Britannia Radio

The groundswell of anger mounts all the time.

Glad to see Mr Green is taking the initiative!  (The report first 
below, is from the papers legal section and hasn't reached the news 
columns yet!)

There is very little contrary opinion to be found.  One I have found 
is in a blog I often quote but I am so outraged by its unprincipled 
stance that I am writing a separate note on that.

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News item SUNDAY TELEGRAPH  30.11.08
MP calls in Pinochet lawyer
Damian Green has instructed Michael Caplan QC, the solicitor who 
represented the former Chilean dictator 10 years ago.

By Joshua Rozenberg

Damian Green, the shadow minister arrested in connection with alleged 
Home Office leaks, has instructed the leading solicitor Michael 
Caplan QC, the Telegraph can reveal.

Mr Caplan was called to Belgravia police station on Thursday 
afternoon and remained with Mr Green until the MP was released after 
nine hours of questioning.

A partner at the specialist firm Kingsley Napley, Mr Caplan is best 
known for his success in representing the former Chilean dictator 
Augusto Pinochet, who was arrested in London 10 years ago on a 
Spanish extradition warrant and released on medical grounds in March 
2000.

The solicitor confirmed this afternoon that he had been instructed by 
Mr Green but would make no further comment. Mr Caplan has spent much 
of the weekend working on the case at his firm's offices in Clerkenwell.

It is thought he is currently seeking the return of papers seized by 
the police when they executed search warrants at Mr Green's homes and 
offices on Thursday.

Mr Caplan, 55, is one of the few practising solicitor-advocates to 
have been made a Queen's Counsel. A partner at Kingsley Napley for 25 
years, he sits as a part-time judge in the Crown Court. He combines a 
warm and outgoing personality with a determination not to be drawn 
into saying any more than his instructions permit.
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SUNDAY TIMES   30.11.08
This arrest of an MP is a threat to us all

Shami Chakrabarti

Liberty is always a rollercoaster ride and last week was more so than 
most. As an organisation dedicated to protecting civil liberties we 
began defending the free speech of Sun journalist and former 
Talksport radio presenter Jon Gaunt. He once thought me "the most 
dangerous woman in Britain", but Britain it seems, is even more 
dangerous now. Hired to be a colourful "shock jock", he was then 
summarily terminated for calling a local councillor a "Nazi" and a 
"health Nazi" in a heated debate about the wisdom of banning smokers 
from fostering children. Is passionate argument and rudeness to be 
censored? Are there to be no warnings or second chances in post-Brand/
Ross radio?

Then the horrific atrocity in the land of my forefathers; the sub-
continent that my small son has yet to visit but like thousands of 
other young Britons feels so much kinship with. This civil 
libertarian needs no reminding of the enormous burden of policing 
open societies in the face of the bloodthirsty.

So imagine my surprise when the call came about the dramatic police 
operation against Damian Green MP on suspicion of "aiding and 
abetting" a Home Office leaker. Surely the anti-terror cops have 
enough on their plate without responsibilities for internal Whitehall 
discipline? Surely the threat posed by mild-mannered parliamentarians 
doesn't require the heavy mob? Perhaps pots might better investigate 
kettles than the Yard inquire into civil service leaks.

It is always dangerous to speculate about ongoing investigations, but 
Liberty was founded in response to overzealous antidemocratic 
policing, and questions must be asked.

As a former Home Office civil servant and lawyer, I well understand 
the importance of confidentiality. Any organisation that feels 
undermined by an employee is entitled to investigate suspected 
breaches of trust. I would even concede that in the sensitive 
environment of that department, it may be necessary to call in the 
police to establish the identity of a suspected mole and the extent 
of potential lapses. But why, particularly in the apparent absence of 
threats to national security, is it so often necessary to rush to 
criminal justice rather than discipline or even dismissal?

