Anthony Barnett (London OK): Who said that? In 1992, when he first spoke about constitutional issues at length in his Sovereignty lecture (see below) Gordon Brown called "not just for immediate implementation of a Freedom of Information Act to ensure the flow of information from government to citizen and the right to know... but also that there should be precise duties guaranteeing the right of individuals to information where it is in the public interest to do so, in the dark and secret corners of the private sector." Well, leaving the private sector aside, MPs have now voted to close themselves off from accountability (which Spyblog promptly posted here and condemned). The MPs who passed this are absolutely hopeless, living in a lost world. Perhaps they are clinging to the idea that if they they can mark their dealing "secret" this means they will be more important! I'm afraid it's one more swirl towards the plug-hole.
See the cool monitoring by the BBC's Martin Rosenbaum in Open Secrets - a blog about freedom of information and the heroic Campaign for Freedom of Information
