BBC gagged over cash for honours inquiry

Lord Goldsmith, the British Attorney General, has obtained a last minute injunction to prevent the BBC from transmitting a story concerning the Cash for Honours enquiry, which the BBC believe was "a legitimate matter of public interest".

The cash for honours inquiry was sparked in March last year by complaints to the Metropolitan police by MPs from the Scottish National party and Plaid Cymru that honours appeared to have been offered in return for financial support to the major parties.

A Downing Street source said last night that the first No 10 knew that an injunction had either been sought or granted was when they saw the 10 O'clock News.

A spokesman for the attorney general said the move was taken in response to a request from the Metropolitan police, who have been engaged in a year-long inquiry into the claims, which relate to the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act 1925.

He said police were concerned that the disclosure of information contained in the story could have harmed their inquiry.

Lord Goldsmith was acting independently of the government in seeking the injunction, the spokesman added.

This is the first time any sort of injunction has been sought or obtained since the Cash for Honours enquiry began and has led to all sorts of speculation. Sir Menzies Campbell, the leader of the Liberal Democrats - and a barrister - has implied that this kind of intervention suggests that charges are going to be brought against somebody involved in the enquiry.

Sir Menzies told BBC2's Newsnight: "The important thing to remember is that the attorney general acts in the public interest and in particular he has an interest to ensure that no possible prosecution is prejudiced and no possible defence is prejudiced."

The inference of Lord Goldsmith's actions was "he at least contemplates the possibility that a prosecution of some kind will follow", he said.

There's no way of knowing where any of this will eventually lead, but every time it hits the headlines it gets more intriguing.

It certainly not the police simply being over enthusiastic and misunderstanding the law as Blair has previously implied.

And it does raise the question of whether Blair can remain in office if any of his staff are found to have broken the law over this matter.

Ian Dale, the right wing pundit, has more on his online diary where he states:

I understand it is to do with an email that incriminates someone in a fairly drastic way. I do not know what the terms of the injunction are, but isn't this an injunction which the Labour Party should have asked for rather than Her Majesty's Government?

Dale gets the latter part of that wrong. My understanding is that Goldsmith was acting in his capacity as Attorney General and, as such, was acting independently of the government. Obviously, because of the injunction, we are unlikely to hear any more than vague hints as to what all this is all about. Though many blogs are stating that the BBC's story of this injunction was originally accompanied by a picture of Ruth Turner, Blair's gatekeeper who has twice been arrested over this matter, and that the picture was later removed.

It should also be stressed that it was the police who requested this injunction rather than Number Ten, which strongly hints that they have done so to prevent prejudicing a trial. Again, increasing the suspicion that charges are to follow.

But, whatever the Hell is actually going on, it doesn't sound like good news for Team Blair.

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Tags: Cash for Honours, Blair, Ruth Turner, Lord Goldsmith, BBC