Tory leadership contest ballot papers delayed over security fears

Ballot papers for the Conservative leadership election have been delayed in being sent out over security fears.

The party said it had changed its plans for the contest, which will decide the next prime minister, after consulting with security agency GCHQ.

The Daily Telegraph, external reported that GCHQ had warned that hackers could change people's votes.

Tory members deciding between Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak should get their ballot packs this week, the party said.

Around 160,000 Conservative members are due to elect Boris Johnson's successor, with the winner announced on 5 September.

It was initially planned that the voting process would have allowed members to choose whether to vote by post or online and then, if they changed their minds, use the alternative method to cancel out their previous vote.

But after advice from the National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, the Conservative Party has decided to make changes to "enhance security around the ballot process".

In an email sent to members, seen by the BBC, the Conservative Party said that their voting pack was on its way but would "arrive with you a little later than we originally said... because we have taken some time to add some additional security to our ballot process".

The email says that, once the ballot company receives a postal vote, they will deactivate the member's online codes, "reducing the risk of any fraud".

The National Cyber Security Centre, the defensive arm of intelligence agency GCHQ, has become increasingly involved in consulting politicians and parties in recent years about cyber security.

Russia's efforts to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election were a wake-up call that other states were willing to do things like hack into people's accounts and leak information. Russian intelligence was even accused then of getting inside election systems although there was never any evidence that they actually changed any information.

The Conservative Party's decision to use an unusual voting system in which votes could later be changed clearly created a vulnerability which a foreign state could try to exploit.

Sources say there is no evidence of anyone actually trying to do so, but even the theoretical risk that someone could was enough for advice to be issued to change the way the vote takes place.

The risk that the decision about who becomes prime minister might be contaminated or even questioned left little choice.

The Telegraph said it understood fears were raised that scores of votes could have been changed by nefarious actors, although there was no specific threat from a hostile state.

A Conservative spokesperson said: "We have consulted with the NCSC [part of GCHQ] throughout this process and have decided to enhance security around the ballot process. Eligible members will start receiving ballot packs this week."

A National Cyber Security Centre spokesperson said: "Defending UK democratic and electoral processes is a priority for the NCSC and we work closely with all Parliamentary political parties, local authorities and MPs to provide cyber security guidance and support.

"As you would expect from the UK's national cyber security authority we provided advice to the Conservative Party on security considerations for online leadership voting."

In the email to members the Conservative Party said members who had not received their ballot pack by 11 August should contact the party.

The pair have been meeting in a series of clashes on television and in front of voters and they will take part in a hustings in Wales later.

Much of their debates has focused on tax policy, with Ms Truss vowing to scrap a planned rise in National Insurance, while Mr Sunak has said he would cut taxes "responsibly" including cutting the basic rate of income tax from 20% to 16% by the end of the next parliament.

It has been a mixed few days on the campaign trail for Ms Truss after she received backing from former rival Penny Mordaunt but then was forced to scrap plans to link public sector pay to local living costs following a backlash.

During a campaign visit to Ludlow in Shropshire, the foreign secretary again insisted her policy had been "misrepresented", but added she had been "decisive" in abandoning it.

She said she "cancelled" it because she "wanted to make sure that our important frontline workers like doctors and teachers weren't worried".

"I did it straight away, I was decisive and I was honest with the public about what I was doing."

Earlier former Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis, who is backing Ms Truss in the contest, insisted her proposals were "never at any point about reducing the pay of the public sector workers".

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme a "number of people", including rival Rishi Sunak's campaign team, had been "extrapolating figures, talking about pay cuts for various people which was never the outline of the policy".

But former Brexit Secretary David Davis, who is supporting Mr Sunak, said Ms Truss's team "didn't think through" the policy.

He told Sky News: "The people who misrepresented them was themselves.

"This is a dress rehearsal for being a prime minister. You can't afford to make those sorts of judgmental errors."

It comes as a YouGov poll, reported in the Times, external, suggests Ms Truss had the support of 60% of Tory members, while ex-chancellor Mr Sunak was backed by 26%. The poll was conducted before Ms Truss's backtrack over her public sector pay proposal.

Speaking to BBC Wales ahead of the latest hustings event in Cardiff, Mr Sunak brushed aside the poll, saying its findings were "absolutely not the sense that I'm getting when I'm out and about across the country", and he was confident he could win.

He said there were a lot of people who were still to make up their mind, and party members were "ultimately focused on who is best placed to beat Keir Starmer and the Labour Party in the next general election".