We all deserve an apology for the ruinous MoD data leak

Maybe the most insidious aspect of the Afghan data leak scandal, in terms of our constitutional safeguards, was that the government went to the speakers of both Houses of Parliament to brief them as to why they should not permit any questions about the issue to be raised by MPs or peers.

- SEAN O'GRADY

This was to prevent anyone using parliamentary privilege, which trumps almost everything, to find out what was going on, why it was going in and who was accountable. In other words, the normal democratic process.

This was, of course, on top of the other measures taken to guarantee that this appalling blunder be kept quiet - principally, the now notorious superinjunction, which banned all mention of the matter and even the existence of the injunction itself. As few people as possible within government were informed - we still don't know who - and the natural bureaucratic instinct to deny, cover up and deflect was followed.

Only with a change of government - and then only because the case for the use of the injunction had become unsupportable - have the British public learned about the danger to the lives of brave Afghan allies, not to mention the huge total cost of clearing the mess up. Potentially up to £7bn.

As one of the judges involved declared on a previous occasion: “Am I going bonkers?” If nothing else, that exasperated remark reminds us of the value of an independent judiciary.