Braverman told a member of staff to ‘delete and ignore’ the sensitive email (Picture: PA)
Suella Braverman told a mystery person they must ‘delete and ignore’ a top-secret email, it has been claimed.
According to the BBC the Home Secretary – who was brought back into government just 10 days after resigning over a security breach – took hours to report the incident.
It comes despite Braverman claiming she reported the mistake ‘rapidly to officials’.
This morning on the Laura Kuenssberg show, new levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, was shown the alleged email.
Mr Gove said Braverman is ‘absolutely’ a politician of integrity, and said that asking someone to ‘delete and ignore’ the top secret information is ‘standard practice.’
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web
browser that
supports HTML5
video
The Cabinet minister was challenged over the Home Secretary’s account that she immediately reported her mistake, and shown an email from Ms Braverman asking: ‘Can you delete the message and ignore?’
He said: ‘I’m sure there’d be all sorts of inferences that people can draw, but it would seem to me on the basis of the facts that I know.
‘That would have been quite proper for the Home Secretary to have said to the recipient of something that was sent an error ‘please do delete and ignore it’.
‘That is standard practice.’
He added the message was intended for another parliamentarian and ‘so it’s not as though it was being sent out into the ether to persons unknown’.
Asked if Ms Braverman is a politician of integrity, Mr Gove said: ‘Absolutely.
‘I am satisfied, more than satisfied, that in resigning, accepting responsibility, apologising, and then in being assured by the Cabinet Secretary and the Prime Minister that Suella coming back into office was the right thing, that Suella is now in a position to do the work that she is dedicated to doing.’
This is a breaking news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected]. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.
