A glorious day for opponents of transparency in public life. MPs have removed the names of their parliamentary staff from a decades-old public register - meaning we do not know who these people are and are left to accept the word of their employer when they say (as in the case of the prime minister, here) that said staff do not have any outside earnings or private interests. "All staff have confirmed they have no registrable interests": oh, well that's that then. No way of determining if true; no way of finding out if MPs employing family members; no way for anyone other than MPs themselves to uphold standards or examine who is operating in the Palace of Westminster on their behalf. The decision was driven by ... you guessed it ... MPs themselves, following behind-closed-door consultations with staff trade union representatives - not media or anti-corruption organisations. Echoes of the time that decided among themselves - with nil meaningful debate - to exempt themselves from the centuries-old system by which those arrested would be named before the Commons. Parliament being sovereign it is always free to take such steps without consultation or engagement with the public - the hope is they decide not to abuse their positions and proactively seek criticism or counter-views. In this instance, sadly, MPs have demonstrated they cannot be trusted to do so - they have put us out of step with comparable democracies without anything approaching scrutiny:

Please read the Tribunal verdict itself. The #WBUK star case involving individuals endorsed by #WBUK as #whistleblowers Do not take our word for it , read the judgement. Read about #AgerHansson whom #WBUK have continued to endorse. Read about those whom #WBUK have called #Whistleblowers and think about the harm #WBUK continue to do. @RealStephenKerr @tessamunt your behaviour is appalling. #WBUK will call anyone a #Whistleblower if theres enough money in it for them. Read the judgement and see the behaviour that #WBUK have sanctioned as #Whistleblowing shame on @UKParliament for harbouring such individuals on the parliamentary estate. compassionincare.com/the-nch…

The below documentary was released before the #nChain tribunal verdict was released. The concerns raised about #WBUKs association with individuals such as #AgerHansson have been bourn out by the court judgement. See our pinned tweet and watch and share the below #WBUK must be stopped before any more harm is done. People need to be made aware of the risks. piped.video/oxZEa7IgeMU?is=DO4q…

#WBUK proudly announces that it shredded concerns raised about #AgerHansson last year #WBUK were affronted by the fact that someone would dare raise concerns in the first place. Today we read about the sordid case of #fake #whistleblowers connected to #AgerHansson that #WBUK chose to champion and defend. These are the individuals that #WBUK proposed law would protect. @WBINC_Doc every concern raised in the documentary is valid. #WBUK want to protect grifters and chancers. Every #Fake #whistleblower makes it harder for genuine #whistleblowers to be believed. Its absolutely disgusting that #WBUK champion such awful individuals.