A BANNING order has been slapped on the identity of 200 Catholic dignitaries and VIPs who attended a £9,000 dinner at taxpayers’ expense.

Council lawyers insist the Data Protection Act prevents them from naming guests at a slap-up meal to mark the visit of the Pope to Birmingham

Representatives from Roman Catholic churches across the world were wined and dined on crab, smoked salmon and fillet of beef in the luxurious surroundings of Birmingham Council House banqueting suite on the eve of Pope Benedict’s Beatification of Cardinal Newman at Cofton Park.

Guest of honour Princess Michael of Kent, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham Bernard Longley and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Coun Len Gregory, were among the 214 people who enjoyed a drinks reception followed by a four-course meal.

A Freedom of Information Act request submitted by the Mail was only partly answered by the council, which picked up the bill for the Papal dinner.

Sonya Cerutti, Information Governance Manager at the council, said the Data Protection Act over-rode a newspaper’s right to be given information.

She quoted the Freedom of Information Act, which says information can be withheld if publication might cause “damage or distress” to individuals.

Alan Rudge, the Birmingham cabinet member overseeing the Papal visit, said: “We are not trying to be awkward, but people who were invited don’t expect to be identified in the press, unless of course they are celebrities.

“If people who attended want to reveal it, that is fine. But it is not for us to do so.”

Coun Rudge (Con Sutton Vesey) said the function was value for money because it portrayed Birmingham as “a hospitable city that appreciates faith”.