The Truth About Torture

The rather battered Andrew Mitchell and the highly respected Andrew Tyrie have both made strong calls for Cameron to appoint a judge led inquiry to establish to what extent Britain is seeking to cover up its involvement in the torture of prisoners or the rendition processes of which torture was the end purpose. This blog fully concurs with the cogent arguments both senior Tories advanced on the media today. This blog does not, however, agree with appointing a judge to lead it, nor that it should be outside parliament and the democratic process. The revelations of the American torture programme have become public because of the work of a Senate committee. Here a beefed up Select Committee with draconian discovery powers, compulsory witness attendance and evidence under oath would be far better than another of these public inquiries, which do not work for sensitive political issues.

Their record is dismal. The Scott inquiry had its conclusions watered down to save the Major government. Hutton made a laughing stock of the process. Leveson has come to nothing with the newspaper industry refusing to sign up to the resultant proposals. Chilcot has still not reported five years on. The child abuse inquiry cannot even get started. The public is fed up with this self serving pantomime. It is time to do things differently.