‘Truss’ stops all talk of court action

The new breed of “hyperinjunctions” are orders where the cases cannot normally be mentioned.

But some were outlined recently in Parliament by John Hemming, MP for Birmingham Yardley, and so they are covered by parliamentary privilege.

One High Court case involved the drinking-water tanks on passenger ships and whether the paint used could release toxic substances into the water.

The order, from 2006, is still live. It said that the parties must not communicate with “members of Parliament, journalists and lawyers” other than lawyers instructed in the proceedings.

Mr Hemming said: “The individual who was trussed up by that secret hyperinjunction needs protecting. We all need protecting from water that people are being told not to drink.”

In another case a constituent was wrongly imprisoned on an allegation of rape. He won his criminal appeal but complained about the social worker in the process. In subsequent care proceedings over his child, he faced pressure to agree, as the court papers put it, that “he will make no further disclosure in respect of this matter to any third party, including in particular the media and John Hemming, MP”.