Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told HuffPost: “Let us be clear what this reveals: the company that - according to the accounts we have seen, and by the videotaped admission of their own former boss - are alleged to have used dubiously-acquired Facebook data to manipulate the outcome of the US Presidential election, were invited three months later to brief government officials on the lessons to be learned from their activities.
“That raises three very basic questions: what on earth did the Foreign Office feel they had to learn from that briefing; was taxpayers’ money used to pay for that briefing; and were any Foreign Office ministers aware that it was taking place, or subsequently informed of the findings? We will be demanding answers to those questions immediately.”
The Wilton Park revelation came as Downing Street revealed that the Foreign Office had had communications contract with SCL Group since 2008. The Home Office and the Ministry of Defence had also signed contracts with the firm, but both have since expired.
