If you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear

Those words used in the title of this posting were used by Ming Campbell today to make the point that Labour, so keen to tell us that we need ID cards because "If you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear", are running scared (with lots of Tory support) or providing the Freedom of Information requests of cabinet minutes in the run up to the Iraq war.

Labour motives are obvious. But we know why the Tories support Labour in this lack of freedom. Aside from David Davis, there is hardly a history of open government and a willingness to put things out in the open (remember Spy Catcher ?) from the Conservative party. But the truth will come out eventually on the way Labour and Blair manipulated this country in to a war.

At least we Lib Dems can say proudly that we did not support sweeping things under the carpet.

Tory and Labour front benches conspire in a "squalid" deal

The BBC Six O'clock news highlighted that the sorry state of affairs in the House of Commons today exempting MP's from laws that the government impose on everyone else had the support of Labour and Tory front benches.

I note one Labour MP described the move as "squalid" whilst Gordon Brown has already opened himself up to calls of being a hypocrite just a day after saying he wanted to restore the people's trust in parliament.

Quite frankly any MP who supported this grubby bill should hang their head in shame.

Labour "secretly backing" Tory plan to exclude MP's from Freedom Of Information Act

The Independent reports that Labour are encouraging their MP's to support a Tory attempt to exclude MP's from the Freedom of Information Act.

If this is the case, it speaks volumes about Blair and ought to go down in his legacy too. Why do some MP's feel they are so special that the law should not apply to them ?

Well done to Norman Baker and co

I don't like filibustering, but today I will make something of an exception.

Filibustering was a well known trait in recent years of one MP who is no longer with us. He used to talk out pieces of legislation that wide ranging ross party approval like bringing in minimum standards for mini cab drivers in London, and used to see himself as virtuous because of it. However, today's filibustering effort seems, for once, to involve MP's doing so not out of self interest, because it was self interest that would have seen MP's vote to exempt themselves free of the law regarding Freedom of Information. Instead today's filibustering came from a group of MPs, largely lead by Norman Baker, but supported by other MP from all parties, who saw the amendment from Conservative David MacLean as an attempt to put MP's above ordinary citizens when it comes to the law.

So well done to Norman Baker and those MP's from all parties who made sure that MP's are subject to the same laws as me. They are real democrats doing their jobs well.