MPs call for clearer guidance on political memoirs
The way government deals with the publication of political memoirs must be changed to avoid a breakdown in trust between ministers and civil servants, MPs warn today.
The public administration select committee (PASC) calls for a new confidentiality agreement to be signed by all ministers, civil servants and special advisors to show they understand that any future memoirs may be restricted on certain terms.
It says ministers and civil servants should have a say in how a new publication is edited if it affects them, and recommends the creation of a new committee agreed by all political parties to which they can appeal if no voluntary agreement on editing is reached.
The report comes after a series of high-profile political memoirs were published, notably by former Downing Street spin doctor Lance Price and by Christopher Meyer, the UK ambassador to Washington at the time of the Iraq war and September 11th.
Jeremy Greenstock, Britain’s ambassador to the United Nations in the run-up to the Iraq war and the country’s special envoy to Iraq, had also planned to publish his memoirs, but postponed them indefinitely at the request of then foreign secretary Jack Straw.
The committee today says there should always be a presumption in favour of publication, and states it believes that Sir Jeremy’s memoirs should be published as they provided a “strong public interest”.
Mr Straw appears to have blocked the book on a matter of principle, rather than because of any details in it, but the PASC report says its suggestions on how to tighten up the system would give future ministers confidence to allow the publication.
It condemns the current guidance available as “scattered and inconsistent”, with different conditions for restrictions for ministers, diplomats and civil servants, and recommends a new confidentiality agreement for everyone, based on three key limitations.
These would prohibit the publication of anything that threatens national security, damages international relations or may cause damage to the confidential relationships between ministers and between ministers and civil servants.
The MPs stressed this last point in particular, warning that without such guarantees, the discussion of the matters of government between ministers could be undermined, or the civil servants would feel unable to offer “free and frank” advice.
“Ministers will not trust permanent officials if their confidences are broken, or if they are routinely denigrated. Able people will not go into public service if it offers the prospect of regular denigration, without the opportunity to answer back,” the report says.
Committee chairman Tony Wright concluded: “Nothing in this report will prevent memoirs being published. They have a real value and should be encouraged.
“But it needs to be clear what the rules are in order to protect those matters that genuinely need protection, and a fair process to deal with disagreements.
“We believe that our proposals will help to avoid the kind of difficulties we have seen recently, and give more certainty both to memoir-writers and to governments.”
