Blackmail was a real risk, she must be suspended

I AM genuinely horrified at this potential breach and the individual should be suspended and urgent investigation commenced forthwith.

If she is being so open with someone she has barely met, then she could be liable to blackmail.

The Russians or other allied agencies would be prepared to exploit this situation.

This revelation should cause grave concerns for those responsible for protecting our most senior politicians.

As a senior government minister, Dominic Raab is privy to very high level information about security and other related issues.

This individual will know a great deal of sensitive information yet she does not even know who she is revealing it to.

In this case, thank goodness, it was a journalist. Imagine who else it might have been.

She revealed information about an MP to someone using a false name. She has no idea who she is meeting in these scenarios.

She has a close working relationship with a government minister and then goes out and boasts about it.

She may well be breaching the Official Secrets Act or other terms of her employment.

It would give me grave cause for concerns if I was responsible for protecting this politician.

When I was responsible for protecting the Royal Family, the people working for them would bring all sorts of people back to the royal residences and we had no opportunity to vet them.

This is an embarrassment to the individual but also to those responsible for vetting them.

The world is changing. This investigation raises questions about whether you should be subject to ongoing checks once you are in post.

You could find you open a Pandora’s Box of secrets.