Impartial advice

It was a smart move by the Liberal Democrats to use the Data Protection Act to request information held electronically on their MPs by government departments. The exercise has yielded some fascinating e-mails. Before now we had little idea that Matthew Taylor, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, or their Education shadow Phil Willis provoked such fear in the corridors of power. More important, however, is the insight that the e-mails offer into how business is conducted under this Government.

Clearly, too many civil servants see it as their job to collude with their ministers to avoid giving full, honest answers to parliamentary questions. Hardly shocking, after the Jo Moore experience, but with an "impartial" service like that, the new head of the civil service, Sir Andrew Turnbull, may conclude that the many political advisers rattling around Whitehall are now redundant.