§ Lord Ferrierasked Her Majesty's Government:
With reference to the recent case against a Civil Service clerk, why no proceedings have yet been taken against the Guardian newspaper for converting to its own use material which, at the time, the Editor admits he knew to have been stolen.
§ The Lord Chancellor (Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone)It is not for the Government to decide whether criminal proceedings should be instituted. That is a matter for the prosecuting authorities (including, in appropriate cases, the Attorney General) who make their decision independently, in accordance with the principles set out in another place by Sir Hartley Shawcross when he was Attorney General(Official Report, Vol, 483, col. 679). I understand that my right honourable friend the Attorney General is answering at greater length a question in another place of which I should be glad to furnish my noble friend with a copy.