Winter fishing trips

Winter fishing trips

There’s been some excellent commentary on the Telegraph surgery subterfuge story, so I’ll just throw in this old quote from Cardinal Richelieu. I’ve not had time to think about Vince Cable’s actual comments on the upcoming News International decision, although my instinct is that it is a painful lesson learnt about the need to be circumspect about decisions that require an impartial judge. The other, more important side to the story is about setting a dangerous precedent, one that I suspect should be (and hopefully already is) illegal, as per David Howarth’s piece in the Guardian.
The Telegraph surgery visits were fishing expeditions. They weaken the established principle of collective responsibility that allows for private disagreement. To do so simply for the purpose of generating revenue, with the potential risk furthering a corporation’s political agenda, is not in the public interest. Given a prominent platform (such as a national newspaper), secretly recording any surgery visit would likely provide more than enough material to be turned into a harmful story. That includes simple mischief making that interferes with the workings of the state.
Many commentators are saying, “there’s nothing new here”. Arguably, however, if a major newpaper chooses to publish the interviews, then it is news to all intents and purposes. Systems requires some degree of trust to work effectively. It does nothing for the right’s beloved constituency link to force MPs to treat all their constituents as spies looking to make money. It would foster suspicion, and could create competition for an MP’s time – not to solve problems, but create them. That sounds profoundly unhealthy to me.
A free press play an important role in a liberal democracy. So does a trustworthy one. Countries are weakened by exactly this kind of chipping away at the foundations. If there is a need for more access to MPs’ personal views, it should be argued for in full view of the public, not by subterfuge targeted at individual parties.