The government admitted today that the superinjunction which for two years prevented us from reporting on a “catastrophic” data breach which put the lives of 100,000 Afghans at potentially lethal risk by the Taliban was “constitutionally unprecedented”.

The Defence secretary stood up in the Commons to issue an apology to those Afghans whose data had been leaked, and said that it had been “deeply uncomfortable” to have kept parliament - and the public - in the dark.

On the day that the story finally became public, John Healey came in to speak exclusively to Lewis, the first journalist to be issued with a superinjunction by the MoD.

You can listen to Lewis’s special episode on the story that the government spent two years from preventing us from telling here:

https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/episodes/7DrsZBQ/

For nearly two years the government has taken The News Agents and other journalists to a secret court to prevent us from reporting a story of huge public interest.

In August 2023 Lewis was told of a massive data breach at the Ministry of Defence - a dataset including the names and contact details of 18000 applicants to the ARAP programme, the scheme for Afghans who had helped the British armed forces in the 20 year war in the country.

These people were already at risk of reprisal from the Taliban and now their details were out there, provided courtesy, in effect, of the British government. Including family members, nearly 100,000 people were affected. This led to a constitutionally unprecedented super-injunction, where the government forbade us from reporting the story, under threat of prison.

We can now finally tell you the full extraordinary story as to what has happened - The News Agents were the only media organisation there every step of the way, in a case of huge importance to our politics, to the thousands of Afghans affected - and potentially to the way our democracy works in the years to come.

More in Common's latest research of 20 thousand people suggests nearly 90 percent of us have little or no trust in politicians. 70 percent of voters think this country is on the wrong track, and the prevailing word used to describe Britain is 'broken'. What does that mean for main stream political parties? How do they convince people politics can improve their lives? And will the next electoral race be between populists on the left and populists on the right?

We dig into the 7 political tribes as described by More in Common's Luke Tryl and ask the man who wants to lead the Green Party - Zack Polanski why he believes Ecopopulism is the only answer to Reform UK.

You can take More In Common's quiz to find out which political tribe you are here: https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/seven-segments/

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