Even changing Government may not solve issue of holding the powerful to account

23 May 2024 , 18:35

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'You could say (and I will) there is a kind of “inquiry washing” at work' (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

It's very kind of Rishi Sunak to give us the chance to sack him.

But not even a change of government is guaranteed to solve the enduring problem of holding those in power to account.

Labour talks of legislation compelling public servants to observe a duty of candour – an admission that they sometimes lie or fail to tell the truth. We shall see.

The issue is important because recent public inquiries have exposed the weakness of the system. Nobody has been charged over the 2017 Grenfell tragedy, and the Met says it will likely be 10 years after the fire before any criminal trials begin.

When the NHS tainted blood scandal inquiry revealed the scale of official incompetence and guilt, one victim reacted emotionally: “The truth is stronger than the state”.

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I wish I could agree with his verdict on this terrible saga of criminal neglect, but the lesson of history is that public inquiries identify failure in high places, yet nobody ever goes to jail. We learn the truth, and it’s -embarrassing, but the state moves seamlessly on.

It gets worse. The first public inquiry into the Iraq War was so useless they had to have another, and even that didn’t do the job. Ditto Bloody Sunday, and Hillsborough.

You could say (and I will) there is a kind of “inquiry washing” at work. The state delays as long as possible, then concedes a judge-led investigation, which takes years. Then it’s everybody back on the bus.

You can see what I’m saying with the current Post Office Horizon inquiry. One after another, those responsible for ruining lives “can’t remember” what they did.

Not me, guv. And that’s justice? Pathetic.

The Government insists: “This time, it will be different.” Oh yeah? Listen to Heather Evans, whose husband Perry died from the tainted blood treatment only five weeks ago: “I don’t think anything will happen,” she said. I share her scepticism. The state is stronger than the truth, and it has no shame.

Paul Routledge