MP Condemns Diana Inquest As A "Theatre of The Absurd"
Written by Joanne Leyland
Monday, 17 March 2008
A former Welsh Secretary has hit out at the cost of
the ongoing inquest into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and Dodi Fayed.
Alun Michael MP (pictured with Prince Charles during a St. David's Day visit to Wales) says the hearing is "a profligate squandering of
scarce resources” and the inquest itself "a bit like the theatre of the absurd".
According to the Labour parliamentarian, who represents the constituency of
Cardiff South and Penarth: "Was it worth the amount of money that was
involved, has it drawn a line under events which are basically history of 10
years ago, was it necessary and was this right use of resources compared to
other ways that the money could have been used?"
Addressing the wider issue of inquests and the judicial system, the MP
continued during an interview with the BBC’s Politics Show: "In many cases
- and I rather suspect the Diana inquest - will turn out to be one of these
[where] you're no closer to having absolute truth at the end of an inquiry
because its impossible to know what happened in a particular set of
circumstances."
"Many people seeing the Diana inquest may
well be thinking if a 10th of that money was spent locally on matters that
effect local families then a great deal of good would be done to people up and
down the country."
The official British inquest into the deaths in the Paris car crash of the
36-year-old princess and her boyfriend has so far cost £2.4m.
The proceedings have previously been condemned by some unnamed parliamentarians as "a circus".
