A key aspect of any democratic parliament is the ability of its members to speak openly in its chamber, free from threat of prosecution or other litigation. That’s not, apparently, true in the thieves’ cabal better known as the EU Parliament. According to the Daily Telegraph, the leader of the (admittedly highly eccentric) UK Independence Party is now in trouble for revealing – in the course of a debate – certain aspects of the record of the new EU Commissioner from France. Of course, there can be some valid reasons for secrecy (principally relating to security) even under parliamentary privilege, but it’s still alarming to note that the parliament’s president (he’s a bit like the speaker) has now ordered the UKIP MEP to retract the remarks under threat of “legal consequences”. The demand for ‘retraction’ seems to suggest that national security was not the problem. So what was? The Daily Telegraph is uncharacteristically cagey. Does anyone out there know?