Cabinet Office is forced to apologise to Julia Hartley-Brewer after government documents unlawfully described the TalkTV presenter as a ‘known vaccine sceptic’

Government documents unlawfully describe Julia Hartley-Brewer as a ‘known vaccine skeptic’, officials have admitted.

The Cabinet Office was forced to apologize to the TalkTV presenter after it emerged one of her social media posts was included in a report on ‘vaccine hesitancy’.

Mrs Hartley-Brewer had responded: ‘No. No no no!!!’ about an article about the joint letter from the Minister of Health and Education to parents encouraging them to vaccinate their children.

Although she had spoken publicly about taking the vaccine herself and regularly spoke about its benefits on her show, her name was included in a dossier drawn up by Whitehall’s ‘Rapid Response Unit’ (RRU).

Last night Ms Hartley-Brewer said: ‘I am appalled that the UK government has spent time during a pandemic monitoring censoring and vilifying a journalist who was simply trying to do her job by asking the right questions and questioning the prevailing orthodoxy to pull.

Although she had spoken publicly about taking the vaccine herself and regularly spoke about its benefits, Ms Hartley-Brewer’s name was included in the file

“I was not a ‘known vaccine skeptic,’ as my on-air and online comments clearly prove.

‘A government unit tasked with challenging foreign governments spreading lies online was used against British journalists and MPs who raised reasonable concerns about Covid policies. And now we have proof that the same unit was actually responsible for lying about me.

‘I am particularly concerned that the British government has shared this false information about me with a US government counter-terrorism unit set up to tackle Russian, Chinese and Iranian propaganda. This is very sinister.”

The Cabinet Office has admitted that the report was shared with 64 British officials and with counter-officials in the US.

Further transparency requests revealed that Ms Hartley-Brewer’s opposition to vaccine passports had been recorded and shared across government units.

In a written apology to the host, officials admitted that the reference to her as a vaccine skeptic was “inaccurate and not impartial.”

The flaw was discovered by civil liberties group Big Brother Watch during an investigation into the government’s anti-disinformation activities, particularly those of the controversial RRU.

The RRU was founded in 2020 to crack down on “false and misleading stories” surrounding the coronavirus and was disbanded two years later.

The Cabinet Office has admitted that the report was shared with 64 British officials and with counter-officials in the US

The RRU was founded in 2020 to crack down on ‘false and misleading stories’ surrounding the coronavirus and was disbanded two years later (File Photo)

Director of Big Brother Watch, Silkie Carlo, said: ‘It is outrageous that British government counter disinformation staff monitored British journalists and spread damaging disinformation about them in the corridors of power, not just in Britain but even among counter-terrorism officials. in the U.S.

‘It is absurd that taxpayers are funding this multi-million pound counter-dissidence project under the guise of ‘countering disinformation’, but also utterly chilling that so many journalists, politicians and ordinary citizens have been treated as the enemy from within, simply because they criticize a controversial government. policy.

“The government’s secret Counter-Disinformation Unit must be immediately suspended, and parliament must open an investigation into its deeply disturbing activities.”

A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: ‘This matter is the subject of ongoing legal correspondence and the Cabinet Office is unable to comment further at this time.’