2. Responses to the Chairman's letter
of 26 February 2009 from the Members of the Committee
Further to your letter dated 26th February,
I can assure you and the Committee that I certainly did not leak
any aspect of this report and therefore cannot explain how it
came to be in the Guardian. I very much agree with you that this
is a very serious matter and needs to be tackled firmly. I think
it is also worth pointing out that this is not the first leak
we have seen from our Committee but I very much hope it will be
the last.
Philip Davies MP
27 February 2009
Thank you for your letter of 26 February 2009
regarding the leak of Heads of Report on BBC Commercial Operations.
I do not know anything about the leak and having
consulted with my staff, I am confident they also do not know
anything about the leak.
Adrian Sanders MP
27 February 2009
Many thanks for your letter relating to a leak
of the BBC Worldwide report. I give you my word that I have not
passed this report to anyone.
Nigel Evans MP
2 March 2009
I have only just seen your letter of 26 February
regarding this, together with the Guardian website report, as
I've been away since last Thursday.
This is just a short response, as requested,
to confirm that neither I nor my office has had any involvement
in this leak, nor have we been contacted by The Guardian to solicit
any leak or to make any comment on this.
I wasn't at the meeting on Tuesday 27 January
and haven't looked at the Heads of Report since the draft was
circulated.
Paul Farrelly MP
2 March 2009
Further to your letter of 26 February 2009,
I assure you I have no knowledge of the source of the leak, nor
can I shed any light on the source of the report.
I view such leaks as deplorable and seriously
undermine confidence in the work of Select Committees.
Rosemary McKenna CBE MP
2 March 2009
Thank you for your letter of 26 February, which
I am afraid I have only just seen. I was in my constituency from
last Thursday and did not get back to Westminster until yesterday
evening.
I confirm that I know nothing about the leak
in question and was not aware of it until Nigel Evans mentioned
it to me last night, and then I saw your letter today.
Janet Anderson MP
3 March 2009
Thank you for your letter dated 26 February
2009.
I have no clue myself as to how it could have
happened but have always regarded it as absolutely unacceptable
that any information should ever be given. If a complete confidential
document has been released, it is even worse.
Since 1997 when I first became a member of the
committee, there have been occasions when a member of the committee
has allowed him/herself to be tempted by a journalist to say more
than intended but it has rarely been very serious.
I apologise for not arriving at the meeting
until after the item was taken but, as I said when we discussed
the matter informally at the end of the meeting, the best way
to resist the temptation is for each of us to have our own prepared
phrase with which to respond to a journalist. Otherwise it is
easy for "nice" people like us, who do not want to appear
to be impolite when someone asks a direct question, to be caught
out. I always use tough humour and say, "I do not wish to
discuss the report—why don't you make it up like you usually
do! You can write two articles; one based on guesswork before
the report is released and one after you have read it!" Even
journalists tend to laugh.
Alan Keen MP
3 March 2009
I did not leak the Heads of Report on the BBC
Commercial Operations.
Mike Hall MP
4 March 2009
Thanks for your letter of 26 Feb. 2009. I confirm
that I have no knowledge of the leak to which you refer.
Helen Southworth MP
5 March 2009
I confirm that I am not responsible for the
leak.
Adam Price MP
5 March 2009
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