No10 panics over Brexit leaks
PM TELLS SIR COVER-UP TO SPY ON MINISTERS SUSPECTED OF SPILLING SECRETS... BUT HIS MEMO IS LEAKED TO MoS!
THERESA MAY has made an extraordinary threat to sack senior Ministers and mandarins caught leaking Cabinet secrets amid growing signs of Brexit panic in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister has ordered security chiefs to seize mobile phone and email records of anyone suspected of revealing Government splits or secrets. All ‘culprits’ will be sacked in the Big Brother-style crackdown – even if no threat to national security is involved.
The Prime Minister’s draconian action was revealed in a letter from Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood which was, ironically, leaked to The Mail on Sunday.
Sir Jeremy’s reputation for Whitehall secrecy dates back to his role in the Iraq War, and has led to him being dubbed ‘Sir Cover-Up’.
He told mandarins about the crackdown in a written letter instead of an email in an attempt to keep it secret.
But enraged insiders, who called the crackdown ‘quasi totalitarian’, leaked the memo to this newspaper.
Significantly, Sir Jeremy also sent the letter to ex-spy Paddy McGuinness, who is now the Government’s Deputy National Security Adviser.
The diktat follows a series of Cabinet leaks, splits and rows over Brexit and other issues involving Mrs May, Chancellor Philip Hammond, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, Brexit Minister David Davis and Interna- tional Trade Minister Liam Fox. Sir Jeremy says the leaks crackdown comes on the orders of Mrs May, who has struggled to impose the same rigid control over No 10 that she previously did over the Home Office. Her stern tone can be clearly heard in the letter from Heywood – who adds she will reinforce the message in a personal missive to Ministers.
Sir Jeremy’s letter, headed ‘OFFICIAL: SENSITIVE. Security of Information’ says the ‘spate of corrosive leaks’ must end. It says:
‘Security teams’ – believed to be MI5 officers – will take charge of beefed-up leak inquiries with the power to demand immediate access to phone and email records and to interrogate suspects.
‘Anyone found to have leaked sensitive information will be dismissed, even where there is no compromise of national security.’
From now on Ministers and officials must use officially supplied Whitehall mobile phones – which can be monitored by security officials – to stop them using private mobiles and emails to leak secrets.
An Orwellian-sounding ‘cultural change’ will be demanded to keep the lid on secrets concerning Brexit and other vital issues.
Sir Jeremy says: ‘The Prime Minister has directed that we urgently tighten security processes and improve our response to leaks. She has instructed that we begin this work immediately and expects to see rapid and visible improvement. Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and senior officials set the tone in an organisation and no amount of process will make up for an environment where leaks are accepted.
‘If leaders think they are the necessary cost of open ways of working they are mistaken.’
Sir Jeremy vows to impose ‘tough disciplinary measures when a culprit has been identified to show leaking will never be tolerated’.
He demands a ‘strict’ ban on ministers and officials using their own mobiles and says he will take personal charge of mole witch-hunts led by the ‘Cabinet Office Government Security team’ – Whitehall jargon for spooks. Sir Jeremy adds: ‘I have already strengthened the controls for sensitive Cabinet Committee papers. We will review areas most vulnerable to leaks and tighten up security in those departments.’ He said this would require ‘cultural change’.
Underlining May’s influence, Sir Jeremy says it is vital to ‘meet the Prime Minister’s expectations’ as he clarified the ruthless new ‘codes of conduct’ and threats of sackings. ‘The Government Security team will be in touch shortly to put tighter processes in place,’ says Sir Jeremy, adding: ‘The PM will be writing in similar terms to Ministers.’
Sir Jeremy suggests he has ‘lost trust in our people to act properly’ and raises the spectre of mandarins having to return to the old days of ‘hard copy’ letters, rather than emails, to beat the leakers. But being a hard copy didn’t prevent his letter from being leaked.’
Last night, one Tory MP and Remain supporter said: ‘It’s all very well to make sure sensitive state secrets are kept secret. But when it comes to Brexit, the public is crying out for more, not less, information.’
Downing Street last night declined to comment.
Ministers banned from using their own phones