Rishi Sunak routinely uses pens with erasable ink to make hand-written notes on official documents and in government meetings, prompting concerns over Downing Street secrecy, the Guardian has learned.
The prime minister has regularly been pictured using the disposable Pilot V fountain pens during his time as chancellor and prime minister, most recently while taking notes during the Cabinet meeting two weeks ago.
He has also been photographed with the pen while working on government papers and signing official letters in Downing Street, and at international summits including a meeting of the European political community in Moldova earlier this month.
The pens, which retail for £4.75, carry an “erasable ink” logo and are marketed by the Japanese stationery company as “ideal for those learning to write with ink because if you make a mistake, the ink erases using standard ink eradicators”.
Sunak’s use of the pens has raised concerns that his hand-written notes could be erased from official papers handed over to the government archives or to independent investigations, such as the official Covid inquiry.
Downing Street said that the pens were provided by the civil service and were widely used across Whitehall, including by the permanent secretaries of departments.
In recent years, the written notes of previous British prime ministers have been an essential resource for historians detailing the inner workings of government at key periods in history.
Margaret Thatcher’s handwritten notes revealed her plans for emergency measures at the height of the miners’ strike and Cabinet disagreements over how to respond to the Falklands invasion.
Presidents of the United States routinely use pens with permanent ink to ensure there is no danger of their words being erased, fading over time, or being damaged by heat or damp conditions.
There are also photos on Sunak’s social media accounts of him using regular permanent ink pens to actually sign documents, including an economic agreement with India in October 2020 when he was chancellor.
No 10 insiders claim the prime minister keeps all of his notes, while Sunak’s press secretary said: “This is a pen provided by and used widely by the civil service. The prime minister has never used the erase function and nor would he.”
Downing Street faced some criticism for lack of transparency after No 10 announced earlier this month it was planning to go to court to try to block the official Covid inquiry from gaining access to government WhatsApp messages, although allies of the prime minister have insisted he has nothing to hide.
The Guardian also revealed on Tuesday that Sunak’s government had placed a record number of blocks on freedom of information requests in its first three months, leading to accusations of a “culture of concealment”.
Figures show the government gave out information in full in only 33.6% of cases in which it held the data during the first three months of Sunak’s administration. Just 3,895 of 11,597 “resolvable requests” were granted in full.
Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy and a former Liberal Democrat MP, said: “When trust in politicians is at an all-time low, the PM signing official documents in erasable ink could push it through the floor and into the basement.
“Erasable ink, lost mobile phones and disappearing WhatsApp messages all add to a picture of a cavalier attitude towards ensuring government is accountable for its actions.”
A Labour source said: “We already know Rishi Sunak is addicted to evasion, whether he’s hiding WhatsApp messages from the Covid inquiry or still refusing to disclose his full tax affairs, so no wonder people are going to be curious about his choice of these pens.
“But no amount of erasable ink can cover up his dismal record of failure and broken promises as chancellor and as prime minister.”
