FORMER UK defence secretary Grant Shapps has defended his decision to keep an unprecedented legal gagging order in place over the Afghan data leak under the previous government, saying he would “walk over hot coals to save those lives”.
The former defence secretary said lifting the superinjunction, which was imposed while he was in post, may have endangered the lives of those whose personal information was released “in error” in February 2022.
The details of more than 100 Britons, including those working as spies and in special forces, were included in the massive data breach that resulted in thousands of Afghans being secretly relocated to the UK.
Defence sources have said information relating to personnel was included in the spreadsheet after they had endorsed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the country.
Shapps had remained silent on the role he played in the aftermath as several Tory ex-ministers sought to distance themselves from the handling of the breach in recent days.
But speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday, the ex-MP for Welwyn Hatfield said his focus had been on “sorting out the mess and saving lives”.
An injunction over the breach was sought by Shapps’s predecessor Ben Wallace, and a wider-ranging superinjunction, which prohibits disclosure not just of the information but of the order itself, was granted when Sir Grant was in office.
“The judge himself decided it should be a superinjunction,” he said.
“And it is the case that I thought that once the superinjunction was in place, it should remain as a superinjunction.”
This was to err “on the side of extreme caution,” he said, adding: “I’d much rather now be in this interview explaining why a superinjunction was required, than being in this interview explaining why I failed to act and people were murdered.”
The former minister said: “I would do the same thing all over again. I would walk over hot coals to save those lives.”
Asked whether he supported calls from the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) for the publication of an intelligence assessment which formed the basis of the superinjunction, he said: “Yes, I would.”
He added that he knew the committee “won’t like” the fact that the incident had been kept secret but “it was just so sensitive that if anything had got out at all, it would put those lives at risk.”
Despite having kept the order in place during his tenure as defence secretary, which lasted just under a year, Shapps said he was “surprised” it had remained for “so long.”
“I don’t think it should have carried on as long as it had. I’m surprised that it has. Those questions are for others,” he said.
“But I came in, the problem was there, I dealt with it, and as a result I think that we saved lives.”
Lord Beamish said the ISC was not informed of the breach, despite the names of more than 100 Britons being divulged – including spies and SAS operators.
“You’ve got to understand how our committee got its powers in the first place,” he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the ISC said the previous government had ignored the usual process whereby the committee is able to see the information to ensure there was scrutiny and “go down the legal route”.
“I think there are serious constitutional issues here,” Lord Beamish told BBC Radio Scotland.
The initial breach saw a dataset of 18,714 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap) scheme released by an official who emailed a file outside authorised government systems.
Defence sources have said that details of MI6 spies, SAS and special forces personnel were included in the spreadsheet, after they had endorsed Afghans who had applied to be brought to the UK.
The Ministry of Defence became aware of the blunder only when excerpts from the dataset were posted anonymously on a Facebook group in August 2023, and a superinjunction was granted at the High Court in an attempt to prevent the Taliban from finding out about the leak.
The leak also led to the creation of the secret Afghanistan Response Route, which is understood to have cost about £400 million so far, with a projected final cost of about £850m.
A total of about 6900 people are expected to be relocated by the end of the scheme.
The official responsible for the email error was moved to a new role but not sacked.
The superinjunction was in place for almost two years, covering Labour and Conservative governments.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch has apologised on behalf of the Conservatives for the leak, telling LBC: “On behalf of the government and on behalf of the British people, yes, because somebody made a terrible mistake and names were put out there … and we are sorry for that.”
Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said he and former home secretary Suella Braverman had “strongly opposed” plans for the Afghan Response Route in “internal meetings”.
But former armed forces minister James Heappey, himself an ex-army officer who served in Afghanistan, said ministerial colleagues offered no “fierce opposition” to the relocation scheme.
Former veterans minister Johnny Mercer claimed he had “receipts” regarding the previous government’s actions in relation to Kabul, and has described the handling of the breach as “farcical”.
Wallace has said he makes “no apology” for applying for the initial injunction because the decision was motivated by the need to protect people in Afghanistan whose safety was at risk.
