Labor has stepped up calls for Boris Johnson to sack one of his health ministers after Downing Street admitted to using a private email address for government business during the COVID crisis.
Number 10 confirmed that Lord Bethell, a minister in the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, had used a private email address – although he previously said both he and the former health secretary Matt hancock “Government business only through their ministerial email addresses.”
It comes after The Sunday Times reported the leaked minutes of a meeting in which a senior department official explained how Lord Bethell “regularly uses his personal inbox”.
And an email, published by the Good Law Project, from former Conservative Party chairman Lord Feldman discussing COVID The test kits have been shown to have been sent to a private Lord Bethell email address.
Former health secretary Matt Hancock also reportedly used a private email account
When asked if he had been recognized, the emails showed that Lord Bethell was using a private email account, the Prime MinisterThe official spokesperson for the Agency said: “Yes, we have made it clear that ministers are able to communicate in different ways as long as they follow the guidelines set out.”
But the spokesperson also suggested that ministers’ use of private email addresses was acceptable if the emails were copied to an official account.
“Advice on using private email addresses is posted online,” he said. “Ministers can use various forms of communication as long as they take into account the published guidance.
“The directive itself states that recipients of communications should determine whether the information they contain are substantive discussions or decisions generated in the course of the conduct of government business and, if so, take steps to ensure that the relevant information is acceptable, for example by copying it to a government …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-06-29 14:05:00
