Keir Starmer Is Right To Point The Finger Of Blame At The Tories For Afghan Data Leak Scandal

Keir Starmer in the Downing Street garden.Keir Starmer has said the Tories “have serious questions to answer” over the Afghan data leak scandal – and he is right to do so.The Conservatives took the unprecedented action of using the courts to prevent the public from finding out about the catastrophic error, which only came to light yesterday after the super-injunction was finally lifted.Thousands of lives were put at risk after a dataset containing the personal information of nearly Afghans who had served Britain was released “in error” by a Ministry of Defence official in February, 2022.The mistake was only uncovered 18 months later after a threat was made to publish the list on Facebook, potentially putting those named facing deadly reprisals from the Taliban.That was when the then Tory defence secretary Ben Wallace sought an court injunction to prevent the leak from becoming public.It was only lifted after a probe ordered by Labour defence secretary John Healey concluded there was no risk to those whose names were on the leaked list.Writing in The Telegraph this morning, Wallace said he “makes no apology” for doing so, but insisted it did not amount to a “cover-up”.“I took the view that if this leak was reported at the time, the existence of the list would put in peril those we needed to help out,” he said.“Some may disagree but imagine if the Taliban had been alerted to the existence of this list. I would dread to think what would have happened.”Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the last Tory government ensured that the scandal was kept under wraps, saving them from huge political embarrassment in the process.At prime minister’s questions today, Starmer did his best to make sure they do not wriggle off the hook.He said: “We warned in opposition about Conservative management of this policy and yesterday, the defence secretary set out the full extent of the failings that we inherited: a major data breach, a super-injunction, a secret route that has already cost hundreds of millions of pounds.“Ministers who served under the party opposite have serious questions to answer about how this was ever allowed to happen.”The leak led to the creation of a secret Afghan relocation scheme – the Afghanistan Response Route – in April last year, before the Tories were booted out of power.The scheme is understood to have cost around £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850 million.A total of around 6,900 Afghans are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme.The unedifying saga of incompetence and cover-up is further evidence of why it will be a long time before the public are willing to give the Tories another chance to run the country.Related...Nigel Farage Says Some Afghans Airlifted To UK Are 'Sex Offenders'. But There's No Evidence That's True

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