Shamelessly playing the national security card

I make an appearance in this morning's Independent story, that the Information Commissioner has ordered the Cabinet Office to release "Secret emails and memos showing how the Iraq war dossier was 'sexed-up' ".

This was a case where the government invoked a national security exemption under the Freedom of Information Act after it became clear that another exemption about limiting free and frank advice didn't wash.

Mr Ames said: "The commissioner has laid bare the Government's farcical cover-up, which included shamelessly playing the national security card. He has also given a strong hint that the Government has concealed evidence of sexing-up to save political embarrassment."

We'll see if anyone picks up on the story.

Deeply dodgy

I've also got a breaking story on the New Statesman website about the Iraq dossier. The government has resorted to claiming that it has no record of who wrote it.

Was it by any chance the spin doctors?

I should, for the sake of pedantry, point out that the dossier usually known as the "dodgy dossier" was the February 2003 one that was partially copied off the internet, not the September 2002 one that this story relates too.