Labour tables binding vote to force Rishi Sunak to release advice on Suella Braverman’s reappointment as Home Secretary

Today (Tuesday), Labour will give MPs a vote to force the Prime Minister to come clean about what he knew about Suella Braverman’s security lapses when he re-appointed her as Home Secretary.  

Reports emerging since the Home Secretary’s reappointment suggest that she was subjected to several leak inquiries, including while she was Attorney General. A Home Office review has also found that Suella Braverman sent official government documents to her private email on six occasions in six weeks.  

There have been further 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, potentially putting her in further breach of section 1.3 of the Code. 

Labour is challenging the Prime Minister to reveal whether he was warned about these 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 why 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. 

Labour 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 vote comes at a time when the Prime Minister is under further pressure for ignoring complaints about Gavin Williamson before he was reappointed to the Cabinet, and also for appointing him to the Cabinet Office which has responsibility for cybersecurity and the National Security Council. The appointment comes despite him having been sacked in 2019 by Theresa May for leaking information from the National Security Council about Huawei warnings as Defence Secretary. 

It has been reported that the Cabinet Office raised concerns with the Prime Minister about two of his Cabinet appointments.  

Yvette Cooper MP, Labour's Shadow Home Secretary, said:  

"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."

Ends 

Notes to editors:

Text of the draft motion

That, given the exceptional security concerns raised regarding the Rt Hon Member of Fareham serving as Secretary of State for the Home Department, this House 

(1) orders that there be laid before this House, within ten sitting days, a return of the following papers: 

(a) any risk assessment of the Rt Hon Member of Fareham by the Cabinet Office or the Prime Minister’s Office relating to her appointment 

(b) any document held by the Cabinet Office, the Home Office or the Prime Minister’s Office containing or related to any leak inquiries regarding the Rt Hon Member of Fareham, including during her time as Home Secretary and Attorney General
(c) the minutes of, submissions relevant to and electronic communications relating to, any meeting within the Cabinet Office or the Prime Minister’s Office at which the appointment of the Rt Hon Member of Fareham, or advice relating to that appointment, was discussed in a form which may contain redactions, but such redactions shall be solely for the purposes of national security; 

(2) recommends that where material is laid before the House in a redacted form, the Government should at the same time provide unredacted copies of such material to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament. 

Full list of unanswered questions for the Prime Minister arising from the Home Secretary’s reappointment 

Home Office Review 

• Did the Prime Minister ask about or was he advised about other security lapses by the Home Secretary before he re-appointed her?  
• The Home Secretary’s letter to the Home Affairs Select Committee refers to “a review of her use of personal and Government IT” which revealed that the Home Secretary had send Government documents to her private email on six further occasions.  
• Was this review commissioned or completed before Suella Braverman's reappointment?  
• Did the Prime Minister see the conclusions of the review? 
• Did the Prime Minister ask whether there had been any further security lapses or insist on seeing the conclusions of this review before he reappointed Suella Braverman? 

Leak inquiries 

• Was the Prime Minister advised about or did he ask about reports that Suella Braverman when Attorney General was repeatedly investigated for leaking very sensitive Government information before he re-appointed her? 
• On 22 January, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Attorney General would be seeking an injunction against the BBC over a case involving the Security Service - it was reported on 26 October in the Daily Mail that the Attorney General had been investigated as part of a leak investigation. 
• On 11 May, The Times reported the detail of the Attorney General’s advice on the Northern Ireland protocol, however on 12 May the Attorney General maintained the position that the Government’s legal advice was not appropriate for publication. On 29 October the Sun reported that Suella Braverman had been subject to official Cabinet leak inquiries three times this year. 
  
  

Further Ministerial Code breaches 

• Was the Prime Minister advised about potential further breaches of the Ministerial Code involving Home Office breaches of the law and the handling of the Manston processing centre before he re-appointed her? 
• The letter to HASC references an “appointment discussion” between the Home Secretary and the Prime Minister. At this meeting, did she raise all six breaches with the Prime Minister or only the email for which she resigned? 
• If not, did the Prime Minister ask whether there were further breaches? If not, why not? 
• Did they discuss the previous security leak investigations and the importance of maintaining national security? If not, why not? 
• The Sunday Times reports that the Home Secretary was repeatedly advised that the Manston centre was becoming dangerously overcrowded and the Home Office was in breach of the law yet she failed to act. It has been reported that other Home Office Ministers raised concerns, and that Grant Shapps who briefly replaced Suella Braverman was advised that the Home Office had no lawful basis for its actions. Were these concerns about further potential breaches of the Ministerial Code raised with Rishi Sunak before he re-appointed her? 
  
  

Gavin Williamson 

• Rishi Sunak’s judgement has also been questioned over the reappointment of Gavin Williamson to the Cabinet Office which has responsibility for Civil Contingencies and other national security related issues even though he was previously sacked from his post as Defence Secretary for a security leak in 2019. Was the Prime Minister warned against appointing Gavin Williamson to a post with security responsibilities on security grounds? 
• Was Rishi Sunak briefed on national security risks including the threat of cyberattacks and the importance of ministers taking national security seriously before he made his Cabinet appointments? 
  
  

Leaking allegations against the Home Secretary 

• 'Suella Braverman was embroiled in probe over leak that raised "concerns" at MI5' - Daily Mail, 26 October 
• 'Braverman was probed over alleged leak on hated Brexit deal' - Express, 30 October