Two guilty over Blair-Bush Iraq memo leak

Two guilty over Blair-Bush Iraq memo leak

By John Steele, Crime Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:58pm BST 09/05/2007

A civil servant and an MP's researcher have been found guilty at the Old Bailey of breaching the Official Secrets Act by leaking a secret memo detailing talks between Tony Blair and George Bush about Iraq.

The four-page document was passed by David Keogh, a Cabinet Office communications officer, to Leo O'Connor, who worked for Anthony Clarke, the anti-war Labour MP.

Its contents were considered so explosive that much of the trial was held behind closed doors so the public could not hear them.

Keogh, who believed the memo exposed Mr Bush as a "madman", hoped it could be used to raise questions in the House of Commons and also wanted it to be passed on to US presidential candidate John Kerry.

O'Connor placed it in Mr Clarke's constituency papers but the Northampton South MP handed it in to Downing Street and an investigation was launched, leading to an Old Bailey trial.

During legal argument it emerged that Mr Blair wrote a letter personally thanking Mr Clarke for the return of the memo.

Keogh, O'Connor and Mr Clarke had all been members of a now-defunct political dining club in Northampton, where they all lived.

A jury today found both Keogh, 50, and O'Connor, 44, guilty of making a damaging disclosure under the Official Secrets Act.

David Perry, QC, prosecuting, had told the jury the case was not about freedom of speech.

“Secrecy is not the enemy of democracy in these circumstances," he said.

"The unauthorised disclosure of information in this case is likely to prejudice the capability of the Armed Forces either to carry out any tasks it has or lead to the loss of life or injury.

“This document contained information about this nation’s defence interests and international relations.’’

UPDATE.