This cleared up one small mystery – why Damian Green was arrested on suspicion of an obscure common law offence.
But it also came as a bit of a shock – if I had known about the 1989 change in the first place I had completely forgotten about it
I first signed the Official Secrets Act when, as a student, I had a temporary job delivering the Christmas mail – in those days all post office workers (including those who worked for what is now BT) were civil servants. I felt suitably admonished, but also mystified – what secrets might lurk among the cards?
Come to think of it though, it might be seen as a kind of privacy law – you must not tell anyone about the delicious news that snobby Mrs Smith from number 4 was getting red bills from the electricity board
When I went to work in Whitehall I was required to sign all over again. I was told that technically it applied to all information which I acquired through work, even the number of coat hooks on the back of the office door. And also that the law applied to everybody, civil servant or not; signing was just a way of making sure that we knew
A letter I received when I left asked me to make sure I had returned any property which belonged to the department, reminded me about the Official Secrets Act, & reiterated the instruction not to travel to certain countries without first seeking security advice
Until yesterday I would not have dared reveal that last paragraph. As I have been known to joke to friends when I pretended to have interesting things to reveal, not only could I be sent to the Tower, but they could be sent there too, just for listening to me
