Britain's secretive society of Freemasons has refused a government request for the names of members who are sitting judges.
In a curt letter to Home Secretary Jack Straw, Lord Farnham, Pro Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge, said the masons would only hand over the names if forced by law.
Britain has about one million freemasons, many of whom are associated with the police, legal profession and local governments.
The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bingham, has said he sees no reason why judges should declare their membership of the Freemasons.
Lord Bingham said: “Our position is and has always been that no-one has ever been able to suggest that there has ever been a vestige of evidence that any judge in any case ever in this country has been diverted from his duty by any conflict arising from Freemasonic association.'
Depending on your point of view freemasonry is either a gentlemen's club devoted to moral and spiritual values or a corrupt organisation intent on looking after number one.
Masonic rules state that members must do all they can to support each other, to took after each other and to keep each others affairs secrets.
Despite the UK Labour Party's election manifesto pledge in 1997 to force freemasons holding public office to declare their membership, no legislation has been introduced into parliament.
Labour MPs have long campaigned for Freemasonry to be banned in the judicial system, believing that it fosters corruption by encouraging police and judges to feel they are under an obligation to fellow lodge members. Which they are.
About 20% of judges have refused to reply to a questionnaire issued by Lord Irving, the Lord Chancellor, asking if they are Freemasons. The voluntary register for police has fared even worse, with only 38,875 of the 126,000 officers in England and Wales responding, of whom just 417 admitted to being Freemasons. There are an estimated 8,000 Masonic lodges in Britain.
Fact:
Most Freemasons are not corrupt; they are the innocent cover for an organisation whose true motivation they know nothing about. The Freemasonic networks are one of the key parts of the Illuminati web and there is no doubt that Freemasonic policemen, judges, and criminals do work together to stop justice being done. Indeed such incidents have come to light publicly from time to time, but mostly they remain hidden.
Surely, when you have the power to put people in jail and destroy their lives, as do the police, lawyers, and judges, it should be compulsory to make public the fact that you are a member of a secret society. So it should for government ministers and their civil servants. It's only right and fair, but since when did that mean anything in the corrupt world of politics, police, and the `justice' system?