Sir, The cries of anguish from Jack Straw and others about Sir Christopher Meyer’s book are to be ignored, given that the book went through the agreed approval processes of the Foreign and Cabinet Offices. That the process worked in Meyer’s favour merely underlines that those responsible for the process are not exactly supporters of Tony Blair and his nearest and dearest.

If our leading politicians want to stop such revelations, which I agree do discredit those such as Sir Christopher who have held positions of trust, then it cannot be beyond those politicians to agree and police reasonable safeguards and personal commitments to stop such publications.

But will Blair and his ministers willingly give up the rights to publish their biographies and memoirs when the time comes? Of course they won’t. So they will have to live with continuing and interesting insights about their own inadequacies.

HAROLD COTTAM
Dorstone, Herefordshire

Sir, If Christopher Meyer thought that the Prime Minister was not doing enough to prevent the war, he could have resigned. That would have been principled. It would have gained him the admiration and respect of honourable people on both sides of the argument; but that would have meant sacrificing the comforts and glamour of life in Washington.

Diplomats often have to implement policies they do not agree with; that is their job. They often have to entertain and accompany people they do not like; that is their job. The magnitude of what was being decided at the time was such, he should have shown the “pygmies” what a giant he was. Throwing stones now from behind yet another comfortable desk does him no credit.

MRS D. B. RIDGWAY
London SW6

Sir, Perhaps someone should draw Sir Christopher Meyer's attention to the Press Complaints Commission’s guidelines on the appointment of members: “The chairman must not be engaged in or, otherwise than by his office as chairman, connected with or interested in the business of publishing newspapers, periodicals or magazines.”

Sir Christopher has breached the spirit of these guidelines and by doing should resign immediately. Or does he propose to wait until a politician complains to the PCC about an invasion of privacy?

D. SMITH
Chessington, Surrey

Sir, So the Government uses police chiefs as political lobbyists over its 90-day detention proposal. And then Jack Straw accuses Christopher Meyer of “undermining the key relationship between civil servants and ministers”.

You couldn’t make it up.

BEN YUDKIN
Wolfson College, Oxford

Sir, While I have reservations about the breach of confidentiality that appears to have been contained in the text, we are told that Christopher Meyer approached the publication with scrupulous attention to the “rules”, that he sent a draft of the text to the Foreign Office and that in the absence of any alterations, the text was published. The results are the subject of complaints by Jack Straw, reported as saying that “Meyer has betrayed ’s trust.”

Sir Ian Blair and other senior police officers last week spent several days campaigning for a change in the law. They went far beyond explaining what they wanted and why, and spent much time on the airwaves expressing views as to the balance between their proposals and the existing legal position.

There is a convention that serving police officers, soldiers and other employees of the executive cannot enter the political debate. These individuals have done so. If ministers and their advisers collated the details of putative opponents to the Bill and passed those details to the police, then that is very worrying indeed.

EVAN PRICE
London WC2

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