MPs brought the damaging revelations over expenses on themselves by their “elitist” view that information could be withheld from voters, one of Tony Blair’s former key ministers has told The Times.

Lord Falconer of Thoroton says that the scandal has resulted in such significant damage to politicians because of a view among many MPs that they could keep information hidden from the public.

He warned that government would be next in the “searchlight” and said that there would need to be a radical overhaul of policy-making as well as reforms to “collective Cabinet responsibility” to let the voices of dissenting ministers be heard.

Lord Falconer, a close friend of Mr Blair who, as Prime Minister, hand-picked him to be Lord Chancellor, said: “This kind of secrecy is no longer acceptable.”

The electorate would not put up with that kind of attitude any more in an age when information was widely available and the public was as well informed as MPs, he said. The concept of collective responsibility among Cabinet members needed radical overhaul so that dissenting ministers could voice concerns during debate before a final policy decision, he said.

Ministers such as the late Robin Cook would have been able to add their voice to the debate on the war in Iraq rather than resigning before policy was concluded, he said. An open debate on the issue of the Iraq war — which Lord Falconer said he had suppported — would have been helpful. Lord Falconer added: “There is a 24/7 searchlight on politicians. The public is as well informed as Parliament and can find out the same information.

“But some politicians thought they could continue as if they were in some kind of privileged position and keep all that material secret.”

As a result, politicians had the revelations of recent days “coming to them”, he added. “I think the damage to Parliament is very significant because people no longer trust their politicians, they think they are all in it for themselves, and that is worrying. And they think politics is too tribal — that people are for the Tories, or Labour, and not for the country.”

Lord Falconer, a promoter of the Freedom of Information Act, said that he had met resistance in Parliament and Whitehall, particularly the campaign led by David Maclean, the former Conservative Chief Whip, to have MPs excluded from the Act.

However, he defended the Commons Speaker, Michael Martin, whom he said had been made a “scapegoat”. “He was reflecting the strongly held views of others.”

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