BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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The Battles That Won Our Freedoms

Documentaries

Factual: Politics

A new series exploring the long history of struggles for liberty in Britain.

The stories of the most dramatic, high-stakes battles in our history that helped to win liberties we take for granted.

The Battles That Won Our Freedoms 

The Battles That Won Our Freedoms: 10. Freedom of Information

10. Freedom of Information

BBC Radio 4 - The Battles That Won Our Freedoms, 10. Freedom of Information

How the British public won the right to know more of the truth about the conduct of power.

David Vincent traces the history of the struggle against Britain's culture of secrecy. Heather Brooke recalls how she used the 2000 FOI Act to expose the MPs' expenses scandal.

In this episode, Phil Tinline asks Professor David Vincent to trace the history of the struggle against Britain's culture of secrecy, culminating in a series of causes celebres in the 1980s, particularly the sensational acquittal of senior civil servant, Clive Ponting.  Ponting was charged with leaking sensitive information about the sinking, during the Falklands War, of the Argentinian warship the General Belgrano.  His defence was that he had leaked the information to an MP in the public interest, and despite questions about whether this was a tenable defence, the jury found him not guilty. 

Professor Heather Brooke recalls how she used the Freedom of Information Act - eventually passed in 2000 but not active until 2005 - during her years of campaigning to expose the MPs' expenses scandal.  And she reflects on how free information is in Britain compared to America.

First broadcast in 2019.

Producer: Phil Tinline

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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The Battles That Won Our Freedoms

10. Freedom of Information

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