This let­ter was sent to Sir John But­ter­fill MP (Con­ser­v­a­tive, Bournemouth West) on 13^th Octo­ber 2009.

Dear Sir John Butterfill,

The Inter­net has been buzzing today with the news that the Guardian news­pa­per was pre­vented from pub­lish­ing a ques­tion that is due to be answered by the Sec­re­tary of State for Jus­tice tomor­row (Wednes­day 14^th Octo­ber). This action was brought about by solic­i­tors Carter-Ruck on behalf of their client, Trafigura.

Regard­less of the nature of the ques­tion and of the Guardian and Trafigura’s less-than-amiable rela­tion­ship, I’m con­cerned about this clear attempt to restrict a fun­da­men­tal free­dom of the press — to report on activ­i­ties at West­min­ster — by lawyers act­ing in the inter­ests of a large multi­na­tional corporation.

Although Carter-Ruck have (as of about 1.30pm today) dropped their gag order, this kind of thing could eas­ily hap­pen again in the future, and next time the legal chal­lenge may not be dropped so quickly.

I would like to know if you or your Party would sup­port a pro­posal strength­en­ing and clar­i­fy­ing the right of the press to report on par­lia­men­tary activ­ity, to ensure that this sit­u­a­tion does not hap­pen again.

Yours sin­cerely,

Ian Ren­ton