Lord breaks Sir Fred Goodwin's super-injunction

Sky News is reporting that a Lord has broken the super-injuction in place surrounding former RBS boss Fred Goodwin in the House of Lords.

Lord Stoneham, asking a question in the House of Lords on behalf of Lord Oakeshott, said: "To ask HMG what steps they will take to ensure that the public interest is taken into account in the granting of superinjuctions?"

In a supplementary question he said: "Would he accept that every taxpayer has a direct public interest in the events leading up to the collapse of the Royal Bank of Scotland?

"So how can it be right for a superinjunction to hide the alleged relationship between Sir Fred Goodwin and a senior colleague? If true, it would be a serious failure of corporate governance and not even the FSA would be allowed to know about it."

Justice minister Lord McNally replied: "I do not think it is proper for me, from this dispatch box, to comment on individual cases, some of which are before the courts."

• The Guardian is reporting today that Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has ruled out introducing a Privacy Law.
  

Daily Star Sunday: A to Z of 50 super-injunctions

The Daily Star Sunday has compiled an A to Z list of 50 super-injunctions which it claims is the most comprehensive ever published.

The paper claims there is a super-injunction protecting someone who is dead. It says the order was taken out in 2008 by an elderly man and remains in place despite his death.

According to the Daily Star Sunday, there are 12 true super-injunctions, about which no details can be reported.

The rest, although sometimes dubbed super-injunctions, are anonymous injunctions. Nine footballers, nine actors, four pop stars, six wealthy businessmen and women, a senior civil servant and an MP have won the restrictions to stop their secrets reaching you.

The Daily Telegraph has also been carrying out an investigation into super-injunctions.

The Telegraph’s audit found:

• Nine footballers, nine actors, four pop stars, six wealthy businessmen and women, a senior civil servant and an MP have obtained injunctions;

• Just three High Court judges have granted more than a third of the injunctions between them;

• Schillings, the media law firm, has obtained more than 20 of the orders and been paid an estimated £2 million;

• One super-injunction is so binding that even the name of the judge has been kept secret. He can be referred to only as Mr Justice [xxxx].

Mail gets all atwitter over super-injunctions fiasco

A Twittter user who is posting alleged details of the super-injunctions taken out by actors and sports stars has more than 30,000 followers in a direct challenge to the law and to the immense frustration of the British press gagged by the courts.

The Daily Mail claims today: "The social networking site Twitter today made a mockery of the celebrity trend for using privacy injunctions to hide their identity.A single user, who quickly attracted a following of 5,000, set up an account claiming to ‘out’ those behind the legal gagging orders – but riddled with errors.

"So many Twitter users began exchanging messages supposedly naming high-profile figures who have hidden their secrets that part of the site crashed."

The Mail adds: "The move exposed the total inadequacy of court rulings which gag the press – but have no effective control over what is published online."

The paper quotes Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming saying: "It shows the utter absurdity of what is being done in the courts. It ignores the way that modern communication works.

"Normally these things are kept so that only a few people in North London know what is going on. But more recently people have been coming to my constituency surgery and telling me that they know who these people are."

• Twitter users have also highlighted a quote in yesterday's Mail on Sunday about the actor Hugh Bonneville: "Hugh’s devotion to wife Lulu is so strong it is understood he is known to fellow thespians as the Ryan Giggs of the showbusiness world, after the famously family-orientated footballer."

'Serving MP is protected by super-injunction'

A serving MP has taken out a super-injunction preventing details of their activities being exposed, it was claimed in the House of Commons today.

The allegation was made in the Commons as MPs discussed future Parliamentary business - including whether to debate judge-made privacy laws and gagging orders.

The issue was raised by Conservative MP for Hendon, Matthew Offord who said: "There has been much public discussion on the increasing use of super-injunctions and the ability of judges to decide policy instead of elected Parliamentarians.

"Is the Leader of the House aware of the anomaly this creates if, as has been rumoured, a member of this place seeks a super-injunction to prevent discussion of their activities?"

He urged the Government to set aside time for a Commons debate on gagging orders.

Sir George replied: "This is a very important issue about how we balance on the one hand an individual's right to privacy and, on the other hand, the freedom of expression and transparency."

He said an inquiry by senior judge Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, would examine super-injunctions "and other issues relating to injunctions which bind the Press".

Sir George added: "The Government will await the report from the Master of the Rolls before deciding the next step, and it may then be appropriate for the House to have a debate on this important issue."

• Political blogger Guido Fawkes has revealed that he was injuncted by an MP.
• The Telegraph reports that an internationally reknowned chef has taken out a gagging order.