What’s this? Yet another delay to the publication of ministers’ private interests? Yep, and this time it’s because some of the “new minsters” introduced during the last reshuffle have – according to the Times’s source – “required quite a bit of investigation”. The Times adds 2 + 2 together and comes up with Peter Mandelson; who’s “declared the bare minimum in a voluntary entry to the Lords Register of Interests.”
Sure, it’s easy to speculate over this kind of thing; especially with the prompt that Mandelson hasn’t yet clarified his “links to Oleg Deripaska”. But even if the situation’s completely innocent, it’s still rather disspiriting. At the very least, the constant delays suggest that keeping the public informed isn’t a priority for the Government, despite frequent claims to the contrary.
But this isn’t just an issue for those in power. After the Derek Conway affair, there were signs that all the major parties were moving towards a “new politics” of greater honesty and openness. By the end of 2008, that was still mostly all talk. Let’s hope for more action – and more transparency – in 2009.
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