Straw: Diplomat’s memoirs broke our trust
The publication of memoirs from a former British ambassador to the US is “completely unacceptable” and has broken the government’s trust, Jack Straw said today.
The foreign secretary was speaking in response to the serialisation of Christopher Meyer’s book in two newspapers, in which the former diplomat is highly critical of the Downing Street ‘spin machine’.
Sir Christopher claims that the Foreign Office’s role in discussions before the war in Iraq were limited, and says that when Tony Blair visited Washington, embassy staff were sidelined in favour of the prime minister’s officials, such as Alistair Campbell.
The prime minister himself has refused to comment on the memoirs, but this morning Mr Straw said the publication breached the trust and responsibility expected of all civil servants.
“I think that it is completely unacceptable for somebody like Sir Christopher to break trust in the way that he has done,” the foreign secretary told Today.
“It undermines the key relationship between civil servants and ministers. It has led to very great concern among the whole of the diplomatic service.”
He added that the memoirs also raised questions about Sir Christopher’s role as chairman of the press complaints commission, saying: “He is in the newspapers saying controversial things and if people want to complain about what is said, who do they complain to?”
Mr Straw’s comments come as the public administration select committee announced it would be investigating whether political diary-keeping was threatening the quality of decision-making in government.
Both Sir Christopher and Lance Price, a former No 10 press officer who has recently published his memoirs, will be called to give evidence to the committee, as will two former Cabinet secretaries, Lord Wilson of Dinton and Andrew Turnbull.
Last month the current cabinet secretary, Gus O’Donnell, told the committee that he was “strongly against the idea” of selling information in the form of memoirs, and was looking at how to stop it.
