The GSD has said that the James Neish article in today’s Chronicle of redacted communications marked “sensitive” flowing between the Office of the Governor and the Foreign Office in relation to the early departure of ex-Commissioner McGrail “reinforces the view that this was a serious matter that was considered at the highest levels.”

The communications span the process before his early exit and include discussions on questions the Leader of the Opposition was posing in Parliament. The party says that such redacted communications “will only unfortunately raise more questions than answers.”

Leader of the Opposition Keith Azopardi said: “This was not just a casual retirement. There were circumstances and reasons which led to the early exit and it is in Gibraltar’s interests that these be fully reviewed. We already know from answers in Parliament that the Chief Minister was at the heart of those discussions. The partial communications disclosed today emphasise the need for full transparency in the forthcoming Inquiry so that the public can be confident of any independent review of the serious questions that arise. We have been saying for a long time that there is a public interest that we ensure that our democracy and our institutional checks and balances were not tarnished in the circumstances that led to his retirement. It is crucial for the Inquiry to be entirely transparent for there to be confidence in the process. It will not do for communications to be redacted or for the Inquiry process to be closed at any stage or the report redacted because if that happens it will leave questions in the air. A future GSD Government will ensure that the Inquiry Report is published immediately and in full.”