The Afghan files: the inside story on the catastrophic leak
Political Fix
Financial Times
4.2 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 18 July 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
One of the gravest security lapses in UK history came to light this week after a judge lifted a superinjunction on a catastrophic data leak that could have affected 100,000 Afghans, as well as British spies and special forces members. Political Fix’s Lucy Fisher, one of the journalists who broke the story, returns to the show to talk with host George Parker about how the FT uncovered the secret scheme, the superinjunction that was imposed on her, and the political fallout from the exposé. And the FT’s Jim Pickard and Ashley Armstrong join to discuss the reaction to Rachel Reeves’ Mansion House speech, as well as Keir Starmer’s suspension of more MPs.
Follow George Parker on Bluesky or X: @georgewparker.bsky.social, @GeorgeWParker; Lucy Fisher @lucyfisher.bsky.social, @LOS_Fisher; Jim Pickard @pickardje.bsky.social; Ashley Armstrong @aarmstrongsays.bsky.social
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Presented by George Parker, and produced by Lulu Smyth. The executive producer is Flo Phillips. Original music and mix by Breen Turner. The FT’s acting co-head of audio is Manuela Saragosa.
Read a transcript of this podcast on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A data leak that put up to 100,000 Afghan lives at risk was covered up by successive governments using a super injunction. |
| 0:12.0 | A secret operation to smuggle migrants into Britain is being run by ministers, and they have put you and me on the hook for paying a projected seven billion pounds. |
| 0:23.6 | Seven billion pound Afghan migrant cover up and what's clearly happened is journalists at this |
| 0:28.7 | newspaper and others have been working on this for the last two to three years. |
| 0:34.4 | Welcome to political fix from the Financial Times with me, George Parker. |
| 0:39.5 | It sounds like something out of a thriller, the leak of a highly sensitive database, |
| 0:45.0 | a secret multi-billion pound immigration scheme, and a handful of enterprising journalists |
| 0:50.2 | gagged from telling the story by a super injunction. |
| 0:53.9 | I'm delighted to say that one of those reporters, the FD's Whitehall editor and journalists gagged from telling the story by a super injunction. |
| 0:58.6 | I'm delighted to say that one of those reporters, the FD's Whitehall editor and regular political fix host, Lucy Fisher, is back here in the studio to give us the full inside story |
| 1:04.4 | on the Afghan files. Hi Lucy. Hi, George. Great to be back. We'll also be discussing |
| 1:09.2 | Kirstama's parting holiday gift, the suspension |
| 1:12.3 | of four Labour MPs just before the parliamentary recess kicks in with our colleague Jim Picard, |
| 1:18.2 | the FD's chief political correspondent. Hi, Jim. Hi, George. And later, we'll be joined by the FTE's |
| 1:24.0 | chief UK business correspondent, Ashley Armstrong Armstrong to tell us what went down |
| 1:28.5 | at the annual mansion house dinner beyond a few glasses of bubbly and the finest wines the city |
| 1:34.0 | could provide. |
| 1:38.6 | So Lucy, you've been working on this Afghan file project secretly for months, and it's all come out this week. |
| 1:45.6 | Can you just give us a bit of the background? What was the breach and how did it finally emerge? |
| 1:49.5 | Well, George, initially what happened is a soldier who believed they were sending a spreadsheet |
| 1:55.0 | with the details of just around about 150-odd Afghans sent this spreadsheet to undisclosed recipients without realizing |
| 2:03.7 | that a hidden tab in the same spreadsheet contained 33,000 records of highly sensitive information |
... |
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