Good morning. We have been consulted on a confidential basis by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence ('MOD') on behalf of the Secretary of State, Ronald Parkinson concerning matters which potentially affect his position in government. He is asking for an authoritative view on the legal and constitutional issues arising from them. The first matter concerns the discovery that a junior civil servant from the MOD unfortunately left a number of papers in a caf near Whitehall last week. It turns out that these were minutes from a recent Cabinet meeting and that they contained the names of a dozen or more translators working for the UK armed forces overseas who remain at risk in their home country. Somehow these papers have found their way to the BBC news desk and the Ministry is being asked questions about how this could have happened. Unfortunately, that is not the only pressure currently on the Defence Secretary. You may recall that last year he announced the roll-out of a new fleet of ECO-HYB20 armoured vehicles for the army, designed to be faster, more technologically advanced and fuel-efficient. He championed this as the Army's contribution to the government's overall energy policy, as the vehicles were intended to operate on a hybrid basis, with a view to becoming fully electric in the near future. However, it has become very clear in the last month or so that the technology for the ECOHYB20 project is not progressing and so a decision has reluctantly been taken to scrap the entire project. The costs so far total 350 million but it is thought better to stop now rather than to continue racking up further costs. We understand that the Defence Secretary has explained to the Chancellor and Prime Minister that he personally delegated checking the sustainability of the entire project to one of the trainee civil servants on rotation in his private ministerial office over the summer, who had expressed an interest in new technology. He has made a statement to the press, blaming "a junior official in my department for whose actions I cannot be held accountable" and is understood to be actively considering sacking the civil servant concerned. There is a one further matter appearing on the horizon which could also cause considerable problems for the Defence Secretary. I have attached an extract from an article in the Daily Globe this morning that provides all the details. We will also need to discuss this next time we meet. Kind regards,

Extract from press article in the Daily Globe: As if problems in his department were not already serious enough for Defence Secretary, Ronald Parkinson, it now appears that he is also at loggerheads with other Cabinet colleagues over international aid policy. Sources within government have disclosed that there was a major row in Cabinet last week between ministers wishing to deploy British military personnel to distribute UK food aid shipments abroad, in order to save costs, and the Defence Secretary. It appears that Parkinson clearly lost the vote in Cabinet over this matter, given the influence of the Prime Minister over his colleagues. Nevertheless, he has openly told the Globe this morning that: "the new policy is a disgraceful misuse of the British Army and will greatly reduce our operational capacity." He went on to say, when questioned: "Yes, that is on the record. I don't care quite frankly, as I'm furious about this. I was ambushed in Cabinet as it seemed that the Prime Minister and Chancellor and a number of other ministers had already agreed this all beforehand