The last 24 hours have shown our Parliament at its very best and its worst. By its very definition Parliament is intended to be a place of speaking and openness. In the last few hours we have seen Parliament in speaking and listening mode which we can all be proud of as well as the result of what happens when things are covered up and manipulated by those who appear  to believe they know better than the laws they are elected to make. 

Late yesterday after being dragged to the debate by nearly 140,000 people who signed an e-petition as well as many such as Andy Burnham MP who work in the Palace of Westminster, the dignity of the institution finally shone through as it allowed conventions to be overturned such as the Speaker allowing clapping from both within the chamber and from the gallery. There was no need for a vote as it was clear that all present wanted to see the full collection of 40,000 official papers  released, first to the Hillsborough Independent Panel and then onto the Public. The test now is for the panel set up in 2009 and chaired by the Bishop of Liverpool to see if it will listen to the authors of the petition who want all items to be published. The panel was originally established to consider ways of creating an archive of Hillsborough material and determining which information would be made public.

Aspects of particular note were the contribution by Steven Rotheram MP reading out the names of all 96 people who were killed. Steven who attended the game recounted several matters including how the corpse of one ten-year old was tested for alcohol at a point when the fans were suspected of being to blame. Another moving statement was made tearfully by Alison McGovern MP for Walton, recounting how she watched the game on TV on the day as an eight year old. Criticism was made of the Sun Newspaper and New International for their coverage at the time. There is currently a major campaign on Merseyside to deny the paper any sales in the region and those involved in that campaign will be cheered by this public criticism. 

The Home Secretary promised to ensure that all appropriate actions would be taken and she stayed in the chamber for the whole four-hour debate (rather than scurrying away as Ministers so often do). Jeremy Hunt also remained in the chamber throughout, this is in part an attempt to acknowledge his own failings. In June 2010 in the moments after England were knocked out of the World Cup in South Africa he compared the lack of unrest amongst the fans at the match with events at Heysel and Hillsborough. He apologised later for maligning the Hillsborough families but his decision to sit through this debate indicates a desire to continue to show his remorse.

If the best of Parliament was evident in the Hillsborough debate on Monday, the worst of Parliament and in particular the Government has emerged today (Tuesday) in the report from Sir Gus O’Donnell on the Fox/Werritty debacle. Even as we were waiting for this report to be published further information was emerging of how other Ministers had met with Werritty (despite all the denials of a few days ago). The Prime Minster’s office has even today denied meeting him, though both men were at Fox’s wedding (Werritty was the best man). Sir Gus has now revealed that not only did Liam Fox receive several warnings about his behaviour with Werrity, but that on at least 2 occassions the Defence Secretary refused to allow civil servants to attend meetings he was holding with Werritty and others. Whilst these details were not made public till today, they have been known by Dr Fox and his associates since at least February when one of these meetings occurred.

This decision to try to withhold from the public, information that is so easily revealed later shows either a sense of arrogance or gross stupidity by these men who have been supposedly working on our behalf. What adds insult to injury is the way in which his ‘closest colleagues’ even as late as Friday after Fox had resigned were appearing on news programmes declaring his innocence and selfless actions in resigning in order to put the country first. The big question must be, will the Government change the way it operates or continue to operate in secret. These were poor decisions taken by men and women who are meant to be working on behalf of the whole nation and whose actions on our behalf could be depriving people of their liberty, of the money they need to remain fed, of housing or even committing us to future wars.

A final element is that the O’Donnell report still remains absent from the news stream of the No 10 website at the time of posting, so its findings have been read through the lens of various newspapers and other indirect sources.