Michael Gove going on holiday to wildfire-hit Greek island of Evia – and says official advice is region is ‘safe’

Published

2 years ago

July 25, 2023

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Cabinet minister Michael Gove says he is going on holiday to a Greek island which is experiencing wildfires – and official advice is the region is “safe”.

The housing secretary told Sky News he was heading to Evia – a large island just off the coast of Athens – in “just over a week”.

It has seen fires in southern parts of the island, which is around 100 miles long. The Greek islands of Corfu and Rhodes have also been gripped by flames in recent days, sparking mass evacuations.

Adults ‘fight’ to be evacuated in Rhodes – wildfires latest

Evacuations have taken place on Evia in recent days due to the situation there.

Mr Gove said the Foreign Office has advised it is “safe” to go to Rhodes, and the fact that “particular” parts of the island needed to be evacuated was “unfortunate”.

He added that it was “absolutely right” that people were still able to go on holiday to Greece.

Mr Gove said: “It’s a tragedy that these fires have ruined what should be… the happiest, the most enjoyable time of the year for many.

“But it is also the case that I think that the criticism directed at individual firms isn’t necessarily merited.”

The minister was staunch in his support for the travel companies, despite some people complaining that they were being flown to the wildfire zones up until last Saturday, or being left unable to get in contact with anyone as they try to return to the UK.

He also played down how widespread the blazes are.

Mr Gove said: “I think it’s the case that obviously the fires on Rhodes have been tragic, and my heart goes out to those affected.

“But it is also the case, I think, as the Greek minister for tourism was pointing out yesterday, that the fires – while horrific – have been restricted to one part of the island.

“So, again, appropriate advice has been followed, it’s been put forward by the Foreign Office here that it is safe to go to Rhodes – but obviously evacuation in a particular part of the island has been important.”

Praising the travel firms, Mr Gove said that “individual travel firms have actually shown a great degree of responsibility in making sure that they are available to take people back in some circumstances” – adding that they will “make their own commercial decisions in line with government advices”.

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Alex Norris, Labour’s shadow levelling up minister, said he too would go on holiday to Rhodes if Foreign Office advice said it was safe.

There have been calls for the government to change its advice, as currently people cannot make claims for disruption due to fires on their insurance.

More British holidaymakers are due to return to the UK from fire-ravaged Rhodes on Tuesday as repatriation flights continue.

Hundreds of people have already landed at UK airports after parts of the popular Greek island went up in flames, forcing many to sleep in schools, airports and sports centres.

Foreign Office minister Andrew Mitchell estimated on Monday morning there were as many as 10,000 Britons on the island but the Foreign Office later said it would not be providing updates on the number of people repatriated.

Travel company TUI has cancelled all flights to Rhodes up to Friday, while Jet2 and fellow tour operator Correndon have also scrapped flights leaving for the island in the next few days.

Thomas Cook cancelled some upcoming holidays and is offering other customers full refunds should they wish to cancel their trips.

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Thousands more Afghans affected by second data breach, ministers say

Published

1 day ago

August 16, 2025

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Thousands more Afghans affected by second data breach, ministers say

Thousands more Afghan nationals may have been affected by another data breach, the government has said.

Up to 3,700 Afghans brought to the UK between January and March 2024 have potentially been impacted as names, passport details and information from the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy has been compromised again, this time by a breach on a third party supplier used by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

This was not an attack directly on the government but a cyber security incident on a sub-contractor named Inflite – The Jet Centre – an MoD supplier that provides ground handling services for flights at London Stansted Airport.

The flights were used to bring Afghans to the UK, travel to routine military exercises, and official engagements. It was also used to fly British troops and government officials.

Those involved were informed of it on Friday afternoon by the MoD, marking the second time information about Afghan nationals relocated to the UK has been compromised.

It is understood former Tory ministers are also affected by the hack.

Earlier this year, it emerged that almost 7,000 Afghan nationals would have to be relocated to the UK following a massive data breach by the British military that successive governments tried to keep secret with a super-injunction.

Defence Secretary John Healey offered a “sincere apology” for the first data breach in a statement to the House of Commons, saying he was “deeply concerned about the lack of transparency” around the data breach, adding: “No government wishes to withhold information from the British public, from parliamentarians or the press in this manner.”

The previous Conservative government set up a secret scheme in 2023 to relocate Afghan nationals impacted by the data breach, but who were not eligible for an existing programme to relocate and help people who had worked for the British government in Afghanistan.

The mistake exposed personal details of close to 20,000 individuals, endangering them and their families, with as many as 100,000 people impacted in total.

A government spokesperson said of Friday’s latest breach: “We were recently notified that a third party sub-contractor to a supplier experienced a cyber security incident involving unauthorised access to a small number of its emails that contained basic personal information.

“We take data security extremely seriously and are going above and beyond our legal duties in informing all potentially affected individuals. The incident has not posed any threat to individuals’ safety, nor compromised any government systems.”

In a statement, Inflite – The Jet Centre confirmed the “data security incident” involving “unauthorised access to a limited number of company emails”.

“We have reported the incident to the Information Commissioner’s Office and have been actively working with the relevant UK cyber authorities, including the National Crime Agency and the National Cyber Security Centre, to support our investigation and response,” it said.

“We believe the scope of the incident was limited to email accounts only, however, as a precautionary measure, we have contacted our key stakeholders whose data may have been affected during the period of January to March 2024.”