Jack Straw declares sunlight to be an enemy of democracy

This entry was posted on
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at
4:46 pm and is filed
under It’s War! It’s Legal! It’s Lovely!.

A heads-up via Carl:

PA – Straw ‘will veto” Iraq minutes: The Government will exercise veto powers to block publication of key Cabinet minutes under freedom of information laws, it has been announced. Justice Secretary Jack Straw said he could not permit the release of records from 2003 discussions over the invasion of Iraq because it would cause too much “damage” to democracy…. For Tories, Dominic Grieve backed the decision to block publication but said it left an “overwhelming case” for a full review into the Iraq invasion.

With a safely narrow remit, I’ll wager.

Well, that’s it, then; the headline to this veto article may as well read; “Tory victory assured – ‘more of same’ to continue”

Meanwhile…

Meanwhile… (via)

(Jeebus… no wonder Labour wanted a lying cheat in charge of their rabid rebuttal unit. Draper will have to do some serious backflips to dodge any fair/open discussion of this on LabourList.)

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UPDATE (25 Feb) – Via mark, two quotes from politics.co.uk:

“The flow of information between the government and people is fundamental to a vigorous and robust democracy. Information empowers people.”

Jack Straw, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice – June 2008

“Freedom of Information can be inconvenient, at times frustrating and indeed embarrassing for governments. But Freedom of Information is the right course because government belongs to the people, not the politicians.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s ‘Speech on Liberty’ – October 2007

But then, I’m sure there are equally-strenuous statements from each of these gentlemen assuring us that torture is wrong and that responsible democracies should do everything in their power to discourage it.

(Gosh, I hope members and supporters of the Labour party/government who are wondering why I’m outside the tent and pissing in are reading this post. It contains *clues*. Oh, and Derek Draper appears to be using the Iain Dale method of conversation censorship; if Draper and his team of tame writers avoid mentioning ~~Lord Ashcroft~~ Iraq or torture in their posts this week, any attempt to start a conversation about Iraq or torture on LabourList can safely be deleted/dismissed as ‘off topic’. Brilliant, eh?)