‘The UK government must give new guidance to public authorities on when government ministers can exercise powers of veto to prevent the disclosure of information under freedom of information (FOI) laws.’
Full story
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd June 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘On 13th April, the Guardian were finally able to publish the ‘black spider memos,’ private correspondence between Prince Charles and several government departments between September 2004 and March 2005.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 18th May 2015
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘The Barons and Bishops who forced King John to sign Magna Carta, enshrining key rights such as rule of law and protection of property, are to face “charges of treason” – 800 years after the historic document was written.’
Daily Telegraph, 17th May 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Jack Straw, a former Labour cabinet minister and one of the architects of the Freedom of Information Act, has said that the Prince of Wales’s memos to ministers should have remained secret and that the supreme court exceeded its power in backing the Guardian’s fight for publication.’
The Guardian, 14th May 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Royal Family’s reputation for political neutrality faces its most serious challenge in a generation as the “black spider” memos written by Prince Charles to senior ministers are finally set to published after a 10-year legal battle.’
The Independent, 12th May 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘A chauffeur who tried to blackmail the Qatar royal family for £600,000 after finding private photos left in the back of his car has been jailed for four and a half years.’
The Independent, 3rd May 2015
Source: www,independent.co.uk
Supreme Court, 26th March 2015
‘On Thursday 26th March the Supreme Court concluded, to the delight of The Guardian and the dismay of the Prime Minister, that communications between Prince Charles and government Ministers – the so-called ‘black spider memos’ – should be released. This has been a long saga, involving issues of freedom of information, discussion of constitutional conventions surrounding the behaviour of a Monarch in training, which now also includes the principle of legality and the nature of the relationship between parliamentary sovereignty and the rule of law. Such a cornucopia of delights for constitutional lawyers guarantees that the case has earned its place in the ‘Constitutional law Case list Hall of Fame’, with the promise of further delight as the memos, once released and savoured, cast an insight into the relationship between the Crown and the Government.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 31st March 2015
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘On Friday, 27th March, the Supreme Court handed down a decision which will be as much of interest to public lawyers as information rights practitioners alike. Evans, a journalist for the Guardian newspaper utilised the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 to seek the disclosure of letters sent by Prince Charles to seven government departments between September 2004 and March 2005. The departments refused to disclose the letters (so-called “black spider” memos on account of the Prince’s handwriting) on the basis that they were exempt from doing so. In their view the letters represented private correspondence which effectively allowed the Prince to prepare for “kingship.” Evans subsequently complained to the Information Commissioner who upheld the refusal before appealing to the Information Tribunal. The Tribunal held that many of the letters should be disclosed as they constituted “advocacy correspondence.”’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 31st March 2015
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
‘And so, the long legal saga of the Black Spider Letters finally comes to a close.
I last blogged about this case back in October 2012. At that time, the Attorney General had ignited controversy by invoking a little-known power under section 53 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).’
UK Human Rights Blog, 27th March 2015
Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com
‘Despite lobbying from Prince Charles, health officials have decided there is not enough evidence herbal medicines work to justify regulating the ancient practices.’
Daily Telegraph, 27th March 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘An ex-News of the World reporter who was found guilty of paying a prison officer for information has had their conviction quashed.’
BBC News, 27th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Supreme Court’s judgment in R (Evans) v Attorney General [2015] UKSC 21 has received vast amounts of media coverage – more in a single day than everything else about FOI has received in ten years, I reckon. No need to explain what the case was about – the upshot is that Rob Evans gets Prince Charles’ ‘black spider’ letters. Here’s why.’
Panopticon, 26th March 2015
Source: www.panopticonblog.com
‘The UK supreme court has cleared the way for the publication of secret letters written by Prince Charles to British government ministers, declaring that an attempt by the state to keep them concealed was unlawful.’
The Guardian, 26th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The supreme court will rule on Thursday on whether highly sensitive secret correspondence between Prince Charles and government ministers should at last be released in the public interest.’
The Guardian, 25th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The supreme court’s judgment on whether the government unlawfully blocked the publication of a series of secret letters written by Prince Charles is due to be made public on Thursday next week, court officials have announced.
The Guardian, 20th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Sun’s royal editor has said he “did not come into journalism to become a criminal”, telling jurors he would not have touched a story with “a barge pole” if he thought it meant breaking the law.’
The Guardian, 23rd February 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The jury in a trial at the Old Bailey have been ordered not to watch a BBC documentary on the royal family’s relations with the media amid concerns it could prejudice a fair trial of the Sun’s royal editor.’
The Guardian, 19th February 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘If the UK press love a sex scandal and a good royal story, imagine what you get when you put the two together. This month the news broke that victims of Jeffrey Epstein, an American paedophile, were attempting to sue Prince Andrew alleging, amongst other things, that she was coerced into having sex with him when she was 17.’
Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 26th January 2015
Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk
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