In any case, allowing evidence from former inquiries that is not now secret to remain hidden to watchers of this inquiry hardly reflects a spirit of openness.
"History will demand an independent inquiry," former Senator Gary Hart told me in an interview last week.
With the daily excitements of the Leveson inquiry (former Times lawyer Alastair Brett and Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan yesterday) can anyone doubt that the hearings have dramatic potential?
A6 World Briefing A6 NATIONAL A9-13, 16 Ex-C.I.A. Director Helped Former Aide During Inquiry John M. Deutch, a former director of central intelligence, recommended a top C.I.A. official for a high-paying job at Citibank as she was monitoring an internal investigation into whether he had mishandled classified information, according to records and interviews.
For an hour or so on Monday at the Leveson inquiry, former cabinet secretary Gus O'Donnell delivered a masterclass in the skills of discretion and gentle evasion that took him to the top of the civil service; not for him the Murdochian pauses or premature dementia favoured by some witnesses.
Sandwell Council has now said its own audit service will conduct an inquiry and former mayor Sadie Smith, a former Liberal Democrat councillor, said the council's procedures should be "scrupulous".
Others questioned as part of the inquiry include former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman and a 63-year-old man whose identity has not been disclosed.
3.55pm BST Patry Hoskins turns to evidence to the inquiry by former Scotland Yard detective Peter Clarke.
10.27am: Blair, unlike other former commissioners the Leveson inquiry has questioned, says he didn't generally socialise with journalists.
As a congresswoman she went on a hunger strike to call for an independent inquiry against former President Samper.
