Suella Braverman, the former Attorney General and Conservative cabinet minister, has been found to have forwarded government documents to her private email accounts at least 127 times during her tenure from 2021 to 2022, raising concerns over a potential breach of the ministerial code. The details were revealed after a lengthy transparency battle initiated by The Times through a Freedom of Information request, and eventually ordered by a tribunal judge. These emails contained at least 290 documents, though it remains unclear whether any of these were sensitive or official.
Under ministerial guidelines, forwarding government correspondence to private accounts is prohibited due to the risk of unauthorized access. The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) was criticized for its convoluted approach in locating and providing this information, with the judge ruling that the costs involved in retrieving the emails did not justify withholding the details.
Braverman has faced similar issues in the past. She was sacked as Home Secretary by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in November 2023, after publishing a controversial article accusing the Metropolitan Police of political bias. Prior to this, she had resigned from Liz Truss’s cabinet in 2022 after breaching security protocols by sending an official document from her private email account. That document, relating to sensitive immigration policy, had market implications, making the breach particularly serious.
Braverman later admitted to using her personal email for official purposes six more times, claiming that it was for convenience during video calls. Neither the AGO, the Home Office, nor Braverman herself have commented on these recent findings, raising ongoing questions about the use of private emails for government business and the adherence to ministerial codes.