London - Britain's Freemasons have turned down a request from the government to offer up the names of members who are sitting judges. In a letter to the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, a senior mason, Lord Farnham said he found the government's request, made earlier this month, "offensive, arbitrary, oppressive and without justification". He said the masons would only comply with the request if forced to by law.
This is the second row between the masons and politicians this year. In February, a leading mason was threatened with contempt proceedings after he refused to tell parliament which members had been involved in a serious miscarriage of justice in 1974. The masons eventually handed over the names in March.