Motion text
That this House notes with concern that the personal diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten were purchased from the family's Broadlands Archive Trust, a decade ago, by Southampton University with a substantial sum of public money including almost £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund; that, until the sale to the University, the Mountbatten family had made the diaries available to historians upon request; that Lady Mountbatten was never a public servant and consequently her writings are not subject to Freedom of Information restrictions; that in December 2019 the Information Commissioner's Office ordered the University to disclose the Mountbatten diaries and correspondence; that this continues to be resisted at the apparent direction of the Cabinet Office, citing FOI exemptions but refusing to identify the criteria relevant to the Mountbatten diaries; that it is 42 years since the death of Lord Mountbatten and 61 years since that of Lady Mountbatten; that it is deeply regrettable that their distinguished biographer, Dr Andrew Lownie, has so far had to pay £250,000 pursuing a campaign for the diaries' release to historians; and accordingly calls for their disclosure for publication without further obfuscation and delay.
Signatures (26)
The first 6 Members who have signed to support the motion are the sponsors. The primary sponsor is generally the person who tabled the motion and has responsibility for it. The date shown is when the Member signed the motion.
Lewis, Dr Julian
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Wilson, Sammy
Democratic Unionist Party
Signed on
19 July 2021
Redwood, Sir John
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Nicolson, John
Scottish National Party
Signed on
19 July 2021
Olney, Sarah
Liberal Democrat
Signed on
19 July 2021
Vaz, Valerie
Labour
Signed on
19 July 2021
In addition to the sponsors, the following Members have signed to support the motion.
Rosindell, Andrew
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Stringer, Graham
Labour
Signed on
19 July 2021
McDonnell, John
Labour
Signed on
19 July 2021
Gray, James
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Blackman, Bob
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Day, Martyn
Scottish National Party
Signed on
19 July 2021
Hobhouse, Wera
Liberal Democrat
Signed on
19 July 2021
Kawczynski, Daniel
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Leigh, Sir Edward
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Lopresti, Jack
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Swayne, Sir Desmond
Conservative
Signed on
19 July 2021
Dorans, Allan
Scottish National Party
Signed on
19 July 2021
Bottomley, Sir Peter
Conservative
Signed on
20 July 2021
Shannon, Jim
Democratic Unionist Party
Signed on
20 July 2021
Penning, Sir Mike
Conservative
Signed on
20 July 2021
Carden, Dan
Labour
Signed on
22 July 2021
Girvan, Paul
Democratic Unionist Party
Signed on
6 September 2021
Begum, Apsana
Labour
Signed on
25 October 2021
Osborne, Kate
Labour
Signed on
5 January 2022
Sultana, Zarah
Labour
Signed on
21 February 2022
There are no withdrawn signatures for this motion.