The row about which email account special advisers use for which emails is, I suspect,
of very little interest to anyone outside SW1. But today’s FT story certainly has set the
cat amongst the Whitehall pigeons.
At the risk of trying the patience of everyone who doesn’t work within a mile of the Palace of Westminster, I think there is something here worth noting about our political culture. Christopher Cook’s story in the FT this morning is about an email that Dominic Cummings, one of Michael Gove’s special advisers, sent urging various political people not to use his Department of Education email. In this case, the email was perfectly proper. Ministers and special advisers aren’t meant to use official resources for party political activity. So, for instance, if a special adviser sends a journalist an email criticising a shadow spokesman, they shouldn’t use their departmental email account to do it. Equally, those in Downing Street drafting David Cameron’s conference speech won’t be using government accounts to ping round copies of the draft. Indeed, it is this which makes Andy Burnham’s comment on the television earlier that he didn’t use a private email account while in government rather surprising.
The other news today is a confirmation from the Cabinet Office that private email accounts are not FOIable. This will certainly come as a relief to the many ministers who use them for party political business.
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