Updated at 2.48pm BST Facebook Twitter Google plus Share Share this post Facebook Twitter Google plus close 10.26am BST10 26 Kirsty Hughes, chief executive of Index on Censorship, has put out this statement following Alan Rusbridger's revelations about how pressure from "shadowy Whitehall figures" led to the Guardian destroying hard drives in a basement.
The select committee heard sharp criticism of the chancellor, George Osborne, from a leading thinktank for sanctioning huge tax giveaways that forced the government to impose deeper than expected cuts on vital welfare budgets and Whitehall spending.
However, it did leave me thinking what the party would look like if the membership had left the leadership alone in Whitehall.
The Guardian has also seen correspondence that reveals Whitehall officials are examining whether Hughes should be stripped of honours he received for his police work.
But never before in England had Whitehall been asked to surrender so much control over a local public sector, not even in London.
The Scottish referendum, coupled with the Smith commission on implementing its devolution concessions in Scotland, may have put the constitution on the agenda – even so, Whitehall fought Osborne down to the wire.
But Fox's pledge to maintain Britain's ability to wage war unilaterally, cooperate with France while snubbing the EU's defence agency, cutting Whitehall staff and reforming wasteful procurement (again) does not sound like tough realism, especially when combined with Cameron's gimmicky "war cabinet" and national security adviser approach.
As for the alleged link back to Scottish health spending, while total block grants from Whitehall are indeed connected to overall English public service spending, Holyrood has sweeping autonomy over where the money goes.
The White House has distanced itself from Britain's handling of the leaked NSA documents when representatives said it would be difficult to imagine the US authorities following the example of Whitehall in demanding the destruction of media hard drives.
The Whitehall source said that the Queen's statement was no accident: "She knew exactly what she was doing.
A Whitehall source told the Post the government is about to announce the GBP150m tram scheme, which would see 22 trams running on one line from Liverpool to Kirkby, each carrying 200 passengers.
