Dear Dr Frost
Thank you for your email. I am sorry if my apparent discourtesy has upset you. It was not intentional. I had acknowledged receipt of your report in my email of 26th July. Let me now thank you for it.
As I set out in my email of that date, I explained that meetings between Ministers are confidential - that is the nature of Government. I did not promise that we would be writing to Leigh Day and Co within a day or two of any meeting taking place. Under no conceivable circumstances would that have happened. What I did try to explain, clearly not well, and set out in my email was that at present the Lord Chancellor is considering the request to release material touching on Dr Kelly's death to you. That is his decision, not ours, and the timing of his decision and when and how he announces it is a matter for him and not us. If he releases the material to your solicitors then, no doubt, Leigh Day will make an application to us under section 13 in due course. It will then be considered by the Attorney General. If the Lord Chancellor does not release the material, the Attorney General will then consider what other options may be open to him. If, at any stage, he agrees to consider papers himself, he would at some stage of that consideration write to your solicitors inviting any representations they may wish to make on your behalf.
I am sorry that you feel frustrated by what you see as inaction but this is a legal process. If you are unhappy with that process no doubt your solicitors will advise you on what steps you can take.
It seems that my attempts to answer your questions appear only to have irritated you.
Yours sincerely
Kevin McGinty
Attorney General's Office
020 7271 ....
Thank you for your email. I am sorry if my apparent discourtesy has upset you. It was not intentional. I had acknowledged receipt of your report in my email of 26th July. Let me now thank you for it.
As I set out in my email of that date, I explained that meetings between Ministers are confidential - that is the nature of Government. I did not promise that we would be writing to Leigh Day and Co within a day or two of any meeting taking place. Under no conceivable circumstances would that have happened. What I did try to explain, clearly not well, and set out in my email was that at present the Lord Chancellor is considering the request to release material touching on Dr Kelly's death to you. That is his decision, not ours, and the timing of his decision and when and how he announces it is a matter for him and not us. If he releases the material to your solicitors then, no doubt, Leigh Day will make an application to us under section 13 in due course. It will then be considered by the Attorney General. If the Lord Chancellor does not release the material, the Attorney General will then consider what other options may be open to him. If, at any stage, he agrees to consider papers himself, he would at some stage of that consideration write to your solicitors inviting any representations they may wish to make on your behalf.
I am sorry that you feel frustrated by what you see as inaction but this is a legal process. If you are unhappy with that process no doubt your solicitors will advise you on what steps you can take.
It seems that my attempts to answer your questions appear only to have irritated you.
Yours sincerely
Kevin McGinty
Attorney General's Office
020 7271 ....
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