§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Attorney-General on how many occasions and on what basis he has been asked to authorise a grant of immunity to a civil servant from prosecution under the Official Secrets Act 1911 as part of inquiries into the leak of law officers' letters to Secretaries of State and other private individuals.
§ The Attorney-GeneralI have never been asked to authorise a grant of immunity from prosecution in such circumstances. The hon. Member will recall that my right hon. Friend the Member for Finchley (Mrs. Thatcher) informed the House on 23 January 1986,Official Report, column 451, that my predecessor had authorised the then head of the civil service to tell an official that he had my predecessor's authority to say that, provided that the head of the civil service received full co-operation in his inquiry into the disclosure of parts of a letter written by me, the official concerned would not be prosecuted in respect of anything said during the course of the inquiry.