Tory chairman Brandon Lewis fails to deny he considered resigning over conference app fiasco
2 min read
Conservative Party chair Brandon Lewis has refused to say whether he considered quitting yesterday after a major security blunder saw personal details of senior ministers and MPs exposed to the public.
In a massive humiliation for the Tories, the mobile phone numbers of some of those attending the party’s conference in Birmingham were made available to anyone who knew their email address.
It meant that they could find their details without having to provide a password or any other kind of authentication.
The blunder could see the Conservatives hit with a massive fine for breaching strict data protection laws.
The access breach was resolved shortly after it was revealed, but the party and the Australian developer behind the app are now working with the Information Commissioner as part of a fuller investigation.
Mr Lewis insisted the party was taking the blunder “seriously” but refused to say whether he considered standing down from his post as a result.
When asked directly on Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday, he responded: “At the moment our focus is making sure that conference goes well, that the attendees have a really good conference, that yesterday we got that app sorted as quickly as we possibly can and we get to the bottom of exactly what happened and why it happened.”
He added that the party could not say how many profiles were compromised, given the ongoing probe.
“Any breach of data is a serious matter, and that’s why we are taking it seriously. We’ve already contacted the Information Commission and we’ll be putting in a fuller report,” he added.
“We’ve spoken to the company who supplied it who themselves put out a statement apologising for the error they made.
“It will be a limited number of our delegates here but we are contacting the delegates at conference to outline to them exactly what has happened and what they can do about that…”
Among those targeted were Boris Johnson – whose mobile number was revealed while his profile picture was changed to hardcore pornography – and Michael Gove – whose image was changed to that of Rupert Murdoch.
Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson, who said she did not put her number into the app, batted away the suggestion that the breach risked heightened abuse being directed at the politicians involved.
She told the programme: “People don’t need to have your mobile number to be toxic to you, you see that on social media every day, so of course the party’s going through all the appropriate inspections and remedies that are there.
“It is embarrassing, there’s no getting away from that, but it was identified early it was fixed quickly and then we move on.”
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