Angry Hoon frustrated by Cabinet leaks
Government chief whip Geoff Hoon has expressed his frustration that details of a recent Cabinet meeting were leaked.
His comments followed media reports quoting unnamed sources expressing frustration with prime minister Gordon Brown during a Cabinet meeting.
He allegedly concentrated too heavily on the Conservatives when his own party are in dire trouble in the polls.
It is not certain a member of the Cabinet had made the leak or leaks as several civil servants usually attend such meetings.
But if it was a Cabinet colleague, Mr Hoon said in an interview to be broadcast tomorrow on BBC News 24, such an action would be “quite wrong”.
“If it is Cabinet colleagues who are responsible for those briefings … it is quite wrong for them to breach the confidentiality of cabinet conversations,” the BBC quoted him as saying.
“The only way in which this group of people can deal with the kinds of problems the country faces is if we can speak frankly to each other, we can have the kind of conversations that are necessary to deal with the very difficult circumstances that this country faces – and they should not, ever, breach that confidentiality.”
The Labour party conference begins tomorrow in Manchester.
