Lord Turnbull's role in the pensions scandal

Here's one for those who like irony.

The disclosure of the pension documents to The Times is partly a result of a decision made by the Information Tribunal to allow policy memos to be disclosed.

The decision was made in a case involving school budgets and the Evening Standard. Martin Rosenbaum takes up the story in his must-read Freedom of Information blog:

The Department for Education and Skills lined up the former Cabinet Secretary, Lord Turnbull, as one of its witnesses to argue that maintaining confidentiality of policy discussions is essential for good government. His appearance was one indication of the importance which government officials attach to this case. But his arguments were dismissed by the Tribunal, which decided that any harm caused by releasing minutes of the official meetings at issue was less than the benefit that would result from better public understanding of government policy.

In the light of his comments about Gordon Brown's "Stalinist" methods, Lord Turnbull's indirect role in trying to help him keep the documents secret is delicious.