Incredibly, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office have refused to disclose:
" the names and job titles of :
a) the Russian Federation Embassy or Consular staff in London or
elsewhere in the United Kingdom,
and
b) the United Kingdom Embassy or Consular staff in Moscow or
elsewhere in the Russian Federation,
who have been, or who are shortly being expelled, following the
diplomatic incident over the failure to extradite or prosecute the
suspect Andrei Lugovoi in the radioactive Polonium 210 murder case
of British citizen Alexander Litvinenko."
How, exactly are just the Names and the Job Tiles of British and Russian Diplomats to be considered as Personal Data ?
Every Embassy in London and in Moscow and therefore every important foreign Government, already knows these Names and (former) Job Titles, and so do lots of foreign journalists.
Why can't the FCO publish them themselves ?
I can confirm that the FCO does hold this information. However, we are withholding all the information you have requested under Section 40 (Personal Information) as the information is personal data relating to third parties, the disclosure of which would contravene one of the data protection principles. In such circumstances sections 40(2) and (3) of the Freedom of Information Act apply. In this case, our view is that disclosure would breach the first data protection principle. This states that personal data should be processed fairly and lawfully. It is the fairness aspect of this principle which, in our view, would be breached by disclosure. In such circumstances s.40 confers an absolute exemption on disclosure. There is, therefore, no public interest test to apply.
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