Cliff Notes: – Starmer says former Tory ministers have ‘serious questions to answer’ over Afghan data breach
- Sir Keir Starmer criticises former Tory ministers for their handling of a data breach exposing the identities of nearly 19,000 Afghans who assisted UK forces.
- A super-injunction imposed to conceal the breach was lifted, allowing for further scrutiny and potential public inquiry into the government’s actions.
- Defence Secretary John Healey expressed discomfort with the use of a super-injunction and stated that accountability must now be addressed following the breach.
Starmer deflects on Afghan data breach at PMQs
Sir Keir Starmer has said former Tory ministers have “serious questions to answer” about how the names of Afghans who worked with UK forces were exposed.
Nearly 7,000 Afghan nationals are being relocated to the UK after their names were ‘accidentally’ sent in an email in February 2022, when Boris Johnson was prime minister, but the leak was only discovered by the British military in August 2023, when Rishi Sunak was PM.
This is after the government silenced the media with a super-injunction, preventing the reporting of the mistake, was imposed that year in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak. Not knowing if the Taliban had already discovered a copy.
The Conservative government at the time then started transporting thousands of Afghans to the UK in secret as they were in danger.
On Tuesday, the injunction was lifted, which is why the media began reporting on it, however, the government have not clarified how many Afghans who have been betrayed, are already killed and their families tortured.
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