Jack Straw is taking questions in the Commons this afternoon and he's just been reminiscing about the time when he was interviewed by the police in connection with a Whitehall leak inquiry.
When I was a special adviser in 1976 [to Barbara Castle] there was a police investigation into the leaking of a limited circulation annexe of the cabinet minutes in respect of child benefit. I had seen that limited circulation annexe. I was therefore interviewed by Commander Haversham of the Yard and a sergeant who reminded me very much of Mr Oddjob in a James Bond movie. Those were the days before the Police and Criminal Evidence Act came into force.
Straw was answering a question from the Tory Peter Bone who wanted to know whether the justice secretary had ever leaked. Straw said he was "exonerated" by Oddjob and his commander because "I no more leaked then than I have subsequently".
