Vanity over TV cameras in Commons
THE Tory Cabinet squabbled with MPs about the introduction of TV in Westminster.
They feared the camera angles were “uncomplimentary” to the front bench.
Far from the highminded ambition of reconnecting Parliament with the masses, newlydeclassified files expose the vanity of government ministers when live coverage began in 1989.
A note from Irish diplomat Joe Hayes said the then Clerk of the House of Commons, Clifford Boulton, confided in him about concerns among MPs about the impact of TV.
It read: “It would provide little exposure for backbenchers.
“Ministers were concerned that the camera profile of ministers reading their scripts will be uncomplimentary.”
A LIST of dozens of people killed by the IRA after being branded informers is published for the first time today – including victims who were wrongly accused.
The names are included in files which have been declassified by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. Those listed come from a “sample” of victims killed by the Provisional IRA from 1978 up until the 1994 ceasefire.
The executed men were accused by the IRA of giving information to the state during the Troubles. But officials point out that several had not passed on information.
The files state: “The Provisional IRA themselves have made it clear that where they believe people in the organisation to be agents or informers they can expect no mercy.
“This usually means torture, followed by a forced confession and murder. The corpse will then be found in a ditch, often many miles