The irony, says Hillenbrand, is that the request comes from Blair's Labor Party government -- during its years in opposition, the party had consistently promised to repeal the Official Secrets Act.
U.K. Battles to Keep a Spy Off the Web
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LONDON: Britain's bid to persuade France to hand over a loose-lipped former MI5 spy may flounder on a simple legal point -- the "crime" of which David Shayler is accused is not illegal in France. When Shayler threatened to use the Web to expose the inner workings of Britain's spy agency, London sought extradition in order to try Shayler under its draconian Official Secrets Act, which gags former government employees. Shayler was arrested in France over the weekend, and the British government now has 40 days to convince a French court to carry out the extradition. "It's unusual to extradite an individual for something that isn't a crime in your own country," says TIME London bureau chief Barry Hillenbrand. "Britain will have a lot of trouble making that stick in court."