-Caveat Lector- Smoke and mirrors [for Freedom of Information Act in Britain] For some curious reason, Tony Blair last week failed to mention the Home Office as one of the forces of conservatism holding Britain back. Yet its attitude to freedom of information puts it at the head of the reactionary pack, as the latest twist in the saga of Britain's culture of secrecy shows. Its continued resistance to overwhelming calls for an end to the assumption that Whitehall knows best would have earned the admiration of Sir Humphrey Appleby. Even now, Jack Straw clings to the view that the public's right to know must be snarled in a thicket of restrictions to protect officialdom from prying eyes. New Labour has not dealt the shattering blow it promised to Whitehall's belief that the less the public knows the better. The home secretary's economical approach to truth and transparency could yet be his undoing. But he is not going down without a fight - and a joke. His comment about critics who "misunderstand the nature of the dialectical process" in reaching agreement over how much ordinary people ought to be allowed to know is too clever by half. Its Marxist flavour is alien to Britain's instinctive feeling about the difference between right and wrong. It is another example of ministers becoming too high and mighty for their own good - and ours. Mr Straw's attempts to pull the wool over our eyes about his misleading promise to raise police numbers is a case in point. A freedom of information act of the kind they have in Ireland would have exposed Mr Straw's sophistry for what it was by allowing a legitimate search of the official papers that preceded his claim about recruiting 5,000 "more" police officers. The deceptive impression he gave, and was happy to encourage, came to light only when a Treasury warning was leaked which showed that he had been advised not to promise 5,000 "additional" policemen, which was precisely what everybody thought he had done. Mr Straw's dialectic solution to the Treasury's alarm was a classic smoke-and-mirrors trick. He made a modest proposal to ring-fence funds for the training of 5,000 new officers sound like a much bigger deal. Irish politicians do the same sort of thing but are more easily exposed. The Sunday Times has used Ireland's new right-to-know legislation to great effect over the past two years. Recently we won a 14-month battle for the right to publish school examination results in the republic. Ireland's information commissioner made his brave decision against trenchant opposition from the government and teachers' unions. Britain has lagged disgracefully in placing the public's right to know above sectional interests. America's rule that every executive branch of the federal government must accept a presumption of disclosure is exactly the sort of citizens' empowerment Labour approved in opposition but has cooled towards in office. We need to know more about the way our public services perform across the board - from schools to the National Health Service, from the police to the safety inspectorates. The BSE scandal was made worse because it was knee-deep in bureaucracy's mania for secrecy. The Paddington rail disaster was further evidence of "keep it quiet at all costs". But Mr Straw's latest retreat from the draft bill he published in May still does not go far enough. He talked of striking a balance but drew the line between the government's prerogative and the public's right to know. His bill's remaining flaws should be resolutely opposed when it comes before parliament. Scientific advice to ministers about health and safety issues is still exempt, as are accident reports that may lead to criminal proceedings. Internal government papers also remain forbidden territory under the new proposals. Mr Blair's problem is that he inherited a pledge to expose Whitehall to public scrutiny. New Labour is less enthusiastic, as No 10's attempts to control public and parliamentary opinion show. The prime minister's acolytes view freedom of information with suspicion, from the lord chancellor down. Whoever becomes Britain's first information commissioner will need extraordinary determination and guaranteed independence to chivvy ministers in the public interest. A powerful cross-party coalition is ready to force Mr Straw's hand when his bill is debated. They must not weaken now. The Sunday Times 24 Oct. '99 DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. 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