§ 33. Mr. MullinTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will require public servants to disclose publicly membership of secret societies.
§ Mr. Robert JacksonNo, Madam.
§ Mr. MullinMay I put it to the Minister that there is absolutely no point in standing at the Dispatch Box mouthing platitudes about the need for open government if he is not prepared to lift a finger against the greatest secret society, which has an iron grip on many of our most respected public institutions?
May I put it to him further that nothing undermines public confidence in public institutions so much as the knowledge that many public servants are members of a secret society, one of whose aims is mutual advancement?
§ Mr. JacksonI am sorry to disturb the even tenor of the hon. Gentleman's prepared supplementary question. I do not regard it as a platitude to say that we are against unjustified invasions of privacy. I think that that is the point here. I point out to the hon. Gentleman, perhaps in a more constructive way, that we already have rules that require individuals in the civil service to avoid any conflicts of interest. There are rules already in place in the civil service code. When civil servants become aware of a conflict of interest, they must remove it and, if appropriate, report it to the senior officer. We are looking again at the civil service code to see whether those provisions need to be sharpened.
§ Mr. FabricantDoes my hon. Friend have any information about whether the Labour party has any secret societies, especially in local government?
§ Mr. JacksonOne of the interesting things about secret societies is that one never knows who the members of them are.