Even before the tribunals had uncovered the full extent of the relationship between business and politics, it was evident that the link between the two would have to be broken because the relationship to which I refer was having a negative effect not only on the political system but also on public confidence in it and on the public perception of political decisions, particularly those made by the Government and its Ministers. There appeared to be widespread agreement at the time that there should be a clear separation between business and politics in order to sanitise decisions. In this way, the public could have clearly seen that – in terms of the transparency of decisions guaranteed by the Freedom of Information Act 1997 – a decision had not been influenced by any interest that a Minister might have or any representation made to him or her.