Anger over ‘grotesque abuse’ of £600,000 case to keep Mountbatten papers secret

David Owen condemns Cabinet Office's waste of public money' in four-year bid to stop part of archive's release

The Cabinet Office has been accused of a grotesque abuse" of public funds in a freedom of information battle over the personal diaries of Lord and Lady Mountbatten in which costs are now expected to exceed 600,000.

Andrew Lownie, the author and historian, has fought a four-year legal battle over the papers that are in an archive saved for the nation after a fundraising campaign. They are now held at Southampton University.