Watchdog says it was misled over reason for GCHQ boss’s resignation

Intelligence committee found out through the media about Robert Hannigan's link to disgraced priest

Parliament's intelligence watchdog has said it was misled by the government when it failed to reveal that a former GCHQ boss had been allowed to resign quietly after it emerged he had helped a paedophile priest to avoid jail.

The intelligence and security committee (ISC) said it had been assured that Robert Hannigan had quit for family reasons" in 2017, only to discover from a media report two years later that the truth had been covered up with the approval of the then prime minister, Theresa May.