Exposed: Tony thanks Sweden for Sven
First I should confess that I have published this , but I reckon it deserves another outing, given the England v Sweden game in the World Cup.
Revealed here is a letter sent by Tony Blair to the Swedish prime minister, Goran Persson. So what does it say?
"Dear Goran, You are a star. You can appear on British radio anytime. And thank you for Sven. Yours ever, Tony."
It was sent in the wake of England beating Germany 5-1 in the World Cup qualifiers in 2001, an early triumph for Sven-Goran Eriksson. Persson was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme about this boost to Anglo-Swedish relations - following which Tony Blair despatched him this short handwritten note.
I obtained a copy when I visited Persson's office in Stockholm and asked to see copies of correspondence between him and Blair. Sweden has probably the strongest freedom of information law anywhere in the world. It means that I could see most (although not all) of the letters they have each sent each other.
But when I asked the British government for copies of letters between the two prime ministers, Downing Street refused to reveal any of them because they said it might 'damage international relations'.
Given that the Swedes happily hand most of them out to anyone who asks, it is a little difficult to see how it would harm relations with Sweden if Britain did the same. But while the British government sticks to that policy, all Tony Blair's letters to Goran Persson, whether about gratitude to Sweden for Sven or anything else, are still British official secrets.
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Which of course is just a further example of New Labour's habit of legislating to make headlines rather than with any real intent empowering the citizen.