Chief Whip, Wendy Morton.
Mr Williamson, himself a former Chief Whip who allegedly used his pet tarantula Kronos to intimidate backbench MPs was sacked in 2019 by Theresa May for leaking information from the National Security Council about concerns over Huawei building the UK’s 5G network.
Labour say that this is another case of the Prime Minister ignoring advice from the Cabinet Office which has responsibility for vetting ministerial appointments and believe that the binding vote well not only keep the issue live in the media, but will also exposed the nervousness of backbench conservative MPs over the appointment of Braverman and Williamson.
Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, commented: “The public look to the Home Office to keep them, their families, and their communities safe. But for Rishi Sunak to reappoint Suella Braverman as Home Secretary just six days after she broke the Ministerial Code, against advice and in the light of these further reports about security and code breaches, was just irresponsible. It shows that neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Secretary are taking security and public safety seriously enough.
“Reappointing Gavin Williamson to the Cabinet Office which covers cybersecurity and the National Security Council when he was sacked in the past over a security council leak is even more inexplicable and compounds the problem.
“This is why we need to know whether Rishi Sunak even considered questions about security or the Ministerial Code when making his Cabinet appointments. Tory MPs must not vote to hide the answers. Security is too important for a grubby political deal which puts party ahead of country.”
One Conservative MP tell parliamentnews.co.uk that it is clear that PM‘s honeymoon is well and truly over.
Parliamentnews.co.uk have asked the Cabinet Office for a comments and will add this to the article once it is received.
ENDS