"Interestingly, given the noise they are making about the Bill, it is noteworthy that not a single Liberal Democrat opposed the Bill at Second Reading. In fact, they actually supported it at Committee Stage! In reality, even at Third Reading only nine of their 63 MPs voted against it, despite many more being in the House to vote on the Closure motions! Isn’t it interesting that for all their sanctimonious words, their actions fail them? I am sure, like me, you are not surprised - as this is exactly what is to be expected of Liberal Democrats."

Dear Mr. Hammond,

I am utterly outraged by your attempt below to misrepresent the position of the Liberal Democrats on the issue of the Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill.

Liberal Democrats have consistently opposed this Bill, both in Parliament and in their national campaigns - to the extent of setting up a national online petition.

You may notice that no members of the House whatsoever opposed the Second Reading of the Bill. There was no debate, and no division. At that point it was a little-known Private Members Bill among many others.

It was Liberal Democrat Members who first brought this scandalous Bill to public attention, including Norman Baker MP, Simon Hughes MP and Nick Harvey MP (whom you incorrectly accuse of supporting the Bill at Committee stage).

Mr. Harvey himself has said on the topic of this Bill: -

'I gave interviews on radio/TV, before most folks here even woke up to the issue, opposing the bill and making clear my objections. Anyone who says otherwise is misleading people.

'I do think Maclean identified a couple of valid concerns – MP correspondence when not covered by Data Protection, and potentially excessive intrusions regarding expenses.

'But his bill takes a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and we can’t have an FOI Act which excludes the national legislature.

'When I spoke at the committee, Mark D’Arcy of BBC radio – who sat in - immediately booked an interview with me, because I was the only one present “who spoke against it” (his words).'

Since this Bill was brought to their attention, Liberal Democrats have made concerted efforts to block it, especially Mr. Hughes and Mr. Baker who successfully talked out a previous attempt to progress it to a Third Reading in April.

No Liberal Democrat Member has, to my knowledge, supported this Bill at any stage of the legislative process. Any failure to intervene at an earlier stage is lamentable, but that owes more to the absurd system of debating Private Members Bills on a Friday when Members should rightly be engaged in Constituency work.

By contrast, the Labour and Conservative members who allowed this Bill to proceed to the Lords have suffered a clear failure of conscience.

May I remind you: This Bill was authored by David MacLean, a Conservative MP. It was voted for by a number of Conservative front benchers. And it would not have proceeded to the Lords without being sponsored by Lord Trefgarne - a Conservative Peer.

Your attempts to pour scorn on the Liberal Democrats will not salve the conscience of the Conservative Party, nor will it allow you the right to use sanctimonious words of your own!

Yours sincerely,

Joe Taylor