It’s inexcusable that they should perpetuate the charade of ‘accountability’ through support and endorsement of what they know to be an increasingly ineffective, dishonest and unaccountable Parliamentary Ombudsman and other such regulators which exist purely as a dumping ground for grievances they don’t want to have to deal with themselves.

It’s equally perverse that they should maintain irrational rules which prevent select committees looking into ‘individual cases’.

The doctrine of Ministerial responsibility to Parliament for the acts and omissions of their departments counts for nothing in terms of individual grievances. This needs to change. Were Parliament to adhere to the doctrine – whereby individual cases ought to be heard in public and decided by elected officials, not under a system of Judicial Review – soon enough we’d see Ministers and Whitehall taking their responsibilities seriously.