Civil servant email ban causes backlog in Westminster following leaked Brexit note
Staff told to write down Brexit information to prevent further leaks following Monday's embarrassing gaffe
A WHITEHALL paper mountain is piling up after ministers and mandarins were ordered to write down sensitive Brexit details to stop damaging leaks.
Civil servants are in disarray because the email ban has left them struggling to keep up with the latest paper updates.
The order - suspected to originate from No10 - was made in a bid to stop the government’s thinking being exposed, sources said.
But it didn’t stop an aide walking out of Downing Street on Monday revealing handwritten Government Brexit tactics to the world.
A Whitehall insider told The Sun: “It is a total shambles. Everyone is completely paranoid. Civil servants are being told not to put anything sensitive on email.
“It means papers are being shuffled between desks and people are struggling to keep up with latest briefings and circulars.
“Everything is being slowed up as a result.”
A Government spokesman said: ‘Departments are following established and agreed procedures for handling and sharing sensitive documents in Whitehall.
“We don’t recognise the suggestion that this is slowing discussion and decision-making in any way.”
The memo flashed by the Tory aide earlier this week revealed France was the biggest threat to a good Brexit deal.
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And it suggested one official tactic to be used by ministers during EU exit talks was to “have our cake and eat it”.
During the referendum campaign David Cameron’s inner circle used a secret What’s App group to exchange information and avoid embarrassing leaks.
And last year we revealed how ministers and civil servants were hiding internal bungles and rows from the spotlight by using Post-it notes.
The sticky yellow squares could be read and binned without trace – and never disclosed under Freedom of Information rules.