Former Conservative ministers are facing mounting scrutiny following the exposure of a significant data breach involving nearly 19,000 Afghan nationals. The leak, which occurred in 2022, resulted in the imposition of a rare superinjunction and the creation of a covert £850 million relocation scheme. Several former ministers, including Robert Jenrick, Suella Braverman, Johnny Mercer and Liz Truss, have sought to distance themselves from direct involvement, claiming limited knowledge or responsibility for the handling of the situation.
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Mr Jenrick, now shadow justice secretary, stated he first learned of the breach only after the superinjunction had been issued. Ms Braverman, the former home secretary, insisted she had no role in the injunction decision, while Mr Mercer defended his own record, claiming he has “receipts” to prove his efforts to support Afghan allies. Ms Truss, who was foreign secretary at the time of the breach, expressed her shock at the “cover-up”, calling it a “huge betrayal of public trust”.
The breach stemmed from a Ministry of Defence official mistakenly emailing a dataset containing details of nearly 19,000 applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme via unauthorised systems. Despite the incident occurring in February 2022, the MoD only became aware of the error more than a year later, in August 2023, after excerpts appeared on social media. A High Court superinjunction was subsequently granted to prevent the Taliban from discovering the leak.
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In response, the Afghanistan Response Route was launched in April 2024 to relocate affected individuals to the UK. The official responsible for the breach was reassigned rather than dismissed. Kemi Badenoch has issued an apology on behalf of the government, while Sir Keir Starmer has pledged thorough scrutiny. The Defence Committee is expected to launch a formal inquiry after Parliament returns from recess in September.
