Richard Norton-Taylor on the al-Jazeera memo and how the two men charged with ‘disclosing’ the document are to be tried in secret:

At a time when David Blunkett makes money by revealing cabinet discussions, we are prevented from hearing evidence against defendants in a criminal trial simply, say some who have read the memo, to protect ministers from embarrassment. It is a genuine scandal. It is even more so given Blunkett’s suggestion on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme last night that the US bombing of al-Jazeera would have been justified at the time of the invasion in 2003.

What Norton-Taylor doesn’t say is that Blunkett is going around this week and causing more embarrassment, for himself and others, than the leaking of the memo ever could. As Dave W points out, Blunkett certainly seems to have decided to deal and take the money rather than see what might be in a ministerial box.

Anyway, if anybody out there has a copy of the memo lying around and wants to share, I, amongst others, will happily give it an airing.