Analysis: Better legal advice needed to avoid a repeat showing

REVELATIONS that former Guantanamo Bay detainees will receive millions of pounds in compensation after accusing the security services of collusion in torture is only the latest war crimes scandal to rock the UK government.

The payments themselves come with the whiff of cover-up, with payouts apparently being preferable to having the activities of MI5 and MI6 exposed to the scrutiny of a High Court action.

The government is already likely to face a separate, and hefty, High Court compensation bill from Iraqis who claim they suffered torture at the hands of British troops. That claim includes evidence of a Ministry of Defence interrogation instruction manual issued to troops which condones coercion techniques that seem at first sight to be a violation of the international torture convention.