LABOUR has accused Michael Gove of misleading MPs over the existence of a secretive Cabinet Office “clearing house” that allegedly blacklisted freedom of information (FOI) requests from journalists.

Deputy party leader Angela Rayner wrote to Boris Johnson today demanding that the Prime Minister order an investigation into whether the Cabinet Office Minister broke the ministerial code when he told a parliamentary committee in December that there was no such system.

Ms Rayner’s letter argued Mr Gove’s statement had been “proven to be untrue” by a court ruling earlier this week, which confirmed that a clearing house does exist, and accused the government department of a “profound lack of transparency” on the issue.