Boris Johnson’s notebooks withheld from him in 'national security scare'
Boris Johnson is not being given 25 of his notebooks from when he was Prime Minister as security services found pages with highly sensitive material, it is reported.
The government is reportedly withholding the documents due to the review by the intelligence services who advise that they should only be read by those with the highest level of security clearance.
And they need to be “appropriately stored” if they are given back to Johnson, reports The Times.
It comes as Mr Johnson wrote his first Daily Mail column which gives him a powerful platform to take shots at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with whom he has been publicly clashing.
In his first column, Mr Johnson does allude to one political betrayal - using quotes from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar about the Roman Emperor's relationship with Cassius.
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The notebooks allegedly hold sensitive material (PA)He claims to have noticed a Cabinet colleague's weight loss during his time in government and wondering how they had achieved it.
"I immediately thought of Julius Caesar, and his preference for well-fed colleagues," he writes.
"'Let me have men about me that are fat,' said the Roman dictator, shortly before his assassination. 'Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look.' As it turned out, Caesar was right to be worried about Cassius."
The publication came shortly after the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) - the anti-corruption watchdog - wrote to him on Friday demanding an explanation in the latest claim that he has broken the standards expected of office.
Mr Johnson landed the job a day after he became the first ever former prime minister to be found to have lied to the Commons in the publication of the damning report into his partygate denials.
He has asked his supporters not to vote against the report while there are claims that by putting up a fight would show his lack of support in the party.
Meanwhile he is also being accused of breaking the ministerial code over taking up the Daily Mail role.
It requires those who have left the government in the last two years to apply to the independent watchdog for advice on taking up a new appointment or role.
But Acoba, chaired by Tory peer Lord Eric Pickles, was clear that Mr Johnson's last-minute declaration was a breach of the rules.
A spokeswoman said: "The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice.
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"An application received 30 mins before an appointment is announced is a clear breach.
"We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency."
The Acoba rules are in place to avoid suspicion that an appointment might be a reward for past favours and to mitigate a risk a minister could exploit privileged access to Government contacts.
Notes that Mr Johnson has been making while Prime Minister are at the centre of the dispute between the government and the Covid public inquiry with it being revealed that he was keeping a detailed diary of his time in Downing Street for a possible memoir.
Baroness Hallett, the inquiry’s chairwoman, has asked for unredacted notebooks and WhatsApp messages which the Cabinet Office has refused.
But the notes contain “no national security sensitive material” and are just “daily jottings” a source close to Mr Johnson, told The Times.
The news outlet also believes that the security services have identified multiple instances of sensitive material leading to concerns being raised at the highest level.
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