Then to Green himself. The legal creativity of investigating an 
elected politician for presenting leaked information to the public is 
obviously dangerous enough. Given the constitutional sensitivities, 
why arrest him rather than offer the opportunity to attend for 
interview by arrangement? This was after all considered adequate for 
Tony Blair in the small matter of cash and peerages.

Just as Sir Ian Blair is leaving the Yard in a cloud of bluster about 
political interference with policing, the bruised and battered Met 
now faces the inevitable charge of interfering in the political 
process. Who made this judgment in the public interest? When does 
irony descend into farce?

If I ever was the most dangerous woman, I suppose I must concede the 
potential dangerousness of the MP for Ashford. But a danger worthy of 
nine hours' detention and up to nine counter-terror officers raiding 
his home does seem a bit of a stretch.
Then there is the small question of the integrity of parliament. Who 
exactly in the house authorised the raid on a member's office, and 
while we're about it, why the execution of this whole operation at a 
time when parliament has risen for a few days and difficult questions 
are harder to ask?

Who first briefed the press that Green had been arrested? Was this 
itself an unethical leak? Why were some senior politicians rather 
than others informed of the operation in advance? Given that the 
whole saga began with a Home Office complaint, did no one in the 
ministry of the interior know about the parliamentary side of the 
investigation?

These and so many other troubling questions may remain unanswered for 
some time, maybe until the conclusion of initial investigations. But 
of course that timetable conveniently rests with the police. Further, 
the Independent Police Complaints Commission has proved a less than 
fearsome watchdog to date. It seems to make too many friends and does 
not always bark in the night. Perhaps it might surprise me this time.

More happily, the much-maligned Human Rights Act struck a blow for 
press freedom in the context of another recipient of leaked 
information, the local journalist Sally Murrer. The case against her, 
built on bugged conversations with her police officer source, 
collapsed under the weight of her right to free expression which 
necessarily requires the protection of journalistic sources.

I have neither a borrower nor a leaker been and have often criticised 
"off-the-record briefings" relating to policing and security matters. 
However, it is one thing to establish ethics and discipline in an 
organisation and quite another to punish politicians and journalists 
whose free speech is essential to democracy, and whose job it is to 
disseminate information in the public interest.

The events of last week demonstrates the extraordinarily tough 
challenges faced by the new acting Metropolitan police commissioner 
Sir Paul Stephenson. I wish him so very well in the task of bringing 
calm, judicious policing to the capital. I may even send him a 
nutcracker this Christmas. He has inherited too many sledgehammers.  
[He is only ACTING Commissioner!  He will not necessarily inherit 
Blair's post and after this shambles in which he was involved that 
likelihood is fast vanishing-cs]
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Shami Chakrabarti is director of Liberty
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POLITICS HOME   30.11.08
Comments on Police Scandal
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The Politics Show, BBC One at 12:54
Damian Green's arrest "raises questions" says Labour MP

Sadiq Khan, Labour MP

Mr. Khan said that the arrest of Damian Green "raises questions."

He said: "Whenever there's a high profile arrest, we should all, as 
citizens, have concerns.

"The point is were any of his constituents correspondance misread?"

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The Politics Show, BBC One at 12:25
Clegg: Smith's response "implausible"

Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat Leader

Mr. Clegg said he thought it was "implausible" that ministers were 
not told about the investigation into Damian Green before he was 
arrested.  He said: "I find it either implausible that ministers were 
not told about this investigation or it's just down right 
incompetent.  This is breaking centuries of tradition about how a 
parliament works.

"I think there are still plenty of questions about why she wasn't told."

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The Politics Show, BBC One at 12:14
Hague: Jacqui Smith's response "inadequate"
William Hague, Shadow Defence Minister

Mr. Hague said that he though Jacqui Smith's response was 
"inadequate" and said he had further questions for ministers and the 
police.

He said: "We will want to know from the House of Commons authorities, 
who gave the authority to suspend his parliamentary e-mail?  Most of 
the questions are for ministers and senior police officers."

He added: "I don't think all of these questions can just wait until 
after a police investigation."
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