No 10 Bans Inquiry Into Ministers - Ombudsman Threatens To Quit

[WillyT]

<snip>

The parliamentary ombudsman was last night pitched on to a collision course with Downing Street after the government banned her from investigating any ministerial conflict of interest.

Ann Abraham warned she would no longer be able to fulfil her role as a key figure in the drive against secrecy and sleaze within Whitehall and threatened to resign because of the "difficulties" placed in her way. Her warning provokes a crisis for the government's commitment to freedom of information.

It followed an unprecedented ban issued by Charles Falconer, the lord chancellor and constitutional affairs secretary, preventing her from probing whether the prime minister and cabinet ministers have had conflicts between their private interests and public duties.

Lord Falconer and Douglas Alexander, the minister of state at the Cabinet Office, signed a certificate saying any disclosure of information about such conflicts would be "prejudicial to the safety of the state or otherwise contrary to the public interest".

No such certificate has been issued in living memory and Whitehall sources said they believed the ministers had issued it after direct pressure from Downing Street.

<snip>

Link: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,11026,995154,00.html

Gee, where have I heard this before???

:shrug:

[WillyT]

1. It's A Dupe, I'm A Dope, Waitin Fer The Axe!!!

Sorry mods!