Show caption Shahmir Sanni, who lost his job for the TaxPayers’ Alliance on Friday, says he now has no way of paying the rent. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images Brexit I’ll sue No 10 for outing me, says sacked EU vote whistleblower Shahmir Sanni, who questioned Vote Leave referendum spending, threatens legal action Carole Cadwalladr @carolecadwalla Sun 15 Apr 2018 08.05 BST Share on Facebook

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EU vote whistleblower Shahmir Sanni says he wants to take legal action against No 10 Downing Street for outing him as gay. The 24-year-old volunteer last month revealed that spending rules may have been manipulated by the Vote Leave campaign during the EU referendum.

On 23 March, an official spokesperson for the prime minister issued an announcement on behalf of one of her advisers, Stephen Parkinson. The statement sought to deny the claims relating to electoral law and seemed to deflect criticism for Parkinson’s own involvement as a senior director of the Vote Leave campaign by revealing that he and Sanni had formerly been in a relationship for 18 months. On Friday, Sanni lost his job at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, an organisation founded by Matthew Elliott, the CEO of Vote Leave, and said he now has “nothing left to lose”.

Whistleblowers are protected by law under the Public Interest Disclosure Act but Sanni was summoned to a meeting at the TaxPayers’ Alliance and told his employment had been terminated with immediate effect. “It’s been so much to deal with. I’ve had to cope with the repercussions on me and my family of being outed against my will and now I’ve lost the job. It’d be a lot for anyone to cope with,” he said.

Asked how he felt about the fact that it was an official statement from the prime minister’s office that revealed he was gay, he said: “I’ve actually tried not to think about it. Because every time I do, it sends me into a spiral of anxiety and upset.

“I had this opportunity to tell people about what actually happened inside the campaign and they were so scared, they did whatever it took to shut me down. They knew it would implicate Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and two of Theresa May’s senior staff. They threw me to the dogs to stop people actually listening to what I had to say. And the truly upsetting thing is that it worked. They smeared me and they shut me down.”

He said the experience had been a brutal insight into the inner workings of government and power. “I really wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this. It’s been a trauma, that’s all I can call it.”

Sanni said he currently had £60 in his bank account and has no way to even pay his next month’s rent. “I was asked on Friday what my advice would be to other potential whistleblowers, and I said, ‘Honestly. Don’t do it.’” He said it had been a profoundly depressing and distressing experience. “I have been stripped of everything.”

Tamsin Allen, his solicitor, said Sanni is entitled to the protection of the Convention on Human Rights, which says that public bodies such as the office of the prime minister should respect the privacy rights of individuals.

“They had absolutely no business disclosing this information,” she said. She added that he had brought potential illegal conduct to the attention of the authorities, which was a “protected disclosure” and under British law could not be used as a reason to dismiss him from his job.

“Whistleblowers often face negative consequences but the consequences for Shahmir have been extreme and deeply unfair. He needs support in bringing these claims so he can rebuild his life.”

She said a CrowdJustice campaign was being launched to help him do so.

No 10 Downing Street declined to respond to questions about why it had chosen to disclose Sanni’s sexuality or whose decision it had been.