Straw leads MPs' plot to dodge freedom bill

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Commons leader Jack Straw - who, as Home Secretary, helped push the Freedom of Information Act on to the statute book - is rallying MPs to torpedo the right-to-know rules.

Labour whips have been "very, very busy" persuading MPs to back controversial legislation giving them immunity from FOI requests, it was claimed.

Party chiefs are desperate to guarantee at least 100 are on hand at Westminster on Friday to head off a bid to wreck the Bill.

Meanwhile, Labour's powerful parliamentary committee has sent an email urging backbenchers to support Conservative MP David Maclean's "worthy" Private Members' Bill.

Mr Maclean wants to protect the "priest-like" confidentiality of correspondence between MPs and constituents.

But critics believe many MPs are backing it because they were angered by being forced to disclose a breakdown of their expenses claims.

Campaigners said it was a "key test" for Gordon Brown, who launched his leadership campaign with a promise to make government more "open and accountable".

Last month a cross-party band of MPs stopped the Bill by talking for so long it ran out of Parliamentary time. But in a highly unusual development, it has been allocated another Commons session.

On Friday, opponents will try again to kill it off. But if an MP's demand for a "closure motion" is granted and gets support from 100 MPs, the Bill will move forward.

The legislation would exempt MPs and peers from the FOI Act "to protect communications between MPs and their constituents from unauthorised disclosure".

But the Act already excludes MPs' correspondence if it contains personal data or was submitted in confidence.