Honours list leak ‘a disaster’, says Sir Iain

MINISTERS NEED to ask “very serious questions” about how the home addresses of people named in the New Year Honours list were posted online, former Conservative Party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith says.

Sir Iain, who was knighted in this honours list, described the alleged data breach as a “complete disaster”.

There have also been calls for an inquiry into the leak, which is being investigated by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

The Cabinet Office apologised and said it was contacting those affected after details relating to the vast majority of the 1,097 recipients could be viewed online from 11pm on Friday.

The details were removed around an hour after the disclosure.

Sir Iain told the Sunday Times: “Ministers need to be asking some very serious questions of those involved about how this was allowed to happen and why no final checks were carried out before the document was published.

“Everybody knows virtually everything about me. It’s much more concerning for private citizens, like those who have been involved in policing or counterterrorism or other such sensitive cases, to have their addresses published.”

Lord Kerslake, former Sheffield Council chief executive, who was head of the civil service between 2012 and 2014, said an “urgent investigation” was needed.

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “A version of the New Year Honours 2020 list was published in error which contained recipients’ addresses.

“The information was removed as soon as possible.

“We apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened.

“We have reported the matter to the ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) and are contacting all those affected directly.”