The Truth

In the aftermath of the Hillsborough tradedy in 1989, A News International title published the headline "The Truth", this publication printed lies about Liverpool football supporters, in defence of a disgraceful policing operation.

The then Prime minister and Home secretary repeated many of the misrepresentations made against Liverpool supporters and generally against football fans.

The excellent Taylor report uncovered many of the failings of the police, in terms of planning and operationally, it was their failings that caused 96 liverpool FC fans to lose their lives.

The Last Labour government finally agreed to release paperwork to allow the families of the dead to understand why their love ones died.

Two years ago the BBC applied for government papers to be released that would show the involvement of Mrs Thatcher and Douglas Hurd in the aftermath of the tradegy. Christopher Graham the information commissioner was happy to release these documents, he rejected the argument that the disclosure would impact negatively on the freedom with which ministers can engage in "free and frank discussions", and on the convention of collective responsibility.

"In this case there had been multiple changes in government between the time the information was recorded and the date of the request," Graham said. "Also, the subject matter of the discussions recorded within the information in question centred on a very particular set of circumstances that were no longer current at the time of the request.

"As a result the view of the Commissioner is that the argument in favour of maintenance of the exemption relating to convention of collective Cabinet responsibility is not a factor of significant weight in favour of maintenance of the exemption."

He also said the passage of time since the information was recorded was a key factor.

"This information was 20 years old at the time of the request and, as the complainant has noted, the current Government is implementing a reduction of the current 30-year period before Government papers are released to 20 years," he said.

He therefore recognised "that there is a diminishing case for withholding information over 20 years old".

The Government’s view is that it is in the public interest for the process that is underway through the Hillsborough Independent Panel be allowed to take its course.

“The terms of reference for that process includes the intention to disclose information to the Hillsborough families first.

“The Cabinet Office absolutely agrees with the principle of providing information to families about the Hillsborough stadium disaster, but we believe it is important that any release of information should be managed through the Panel’s processes and in line with their terms of reference.

Today the Conservative government has appealed Christopher Graham decision saying
The Government’s view is that it is in the public interest for the process that is underway through the Hillsborough Independent Panel be allowed to take its course.

“The terms of reference for that process includes the intention to disclose information to the Hillsborough families first.

“The Cabinet Office absolutely agrees with the principle of providing information to families about the Hillsborough stadium disaster, but we believe it is important that any release of information should be managed through the Panel’s processes and in line with their terms of reference.

The greatest disinfectant is openness and transparency.

It's time people know what our elected leaders knew, what they were doing, twenty two years on, there are no national security issues here, only the reputations of Conservative leaders, it's time for the Truth.

We know News International closed a tabloid because of endemic wrong doing, we know the same paper had close links with the police and politicians.

The British establishment is great at closing ranks, we know the tabloid lied about Liverpool supporters, we know the police tried to covered up their incompetence, it's time for the British state to publish everything on this disaster and let us learn the lessons for the 96.