Johnson and Sunak may be asked to give evidence at asylum centre inquiry

Ex-secretaries of state and ministers could also be required to take part in hearings into Manston scandal

A roll-call of former UK prime ministers, secretaries of state and ministers could be called to give evidence into a scandal at a controversial processing centre in Kent for small boat arrivals, according to an internal government memo disclosed to the Guardian, following a legal challenge.

The inquiry into Manston, a former military base used as a short-term detention facility to process people who crossed the Channel in dinghies, will probably be reputationally damaging for the Home Office", the memo said.