Now the Johnson campaign gets referred to the Information Commissioner for alleged data protection breaches
Harriet Baldwin has asked the ICO if the Johnson campaign’s alleged use of mailing lists is legal
David Morris says the ICO must investigate “deeply troubling” claims
Ben Howlett and Tory councillors complaining about unsolicited calls from Team Boris https://t.co/jCn2j4wuX3
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) July 2, 2019
Quite what this means for the campaign is unclear but if it sets off a narrative that Johnson’s likely victory was by cheating that could hang over him for a long time.
This is from the Buzzfeed report:
“Four examples of the Johnson campaign and his supporters contacting members by email and telephone in apparent breach of new GDPR legislation were cited.
Foreign office minister Harriet Baldwin, who is backing Hunt for leader, has asked the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to determine whether it was legal for the official “Back Boris’”campaign to be using what she claimed was “an old email list from a previous campaign” to “spam” her email address.
Baldwin has also asked Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis to look into alleged data breaches by the Back Boris campaign.
ICO guidelines state that: “If candidates in internal party elections wish to use member lists to send emails or texts, or make automated calls the candidate must ensure that they have consent from the individuals to use such marketing channels.”
This follows, of course, the controversy over the Boris-led Leave campaign over the untruthful “£350m a week” claim. There are those who still argue that this undermines the legitimacy of the referendum outcome.