Bribery Bill [HL]

My Lords, I would first like to say what a privilege it was to serve on the Select Committee under the noble Viscount, Lord Colville of Culross. It was a model of how to run a Select Committee. We have come an awfully long way from the time when Talleyrand could pocket a third of the proceeds from the Louisiana Purchase, or Lord Clive could stare into Siraj ud-Daulah’s treasury and state that he stood astonished at his own moderation. We are, as has been said, a pretty honest country. I was very interested in what my noble friend Lord Patten, who is not here, had to say about the possibility of the police informer being bribed. I could easily be wrong here, but it seems to me that paying somebody to turn Queen’s evidence is not paying him to do something improper but to do something proper. I therefore suggest that the Bill does not cover this. If that is true, it is unnecessary for anybody who has authority in law enforcement or trading standards to have the power to bribe in the United Kingdom. That must be wrong. To continue on the issue of trading standards, we have had a continual creeping abuse of power under the Terrorism Act, RIPA and SOCA powers. For example, a person was arrested for taking photographs of St Paul’s Cathedral, and I believe the noble Lord, Lord West, was even stopped under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.