Home Secretary is a member of Amnesty

Published on Thursday 12 March 2009 20:56

JACQUI Smith, the Home Secretary who has championed moves to imprison terrorist suspects for 42 days without charge, is a member of the human rights charity Amnesty International.

Ms Smith's membership is revealed in the first list of ministers' interests, which was published yesterday by the UK government.

Since becoming Home Secretary in June 2007, she has clashed repeatedly with Amnesty over issues such as the Counter Terrorism Bill – which contained the 42 days' proposal that was thrown out by the House of Lords – the use of control orders to impose "house arrest" on suspects and the suspicion that British security services were complicit in the US torture of foreign nationals.

Yesterday's 37-page document was published on the instructions of Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, who was keen to ensure transparency and ensure ministers could not be accused of attempting to conceal any conflict of interests, including those of close family members.

It reveals that five members of the government – the Business Secretary, Lord Mandelson; the city minister, Lord Myners; the trade minister, Lord Davies; the Foreign Office minister, Lord Malloch-Brown; and the health minister, Lord Darzi – have put their private shareholdings into "blind trusts" while they remain in office.

However, the list failed to shed light on Lord Mandelson's finances, which have been the subject of interest since he was first forced from government in 1998 after accepting a 373,000 home loan from his then fellow minister, Geoffrey Robinson.

His entry states only that his "financial interests have been transferred into a blind trust", that he is an NSPCC patron and will receive a European Commission pension at 65.

Mr Brown holds a "small number of shares" in Raith Rovers FC – though "not for financial gain", he says.