Two guilty of trying to leak details of Blair's talks with Bush

[cal04]

Tony Blair's ill-fated war with Iraq claimed two more victims yesterday when a civil servant and an MP's researcher were convicted of disclosing details of a secret conversation between the Prime Minister and President George Bush.

Last night, MPs, lawyers and civil rights groups described the prosecution as a "farce" and accused the Government of misusing the Official Secrets Act to cover up political embarrassment over the war.

David Keogh, 50, a Cabinet Office communications officer, and Leo O'Connor, 44, a political researcher who worked for an anti-war Labour MP, Anthony Clarke, face jail sentences of up to two years after an Old Bailey jury found them guilty of breaching Britain's secrecy laws.

At the centre of the trial was a four-page Downing Street document which recorded discussions about Iraq between Mr Blair and Mr Bush, held in the Oval Office in April 2004 in the run-up to the handover of power to the Iraqi government.

Keogh, who copied the document to O'Connor while he was working in the Cabinet Office, said that he acted out of conscience because he believed the document showed Mr Bush to be a "madman".

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article2527728.ece

[struggle4progress]

1. This is exactly how official secrets acts are always used.