Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill

12.02.00am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 1st Jun 2007

Cicero's Songs [http://cicerossongs.blogspot.com/2007/05/freedom-of-information.html] has a list of ninety six MPs who voted to exempt themselves from the freedom of Information Act.

When I was looking through the list I thought a lot of the names of Labour MPs sounded familiar so I started to look at who they were.

I found that five of the supporters were Assistant Whips, three were members of HM Household (whips), four were Lords Commissioner (more whips), five Ministers of State, twelve Parliamentary Under-Secretaries (paid junior ministers within a government departments), eight Parliamentary Private Secretary (an MP appointed by a minister to be his/ her unpaid assistant) and one Church Estates Commissioner.

Given that thirty nine of the seventy nine Labour MPs supporting David Maclean's Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill are members of the government or closely associated with the government I find it difficult to believe that the government is not supporting David Maclean's Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill.

A list of the Labour MPs who voted for David Maclean's Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill and any position they may hold in parliament or government are listed below.

Bob Ainsworth (Coventry North East) - Treasurer of Her Majesty's Household

Graham Allen (Nottingham North)

Janet Anderson (Rossendale & Darwen)

Adrian Bailey (West Bromwich West) - PPS (Rt Hon Adam Ingram, Minister of State), Ministry of Defence (since 20 Nov 2006)

Sir Stuart Bell (Middlesbrough) - Second Church Estates Commissioner, No Department (since 5 May 1997)

Clive Betts (Sheffield Attercliffe)

Liz Blackman (Erewash) - Assistant Whip, HM Treasury

Nick Brown (Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend)

Colin Burgon (Elmet)

David Cairns (Inverclyde) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Scotland Office (since 9 May 2007)

Alan Campbell (Tynemouth) - Lords Commissioner, HM Treasury, i.e. Government Whip (since 8 May 2006)

Ronnie Campbell (Blyth Valley)

David Clelland (Tyne Bridge)

Harry Cohen (Leyton & Wanstead)

Wayne David (Caerphilly)

Parmjit Dhanda (Gloucester) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Education and Skills (since 8 May 2006)

Brian Donohoe (Ayrshire Central)

Frank Doran (Aberdeen North)

Jim Dowd (Lewisham West)

Angela Eagle (Wallasey)

Maria Eagle (Liverpool Garston) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Northern Ireland Office (since 27 Jun 2006)

Clive Efford (Eltham)

Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar & Canning Town) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Trade and Industry (since 8 May 2006)

Caroline Flint (Don Valley) - Minister of State (Public Health), Department of Health (since 23 May 2006)

Michael Foster (Worcester) - Assistant Whip, HM Treasury (since 8 May 2006)

Mike Hall (Weaver Vale)

Tom Harris (Glasgow South) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport (since 7 Sep 2006)

Doug Henderson (Newcastle upon Tyne North)

John Heppell (Nottingham East) - Vice Chamberlain, HM Household (since 11 May 2005)

Keith Hill (Streatham) - PPS (Rt Hon Tony Blair, Prime Minister), Prime Minister's Office (since 10 Nov 2005)

Huw Irranca-Davies (Ogmore) - Assistant Whip, HM Treasury (since 8 May 2006)

Kevan Jones (Durham North)

Martyn Jones (Clwyd South)

Fraser Kemp (Houghton & Washington East)

David Lammy (Tottenham) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Culture, Media & Sport (since 11 May 2005)

Bob Laxton (Derby North)

Tom Levitt (High Peak) - PPS (Rt Hon Hilary Benn, Secretary of State), Department for International Development (since 10 Nov 2005)

Ivan Lewis (Bury South) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department of Health (since 8 May 2006)

Tony Lloyd (Manchester Central)

Tommy McAvoy (Rutherglen & Hamilton West) - Comptroller, HM Household (since 6 May 1997)

Stephen McCabe (Birmingham Hall Green) - Assistant Whip, HM Treasury (since 8 May 2006)

Ian McCartney (Makerfield) - Minister of State (Trade & Investment), Foreign & Commonwealth Office (since 3 Aug 2006)

John McFall (Dunbartonshire West)

Shona McIsaac (Cleethorpes) - PPS (Caroline Flint, Minister of State), Department of Health (since 8 May 2006)

Tony McNulty (Harrow East) - Minister of State, Home Office (since 11 May 2005)

Khalid Mahmood (Birmingham Perry Barr)

David Marshall (Glasgow East)

Gillian Merron (Lincoln) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport (since 8 May 2006)

Alun Michael (Cardiff South & Penarth)

Laura Moffatt (Crawley) - PPS (Rt Hon Alan Johnson, Secretary of State), Department for Education and Skills (since 8 May 2006)

Elliot Morley (Scunthorpe) -

George Mudie (Leeds East)

Meg Munn (Sheffield Heeley) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Women and Equality), Department for Communities and Local Government (since 8 May 2006)

Denis Murphy (Wansbeck)

James Plaskitt (Warwick & Leamington) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions (since 11 May 2005)

Stephen Pound (Ealing North)

Ken Purchase (Wolverhampton North East)

John Robertson (Glasgow North West) - PPS (Dr Kim Howells, Minister of State), Foreign & Commonwealth Office (since 10 Nov 2005)

Frank Roy (Motherwell & Wishaw) - Lords Commissioner, HM Treasury, i.e. Government Whip (since 8 May 2006)

Joan Ryan (Enfield North) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office (since 8 May 2006)

Martin Salter (Reading West)

Jonathan Shaw (Chatham & Aylesford) - Assistant Whip, HM Treasury (since 8 May 2006)

Jimmy Sheridan (Paisley & Renfrewshire North)

Sion Simon (Birmingham Erdington)

Angela C Smith (Sheffield Hillsborough) - PPS (Yvette Cooper, Minister of State), Department for Communities and Local Government (since 8 May 2006)

Anne Snelgrove (Swindon South) - PPS (Rt Hon Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State), Department of Health (since 20 Nov 2006)

John Spellar (Warley)

Ian Stewart (Eccles)

Mark Tami (Alyn & Deeside)

Dari Taylor (Stockton South)

Gareth Thomas (Harrow West) - Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for International Development (since 13 Jun 2003)

Dr Desmond Turner (Brighton Kemptown)

Claire Ward (Watford) - Lords Commissioner, HM Treasury, i.e. Government Whip (since 8 May 2006)

Tom Watson (West Bromwich East)

Dave Watts (St Helens North) - Lords Commissioner, HM Treasury, i.e. Government Whip (since 11 May 2005)

Malcolm Wicks (Croydon North) - Minister of State (Science and Innovation), Department of Trade and Industry (since 9 Jan 2007)

Phil Woolas (Oldham East & Saddleworth) - Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government (since 8 May 2006)

David Wright (Telford)

The Labour teller for the Aye's was Andrew Dismore (Hendon).