View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
January 17, 2008

Whistleblower reveals all in New Statesman

By Rachael

The Foreign Office official who had all charges under the Official Secrets Act against him dropped last week has revealed in the New Statesman why he became a whistleblower.

Derek Pasquill leaked documents on the Government’s policy on extraordinary rendition and radical Islam to the magazine’s political editor, Martin Bright, who at the time was working at The Observer.

In this week’s New Statesman he gives a blow by blow account of the events surrounding the leak and why he took the step in sending the documents to Bright, which led to his arrest and suspension from his job in January 2006.

He said: “When the police came to my door at the end of January 2006, I knew why they were there, but that didn’t make it any easier. The officers later told me I turned as white as a sheet. I immediately admitted what I had done, but argued that I felt it necessary because I wished to reveal that the government was pursuing a potentially catastrophic policy for Britain.”

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network