"That secrecy, the unaccountability, the lack of lawfulness to it, is the key problem," he said.
Previously classified documents released today at the Chilcot inquiry offer a rare, perhaps unprecedented, insight into manoeuvring at the heart of government about one of the most serious issues to confront ministers – whether to go to war, and the lawfulness of it.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, a specialist in privacy, said a public body such as the police must be able to justify the lawfulness of how it uses the information it collects and retains.
"So long as the Q and A remain fashioned about correspondence regarding 'his concerns' — i.e. reporting of violations; questions of lawfulness, etc... then it seems like the planned approach will still be accurate".
It is surely no mistake that this code of conduct comes only days before GCHQ is due to argue the lawfulness of its hacking activities in court".
Einstein's extreme reluctance to sacrifice the principle of causality as Planck's Quantum Theory demanded is well known; his main objection was of course that with it all lawfulness was about to depart from the universe, that it was as though God ruled the world by "playing dice".
That government has to be sure of the integrity of its decision, including its lawfulness.
It is disgraceful and our clients seek to challenge its lawfulness".
As noted above, the essential characteristic of science lies in its objectivity, and that objectivity is rooted in its lawfulness.
