The national and local press have a vital role to play in preventing the erosion of our civil liberties, but parliamentary lobby journalists are too close to the Government to effectively contribute to this.

That’s the view of Henry Porter, UK editor of Vanity Fair, whose concern over the issue prompted The Observer, to give him a regular column in the Sunday paper.

Access to information, restrictions of movement, attacks on the powers of Parliament and the curtailing of individual liberties – Porter believes the laws that have been passed by the Labour government reflect its instinct to enhance the power of a centralised authority.