'I make no apology for the injunction'

Former defence secretary says his priority 'was those who we needed to get out' of Afghanistan

- By Chrisian Calgie

THE ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said that he makes “no apology” as he defended the actions he took amid an enormous data breach involving thousands of Afghan troops and civilians who had helped British forces.

Mr Wallace was in office when a dataset containing the personal information of nearly 19,000 people who had applied for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy was released “in error” in February 2022 by an unnamed defence official.