Adjournment (Summer)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 8:12 pm on 24 July 1986.

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Photo of Dr John Gilbert Dr John Gilbert , Dudley East 8:12, 24 July 1986

The question remains, why is it important that the Attorney-General might have known that the disclosure was authorised? It is important, because if the conclusion was known in advance, the inquiry was a charade. If it did not relate to such a serious matter, one might be tempted to say that the inquiry was a farce. However, it was serious because five named officials went through an ordeal in which, as the head of the Civil Service said, their careers, their reputations and their lives were involved. That is not my language, it is the language of the head of the British Civil Service. He knew, and paragraph 195 says that the Attorney-General knew, that the ordeal of those officials was unnecessary. Our report also shows that the Attorney-General urged that the inquiry be prosecuted and the head of the Civil Service carried it out.

Incidentally, those are the words of the head of the Civil Service, who should have been protecting his officials, and who compounded his hypocrisy—there is no other word for it—by praying in aid his inquiry as the reason why his officials should not appear before our Committee. That is a piece of cheek which takes some beating.

Finally, in parts of the report, the Committee has used some fairly forceful language about the conduct of the officials who did not appear before us. It is not our fault that they did not do so. We called it discreditable, improper, disreputable and outrageous. Four times today, the Prime Minister endorsed the activities and attitudes of those individuals. That tells me all that I need to know about the atmosphere at No. 10 Downing street which lies behind this sorry tale.

This is not the end of the matter. The Government are under an obligation to reply to the Select Committee. We shall consider that reply and may have further hearings. We may issue a further report and there will be a debate in this House. It will he a long time before this sleazy ghost is finally laid to rest.