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Binyam Mohamed

My Lords, I welcome Her Majesty's Government’s continued commitment to oppose torture in all its forms. I ask my noble friend two questions. First, when did we last approach the American Administration—not the security services but the Administration—about whether they would be prepared to release this information or allow us to do so? I ask that because, of course, there has been a complete change of heart on torture and Guantanamo since President Obama took office. Whereas approaching the security services in the United States may give us the same answer as we got under Bush, I wonder whether approaching the American Administration might not give us a more positive answer now. Secondly, is the issue about whether Mr Mohamed has been tortured—and, therefore there are fewer security implications as regards the fact, even while there is political embarrassment—or about the whole raft of evidence against him?