DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Counting the cost of the WikiLeaks farce

By DAILY MAIL COMMENT

Published: | Updated:


Consider the scene: on the pavement outside an embassy in one of London’s most exclusive districts stand dozens of Metropolitan Police officers, who could be patrolling the capital’s streets and keeping the British public safe.

Inside, under the diplomatic protection of Ecuador, which has just granted him political asylum, sits an Australian man who is wanted on a European Arrest Warrant for sexual offences allegedly committed in Sweden.

The man, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, is accused of nothing in Britain.

Costly: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's legal and diplomatic battle to avoid extradition to Sweden has been at the expensive of the British tax paye

Costly: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's legal and diplomatic battle to avoid extradition to Sweden has been at the expensive of the British tax payer

But the Foreign Office has announced it is duty bound under the terms of Europe’s onerous extradition laws to put him on a plane to Sweden, so cannot let him leave for his new South American bolthole.

 
   

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Farcically, the FO had initially threatened police would storm the embassy – then changed its mind when officials recognised the storm this would cause.

Instead, police must guard the embassy night and day, to foil any attempt to smuggle Mr Assange out in disguise, in the laundry or in a diplomatic bag. Then, and only then, can they arrest him.

Never mind the huge cost to the UK taxpayer of this fiasco. Forget the huge damage done to the reputation of the blundering Foreign Office.

What is most disturbing is the way the preening Mr Assange continues to be blindly feted as a hero by so many.

His celebrity backers say he cannot go to Sweden in case he is then sent on to the US to face potentially serious charges over the release by WikiLeaks of secret American government cables.

Ecuador’s Left-wing government, eager to poke a finger in the eye of the US, grants him asylum for the same reason.

And his alleged sex attack victims in Sweden? Mr Assange’s cheerleaders have conveniently forgotten all about them.

Defend open justice

In May, when Ken Clarke announced the government was abandoning its chilling plan for secret inquests, the Mail hoped that would be the end of the matter.

Yet, as we report today, this frightening, totalitarian idea is back on the agenda.

Inquiries by two House of Lords select committees have concluded that the Justice and Security Bill is so vaguely drafted that secret inquests could be reinstated to the legislation without any need for further Parliamentary debate.

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke must take a stand against secret courts to avoid abuses in the future

Justice Secretary Ken Clarke must take a stand against secret courts to avoid abuses in the future

At the flick of a pen, ministers would be able to cover up police shootings or the deaths of soldiers sent to war without proper equipment.

Mr Clarke’s aides insist this was never the Bill’s intention and he will not sanction such a terrifying move.

But, while the Justice Secretary is a man of his word, it is absolutely certain that government officials, police and security services have been trying for years to get secret inquests on the statute books.

What is to stop them taking advantage of the Bill’s loose phrasing once Mr Clarke has gone, to cover up the needless killing of an innocent man?

The Justice Secretary, in his own words, is a defender of ‘freedom of speech, a free Press and open justice’.

He can prove it once more by rewriting the legislation so there is zero room for doubt that secret inquests have no place in a civilised, open society.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has made good progress with the reinstating of A levels as serious exams

Education Secretary Michael Gove has made good progress with the reinstating of A levels as serious exams

Restoring standards

The Mail warmly congratulates all the hard-working A-level students who yesterday achieved the grades they need to find jobs or go on to university.

Michael Gove also deserves great credit for starting to restore some much-needed rigour to an exam system which is now encouraging more children to take maths and science and no longer boasts a ‘record’ pass rate every year.