Hacking warning delays Tory vote
Delivery of ballot papers paused and rules changed as GCHQ identifies cyber risk
VOTING for the next prime minister has been delayed after GCHQ warned that cyber hackers could change people’s ballots, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Owing to the concerns, the Conservative Party has been forced to abandon plans to allow members legitimately to change their vote for the next party leader later in the contest.
The sudden alteration means that postal ballots are still yet to be issued to the approximately 160,000 Tory members who will pick Boris Johnson’s successor. They had been due to be sent out from Monday, but members have now been told they could arrive as late as next Thursday. The decision was taken on the advice of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), which is part of the UK’S listening post, GCHQ.
The Telegraph understands that fears were raised that nefarious actors could change the votes of members, causing chaos to the process.
It is understood there was no specific threat from a hostile state, with the advice being more general about the voting process and its vulnerabilities.
However, China, Russia and Iran have previously been accused of attempting to influence polls, and were publicly accused of trying to interfere in the 2020 American presidential election by a US intelligence chief .
An NCSC spokesman said: “Defending UK democratic and electoral processes is a priority and we work closely with all parliamentary political parties, local authorities and MPS to provide cyber security guidance and support.
“As you would expect from the UK’S national cyber security authority, we provided advice to the Conservative Party on security considerations for online leadership voting.”
Tory members were last night informed of the delay by the party. No explanation of the specific security concerns was given.
One part of the message, seen by The Telegraph, reads: “Your ballot is now on the way – but it will arrive with you a little later than we originally said. Please do not worry. This is because we have taken some time to add some additional security to our ballot process which has delayed us slightly.”
The need for the change to the voting process on security grounds is embarrassing for Conservative Party HQ.
Party chiefs will likely face further questions about the gravity of the warnings issued by the NCSC and whether they are confident the new process is secure and robust. The political impact of the delay remains unclear.
Rishi Sunak currently trails Liz Truss in Tory membership polls, with a Yougov survey giving her the backing of 60 per cent while Mr Sunak is on 26 per cent. Some of the former chancellor’s allies believe early voting would benefit the Foreign Secretary’s campaign. The result will be announced on Sept 5.
Under the original plan, Tory members were to be issued with a postal ballot with a specific code. They could then vote by post or – for the first time in a Tory leadership race – online. This remains the same. However, members were to be allowed to change their vote later in the race by post or online if they wanted. This ability to change a vote has been scrapped.
The original process left open the possibility that hackers could change a large number of votes online near the end of the contest.
Similarly, someone who voted by post and uploaded a picture of their ballot could be vulnerable to their vote being changed online if their code was visible.
Under the new system, each member’s unique code will be deactivated once they vote – meaning it will not be possible to change that decision later in the race.
It is understood that as of last night, no postal ballots had been sent out.
At the earliest, they will start arriving later this week – but could take longer. Tory members were told to inform the party if their ballot had not arrived by Aug 11, raising the prospect some could be waiting more than a week before they can vote.
‘We need a prime minister who is a political signpost, not a weather vane’
‘This dramatic U-turn on policy reveals more than a change of heart. It shows a lack of serious judgment’
LIZ TRUSS has abandoned a plan to bring in regional pay boards less than 48 hours after announcing it, following warnings it would lead to salary cuts for public sector workers.
The Truss campaign had said that £8.8billion could be saved by having salaries for government employees set by regional pay boards rather than national pay boards.
Campaign figures argued at the time that the move would only apply to new hires, since it would be enforced through new contracts.
They also indicated that it would first be adopted for the Civil Service before being expanded to the wider public sector – meaning doctors, teachers and policemen – in a “phased” approach.
But the £8.8billion figure selected indicated the policy would have to be adopted for the full public sector, opening the door to lower pay for scores of public sector workers outside London.
After a morning of fierce criticism from supporters of Tory leadership rival Rishi Sunak’s campaign and comments from policy experts about the scale of the change, the Truss campaign ditched the policy. A spokesman for Ms Truss said around noon yesterday: “Over the last few hours, there has been a wilful misrepresentation of our campaign. Current levels of public sector pay will absolutely be maintained. Anything to suggest otherwise is simply wrong. Our hard-working front-line staff are the bedrock of society and there will be no proposal taken forward on regional pay boards for civil servants or public sector workers.”
The abandonment of the central plank of a newly announced “war on waste”, which saved almost £9billion, the morning after it was announced left Sunak supporters gleeful.
Andrew Bridgen, a Tory MP who is backing Mr Sunak, said: “We need a prime minister who is a political signpost, not a weather vane.”
Mark Harper, another pro-sunak Tory MP, said: “An economic policy that can’t be paid for isn’t very Conservative. Mrs Thatcher would be livid.”
The Truss campaign had argued that the regional pay boards approach could help bring public sector wages in line with the private sector in some regions of London, saying: “This will make it easier to adjust officials’ pay, ensuring it accurately reflects where they work and stops the crowding out of local businesses that cannot compete with public sector pay.”
But by selecting a £8.8billion savings figure based on regional pay boards being adopted for the whole public sector – rather than just the Civil Service – the campaign was suggesting doctors, teachers and policemen outside London would be paid less than colleagues in the capital. Yesterday morning, the Sunak campaign had claimed that would mean a pay cut for more than 5.5million public sector workers.
A campaign spokesman said: “This dramatic U-turn on policy reveals more than a change of heart. It demonstrates a lack of serious judgment.”
Liz Truss has pledged to review whether not paying the TV licence fee should be decriminalised after it emerged women were 10 times more likely to be convicted for not making the £159 payment. “I’m very concerned about how many women have ended up in prison for non-payment, a disproportionate number,” Ms Truss told the Daily Mail. “I want to look at reform, so we don’t end up with those punitive results. I’ll look at all the options.”