Boris Johnson has been urged to stop the “dangerous and worrying” precedent of hiding details of his phone calls with foreign leaders from the public.
It comes after Number 10 failed to disclose Sunday phone calls with French PM Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the escalating vaccines row.
Phone calls between the Prime Minister and other foreign leaders are usually a matter of public record.
Under normal circumstances, No10 releases basic 'readouts' of the PM's calls with overseas counterparts.
And officials and diplomats are normally dialled in to the calls.
It's understood Number 10 did not disclose the phone calls because were considered to be "private."
Challenged over the calls yesterday, the PM’s press secretary Allegra Stratton indicated Mr Johnson's future calls would only be disclosed if "a decision is taken" to do so.
Layla Moran, the Lib Dem Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, today wrote to the Prime Minister, demanding he “immediately reinstate the routine and regular disclosure” of calls with foreign leaders.
She wrote: “The coronavirus pandemic has led to many changes in how Parliament and the Government have to work, but lower transparency and secret calls should not be one of them.”
As well as Ms Moran, the letter was signed by Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey and MPs Alistair Carmichael, Wendy Chamberlain, Daisy Cooper, Tim Farron, Wera Hobhouse, Christine Jardine, Sarah Olney, Jamie Stone and Munira Wilson.
Ms Moran told the Mirror: “Throughout this pandemic, transparency and accountability from this government have been lacking.
"And now we won’t routinely hear when the Prime Minister has calls with foreign leaders – that sets a dangerous and worrying precedent.
“We need reassurances that officials are still present on the PM’s calls – Boris Johnson has history when it comes to his diplomatic track record and we can’t afford for mistakes to be made right now.
“The Liberal Democrats have now written to the Prime Minister urging him to immediately reinstate the routine and regular disclosure of calls he has with foreign leaders, and that readouts are always provided to the media.”
Asked yesterday about the calls, Mr Johnson’s Official Spokesman said: “The PM regularly speaks to the EU and European leaders as he did last week and over the weekend.
"We set out last week, we said that he spoke to Ursula von der Leyen and we set out our position that he reiterated the importance of not placing import restrictions on vaccines."
Asked why the calls were kept secret, and whether there were officials involved in the calls, the Spokesman said: "I'm obviously not going to go into details on specific calls, but as I say the PM regularly speaks to European leaders, his counterparts and as I say we've set out our position on this issue."
Ms Stratton added: "We do give you readouts on a very regular basis.
"We will continue to do that as and when the decision is taken to give you those readouts."
