‘An Old Bailey judge yesterday imposed gagging orders on the media after jailing a civil servant and a Labour MP's researcher for disclosing the minutes of a meeting between Tony Blair and George Bush about Iraq.

Mr Justice Aikens prevented journalists from publishing a comment by David Keogh, a Whitehall communications officer, on what the minutes revealed, even though it was said in open court. He also said that allegations already in the public domain could not be repeated if there was any suggestion they related to the contents of the document.

The Guardian and other media organisations immediately said they intended to appeal against the orders. The judge suggested that the allegations could be "recycled," but only if they were published on a separate page of a newspaper from that containing references to the trial. Foreign newspapers, including those in the US, are not bound by the contempt orders.

At one point in argument in court, Anthony Hudson, counsel for the Guardian, Times and BBC, said the media would be in a "ridiculous" situation. He said the judge was making a "serious intrusion" into the media's rights of freedom of expression.

In evidence at the trial, Sir Nigel Sheinwald, the prime minister's top foreign policy adviser, said private talks between world leaders must remain confidential however illegal or morally abhorrent aspects of their discussions might be.

The judge said yesterday that Keogh had decided to disclose the document to Leo O'Connor, researcher to the then anti-war Labour MP for Northampton South, Anthony Clarke. The idea was that its contents would be raised in the Commons and also passed to John Kerry, the then Democratic presidential candidate in the US. Keogh believed the document exposed Mr Bush as a "madman," the court heard.’

Gagging Order As Two Are Jailed For Leaking Blair-Bush Memo