A view from the parliamentary trough…
Posted on | May 14, 2009 | 2 Comments
Heather Brooke is a single-minded, single-interest journalist (and author of Your Right to Know: : A Citizen’s Guide to the Freedom of Information Act) who has pursued issues of political integrity and openness of information for a number of years. She recently won a High Court judgement against the House of Commons for a full disclosure of MPs’ second homes allowances, and has, as you might expect, been a huge thorn in the side of our expense-loving politicians in the current parliamentary melt-down. Her knowledge of, and ability to use, the Freedom of Information Act was forged in the USA, where FOI has been on the statute books for over 40 years. Heather is also a visiting fellow at the City University’s School of Journalism.
If we need any further evidence of the strange bubble-like existence of our political servants/leaders (which epithet you prefer depends on your current standpoint), Heather points to a recent exchange in the Parliamentary Committee examining press standards in which Alan Keen, Labour MP for Feltham and Heston, tried to suggest that her single-minded pursuit of FOI-related issues might have arisen because of a vested interest. Roy Greenslade slapped him down and put him right on that one.
It must be hard for those with their noses in the trough to understand that others live and work to more exacting, less lucrative, and altogether higher standards.
Postscript – A day later, and guess whose pic is on the front cover of the Guardian G2?
Technorati Tags: heather brooke, freedom of information, journalism, parliamentary expenses, integrity
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May 14th, 2009 @ 5:43 pm
Great link John. Thanks again for an instructive and useful article.
Gordon
May 17th, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
[...] and John Connell remind us about Heather Brooke’s major role in uncovering the expenses [...]