IT has emerged that senior UK Government figures have been made to surrender their phones as part of an inquiry into the leaking of information relating to a second English lockdown last week.
As Westminster continues to search for the source of a leak that led to Prime Minister Boris Johnson announcing England's second lockdown earlier than he had planned last Saturday - due to leaks in the press - Cabinet ministers including Michael Gove and Matt Hancock, have had their calls, text messages and WhatsApp conversations examined.
The Times, The Daily Mail, and The Telegraph all reported on the lockdown ahead of the knowledge being presented to MPs. The information had been leaked to the press last Friday.
The Mail on Sunday reported that investigators called at Cabinet Office Secretary Gove and Health Secretary Hancock's homes to demand to see private messages that could have led to the leak. Both men have denied being the leak.
The probe into how information from a secret meeting could have been leaked to the press is being led by top civil servant and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case.
READ MORE: Stumbling Michael Gove denies leaking second Covid lockdown to press
Last Saturday Johnson announced a four-week lockdown for England that took effect on Thursday and will run until Wednesday, December 3.
There are conflicting accounts of what was intended to come from a meeting between the Prime Minister, Gove, Hancock and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, with some believing it could have been a change or extension to the tiered system and others saying the leak merely accelerated the lockdown announcement.
The announcement of the lockdown was delayed and led to the dubious claim in one slide that there could be 4000 deaths per day due to the coronavirus.
Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician and chairman of the Winton Centre for risk and evidence communication at the University of Cambridge, had previously described the data which was shared with the public to justify a second lockdown in England as a “mess”.
Asked whether the Government is presenting “the scariest data” on Covid-19, Mr Raab told Sky: “No, look, we showed models which show what could happen if certain scenarios play out.
“We corrected the slide you referred to and it was the wealth of scientific information that comes forward … we tried to be as transparent as possible.”
He added that “mistakes are made or facts have to be changed, but that is the point of transparency”.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith blamed the leaker for making Johnson announce the lockdown. He said: "What happened just over a week ago was an outrageous contempt of the Commons and the British people on an issue of the utmost importance to the country.
"If it turns out to be a minister, they should of course be forced to apologise to the Commons and then be sacked.
"But if it's an official, they should be made to come to the bar of the House and face the anger of MPs and most of all of the Speaker.
"What they did was appalling because they bounced the Government into taking their action".
READ MORE: England lockdown leak leads to calls for full apology to Commons
Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, called on the leaker to apologise to the House if it emerged to be an MP that shared the information with the press.
He said: “I regret that the main elements of the Prime Minister’s statement were announced over the weekend.
“I understand that the statement was due to be made today, but was brought forward due to the leaks to the media.”
He added: “I also hope that if the leaker is identified, and if a member of this house, that member will make a full apology to the house for discourteous and unacceptable behaviour.”
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