Labour seeks probe into Suella Braverman for alleged Northern Ireland leak

The party’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper made the claim about Suella Braverman when appearing on Sky News’s ‘Sophy Ridge on Sunday’ programme.

The Cabinet minister Michael Gove has rejected calls for the government to publish documents on Ms Braverman’s sharing of a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission.

Ms Cooper said: “You can’t have a home secretary who is not trusted by the security service, who is not trusted with important government information.

“We think that the papers and the warnings that were provided by the Cabinet Office and by the Cabinet secretary to the prime minister should be sent to the Intelligence and Security Committee.

“So far, we’ve been asking repeatedly whether the home secretary has used her personal phone to send other government documents.

“There’s also questions about whether she was investigated for other security leaks, including around a case involving the security service, and around a case involving sensitive legal advice around Northern Ireland.”

Mr Gove defended her as a “first-rate, front-rank politician,” as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces mounting pressure over his decision to reinstall her in the role just six days after she was forced out.

Mr Gove, who made a return to Cabinet last week as levelling up secretary, told the BBC’s ‘Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg’ programme:

“When we publish everything, we also potentially publish information that can compromise the effective operation, not just of government, but of national security itself.”

He added: “I also, critically, want to ensure that what we don’t do is, on the basis of the imperfect information that is in the public domain, rush to judgment in a way that would seem to me to be inappropriate.”

Asked if Ms Braverman is a politician of integrity, Mr Gove said: “Absolutely. “I am satisfied, more than satisfied, that in resigning, accepting responsibility, apologising, and then in being assured by the Cabinet secretary and the prime minister that Suella coming back into office was the right

thing, that Suella is now in a position to do the work that she is dedicated to doing.”

Mr Gove said his Cabinet colleague “deserves a second chance”.

Questions have also been raised about the home secretary’s account that she immediately reported her mistake, further cast into doubt by the emergence of an email from her personal account in which she asked the recipient of a message sent in error to “ignore and delete”.

Confronted with the email, Mr Gove insisted her request was “standard practice”.

He suggested Ms Braverman is facing opposition because she is “brave” and “making changes”.

“You only take flak if you’re over the target,” the senior Tory said.

The former journalist also appeared to blame the media for the furore around the matter, saying: “It becomes a distraction if people are asking these questions.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman in Downing Street last week after her reappointment as home secretary.