Labour has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson demanding an investigation into whether Michael Gove broke the ministerial code over a controversial unit accused of ‘blacklisting’ Freedom of Information (FOI) requests from journalists.
Shadow Cabinet Office minister Angela Rayner has called for the independent standards adviser to examine whether Gove misled Parliament in comments he previously made about the Cabinet Office’s secretive Clearing House unit, which advises Whitehall departments on how to respond to FOI requests.
The letter comes after the British government lost its bid to avoid disclosing documents about the Clearing House operation to openDemocracy.
