ABSTRACT
In a moment of political madness during the spring of 2007, the British House of Commons voted for a bill, which, had it not been subsequently blocked by the House of Lords, would have exempted Members of Parliament (MPs) from the scope of the Freedom of Information Act. In effect, the bill would have prevented requests for details of MPs’ expenditure from being disclosed and would have kept secret any correspondence between MPs and public authorities regarding matters of general policy. Symbolically, the bill reinforced public distrust for an institution that has come to be popularly regarded as remote, recondite, and selfserving. A small group of MPs from all
three main parties actively opposed the passage of the bill. Norman Baker, a Liberal Democrat MP, declared that:
The argument has been won that secrecy tends to benefit only those who are corrupt, those who are incompetent or those who are careless with public money. We should not protect the people in any of those categories. The freedom of information regime that now applies to public authorities, and to this House in particular, and which we are discussing in respect of this group of amendments, has led to the beginning of a change in
culture in this country and in this House as to how we deal with information. The role of the House of Commons in how we approach these matters is central.
