We had confronted Jack Straw with the remark of one Labour critic that he was the Beria of the Government. The exercise demonstrates the wide, varied and treacherous burden that sits on the shoulders of a Home Secretary. What we're not entirely sure it proves is his claim to be bringing a new culture of openness to what has traditionally been the most secretive department in Whitehall. None of those relating to the intelligence services or the royals. Nor the Ministerial correspondence, nor policy advice from civil servants.
Straw fishes out the document on performance data.
This is a good Bill,' he maintains in the face of a storm of criticism that, despite some concessions, it is still a thoroughly bad one. Straw is lambasted for creating a charter for Ministers and civil servants to hide their mistakes from the public. Under his law, an Information Commissioner will judge whether the public has a right to know, but Ministers will retain the power to ignore orders to disclose. He doesn't produce an example. The fear is that civil servants and politicians will still be able to keep corruption or incompetence hidden from public scrutiny and account.