§ Mr. AncramTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he had with the Attorney-General concerning the case of Katharine Gun before the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to offer any evidence against her. [157847]
§ Mr. StrawBecause I have statutory responsibility for GCHQ, I spoke with the Attorney General by telephone on 14 February and at a meeting on 24 February about the Gun case. The purpose on both occasions was to learn about the position of the prosecuting authorities relating to the continuation of the prosecution. I took no part in the decisions relating to discontinuation of the prosecution.
I was earlier consulted by the Attorney General, in accordance with the Shawcross procedure, about public interest issues relating to the case, before he took the decision to initiate the prosecution.