Defence Secretary Des Browne has applied to the Royal Courts of Justice, seeking a gagging order to prevent coroners from criticising the Ministry of Defence.
The move follows the inquest into the death of Private Jason Smith, who died of heatstroke in Iraq in 2003, which concluded that his death was caused by “a serious failure to recognise and take appropriate steps to address the difficulty that he had in adjusting to the climate".
“We are worried that people might jump to the wrong conclusions and think that the MoD might be in some way responsible for the unfortunate deaths of these soldiers,” argued Mr Browne. “Whereas of course the MoD is, as always, completely irresponsible when carrying out its duty to ensure the safety of the cannon fodder – whoops, I mean personnel.”
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