THE VOICE OF FREE EUROPE: Government ministers’ criminal records can now stay secret. Apparently, their privacy matters more than our democracy.

Just a little buried story in the media, tucked away like an unwanted receipt at the bottom of Westminster’s handbag:

The government’s own watchdog has ruled that disclosing ministers’ criminal convictions would ‘breach their privacy.’

Privacy? For ministers? From the very public they’re supposed to serve? You couldn’t make it up.

This new rule doesn’t fall out of a clear blue sky. It drops conveniently at a moment when half of Westminster seems to be mired in corruption.

Government Ministers in the United Kingdom

We’ve already had: Angela Rayner’s tax shenanigans quietly brushed aside.  Rachel Reeves dodging landlord licensing requirements

Former Labour Transport Secretary Louise Haigh was forced to resign after it emerged that she had a historic fraud conviction

And now, now, we’re told that any future convictions of ministers should be kept secret… for their own protection?

Who exactly is being protected here?

Because it certainly isn’t the British people. Let’s be very clear:

We pay these people. We house them. We heat them and their pampered pets. We feed them and provide water. We pay for their healthcare. We support their pension funds.

Literally, taxpayers foot the bill for everything. This includes travel and clothing. It also includes the subsidized steaks on their plates and the spirits in their glasses.

We probably do buy the toilet paper they wipe themselves with.

Yet we’re expected to accept the notion that those who govern us have a special right to secrecy. We are told that their law-breaking is none of our business and that it’s against the public interest to investigate.

Accountability? Transparency? Public trust?

Parliament has become a self-serving club of political celebrities. They believe they’re entitled to privacy when they break the law. They feel entitled to pillage taxpayers’ hard-earned money when they want another perk.

Meanwhile, the rest of us plebs face hurdles to claim a fiver. We have to fill out three forms and provide evidence.

Ministers set the laws, enforce the laws, and lecture the public about the laws. Now, they get to break them without consequence or disclosure.

This is not a democracy.

This is privilege, legislated. We should all ask a simple question. If they’re so desperate to hide their convictions, what are they planning to do next? Because one thing is certain: It isn’t the British voter they’re protecting.

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