Quote of the day

 Insider’s Henry Dyer has an absolutely classic Cox quote from his work on the BVI inquiry: “Let me be quite candid. There are real drawbacks to open registers. It becomes a political tool for every — many, many frivolous complaints are made. It is a profound invasion into a legislator’s private life because what happens is, as you can imagine, stories get written, minor infractions are written up to be morally shameful or even impute dishonesty. I accept the need for registers — of course I do; every legislator must — but there are perfectly understandable reticence to invite that kind of onslaught that that can sometimes mean.” Why on earth might such a “distinguished” figure, as he modestly described himself in yesterday’s statement, be so wary of public registers shining a light on legislators’ interests? We can only speculate.