Guidance

Attorney General vetoes release of Cabinet meeting minutes

Release of extracts of Cabinet meeting minutes from 2003 at which military action against Iraq was discussed is vetoed.

• From: Cabinet Office
• Published: 31 July 2012

Documents

Certificate of the Attorney General (pdf, 130kb)

PDF, 130 KB, 1 page

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Statement of Reasons (2.13mb)

PDF, 2.13 MB, 9 pages

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Statement of Reasons 2009 (68kb)

PDF, 68.4 KB, 16 pages

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Statement of HMG policy: Use of the executive override under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (pdf, 63kb)

PDF, 63.2 KB, 7 pages

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Details

The Attorney General, Dominic Grieve QC MP, today issued a certificate under the Freedom of Information Act, vetoing the disclosure ordered by the Information Commissioner of extracts of Cabinet meeting minutes from 2003 at which military action against Iraq was discussed. The disclosure of these extracts of the minutes was previously vetoed in 2009 by the then Justice Secretary, Jack Straw.
 
The Attorney General is the only minister to have access to papers of the previous administration and so the decision on whether to exercise the veto fell to him. He made the decision after having carefully considered all the relevant arguments and having sought the views of his Cabinet colleagues, as well as the Information Commissioner, the Leader of the Opposition and relevant former ministers.

Published 31 July 2012