Suella Braverman forwarded government documents to her private email accounts at least 127 times while serving as attorney general, in a potential breach of the ministerial code.
The Conservative former cabinet minister routinely forwarded correspondence, with at least 290 documents attached, when she was the government’s top legal officer between 2021 and 2022, according to a freedom of information request.
Ministers are banned from sharing sensitive emails and documents about government business with their private accounts because weaker security means they are at greater risk from unauthorised access.
After an 18-month transparency battle by the Times, a tribunal judge forced the attorney general’s office (AGO) to disclose details of Braverman’s use of her private email account while in government. It is not known whether she forwarded sensitive or official documents.
The judge, Simon Heald, ruled that “it appears to us that the AGO initially went about finding private email account details in a convoluted way”, which was “not a sensible way to start”, the newspaper reported.
He was “not satisfied that the AGO has provided the necessary evidence that the cost of responding to the request would exceed the financial limits as provided for in FOIA [Freedom of Information Act]”, and ordered the information to be released.
Braverman was sacked as home secretary by Rishi Sunak in November 2023 after she ignored Downing Street advice and published an explosive article accusing the Metropolitan police of political bias. Her article said the police applied a “double standard” by taking a tougher stance with rightwing demonstrations than with pro-Palestinian marchers.
She was previously forced to resign by Liz Truss, the then prime minister, in October 2022 because she had sent an official document from her personal email to Sir John Hayes, a fellow rightwing MP, in a serious breach of ministerial rules.
The draft written statement on migration was deemed highly sensitive because it related to immigration rules, which had implications for market-sensitive growth forecasts.
In her resignation letter, Braverman said: “Pretending we haven’t made mistakes, carrying on as if everyone can’t see that we have made them, and hoping that things will magically come right is not serious politics. I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign.”
Braverman later admitted using her personal email account for official correspondence on six further occasions, after she was reappointed home secretary by Sunak, saying she did it so she could read the documents while taking work video calls.
The attorney general’s office, the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, which sets the guidelines on officials’ use of private emails, declined to comment. Braverman did not respond to a request for comment.
