New rules to prevent the publication of politically damaging memoirs by former politicians and civil servants will not be in force until after Alastair Campbell’s diaries are released, The Times reports today.
Apart from naked cronyism – and what else did we really expect from Mr. Blair’s government in its final sordid death-throes? – the wider issue is even more disturbing: one which I have heard far too few publishers publicly condemn. The new guidelines will restrict authors from publishing anything that may “cause damage to international relations, may cause damage to national security and may cause damage to the confidential relationships between ministers, and between ministers and civil servants, or which would inhibit the free and frank exchange of view and advice within governmentâ€.
In other words, the UK will soon have an anti-whistleblower statute in place, to be used as and when it is politically expedient. Why is no-one complaining?
