A huge military data breach led to Afghan migrants bringing more than 20 family members to Britain, despite previously being rejected for asylum. Officials were left scrambling to find accommodation following the leak, as Afghans flown to the UK brought an average of eight family members with them. Government sources revealed that one person who came to the UK following the data breach was allowed to bring 22 family members, ccording to aa Whitehall source speaking to The Telegraph.
Other Afghans also brought members in the “high teens”. This led to ministers considering “knocking two houses into one” on military bases for individual families, according to insiders. The government reportedly wanted to restrict arrivals to married couples and their children, yet UK courts increased the eligibility criteria numerous times. Last year, High Court judge Mrs Justice Yip ruled that family members did not have to have a blood or legal connection to the applicant, following a case brought against the Foreign Office.
Her ruling said: “The term ‘family member’ does not have any fixed meaning in law or in common usage.
Indeed, the word ‘family’ may mean different things to different people and in different contexts. There may be cultural considerations … there is no requirement for a blood or legal connection.”
The dataset, containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (Arap), was released “in error” in February 2022 by a defence official. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) became aware of the breach more than a year later, when excerpts of the spreadsheet were anonymously posted in a Facebook group in August 2023.
The details of more than 100 British people, which included spies and special forces, were also leaked.
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.
On Tuesday, the superinjunction preventing the reporting of the data breach was lifted by a High Court judge.
Defence Secretary John Healey then offered a “sincere apology” on behalf of the British Government for the data breach.
He then told the Commons the spreadsheet contained “names and contact details of applicants and, in some instances, information relating to applicants’ family members, and in a small number of cases the names of members of Parliament, senior military officers and Government officials were noted as supporting the application”.