A minister and a former Conservative MP have asked the information watchdog to investigate whether Boris Johnson’s campaign to become party leader is breaching data protection laws.
Harriet Baldwin, a Foreign Office minister, and Ben Howlett, a former MP for Bath, have also asked the party’s chair, Brandon Lewis, to launch an inquiry after receiving allegedly unsolicited requests for support from the BackBoris.com.
Both suspect that Johnson’s campaign has relied upon old email lists or phone numbers from previous campaigns to ask for support.
If this is the case, it could be a breach of the general data protection regulation (GDPR), the pair claimed.
Howlett told the Guardian: “No politician is above the law when it comes to usage of private personal data. Brandon Lewis should conduct an urgent investigation into Team Boris’s data compliance prior to ballot papers being sent out. I fear there is a clear breach of GDPR law and it is for the official Information Commissioner’s Office to determine.”
Johnson’s team dismissed the claims as an attempt by Jeremy Hunt’s campaign to deflect negative stories about Hunt and his team.
Baldwin, a supporter of Hunt, tweeted that she found it “weird to be spammed” by the BackBoris.com team using an email address given to a previous Johnson campaign.
The BackBoris email read: “Harriet – I’m writing today because you have supported my campaigns in the past by signing up to receive campaign updates or by volunteering to help.
“I’m now asking for your help again. If you would like to join my campaign to be the leader of the Conservative & Unionist party, please click here.”
Howlett tweeted that he received a random phone call from Johnson’s team. “Where did he get my data from given #GDPR and that I have never opted in or consented to my data being used - a complaint to the information commissioner @ICOnews is in order,” he wrote.
Howlett, who was an MP for two years until the 2017 general election, wrote he would not be voting for Johnson after awkward exchanges in Westminster with the former London mayor:
“Last time I spoke to Boris he asked me who I worked for in a @HouseofCommons lift – I replied I worked on two of his campaigns and had just become an MP. 2 weeks later he asked me same question.”
An ICO spokesperson said: “We are aware of these concerns and will be assessing the information provided.”
A campaign source said: “The BackBoris campaign is compliant with GDPR and the Data Protection Act.”