Files deemed sensitive in 144-page manual include those dealing with royal family, the Gurkhas – and UFOs

The Ministry of Defence has revealed its blueprint for censoring official documents under legislation to make government records more transparent.

The MoD’s “blue guide” for officials deciding which public records can be published was obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) request. It shows documents classified as top secret are housed at the MoD’s sensitive archive, whose location is redacted, while about 20m more routine documents are stored at Swadlincote in Derbyshire.