Britannia Radio

`CONSERVATIVE HOME Blog   5,12.08
Backbenchers are seeking to amend the motion setting up the committee 
on the Damian Green arrest

Yesterday it emerged that the committee the Speaker announced he was 
setting up to consider the issues surrounding the arrest of Damian 
Green would not only have a Government majority, but that he would 
not be able to select its membership either.
The Lib Dems have since announced their intention to boycott the 
committee.
Now, the Guardian's Andrew Sparrow is reporting that backbench 
amendments with cross-party support are being tabled for the debate 
on Harrietr Harman's motion to set up the committee, which will take 
place on Monday.

Here's the intelligence he shares on his blog:
"Bill Cash has tabled an amendment signed by 11 other Tories and 
Plaid Cymru's Adam Price saying that the committee should be chaired 
by an opposition MP, that it should not have a Labour majority and 
that it should report by January 30. Douglas Hogg, another Tory, has 
tabled a series of amendments with the Liberal Democrat David Heath 
also calling for the inquiry to wind up by the end of next month, but 
his proposal would make allowance for the report to be redacted so as 
to leave out any material prejudicial to the Green investigation.

"The Conservative leadership hasn't revealed its tactics yet. One 
source told me the situation was changing "by the hour". In theory 
it's a House of Commons matter, which means that MPs should have a 
free vote, but of course the Green affair has become highly 
political. David Cameron wants the committee to report quickly - 
which is what many MPs thought the Speaker, Michael Martin, was 
promising when he proposed the idea in his statement on Wednesday - 
but I get the impression that there is no enthusiasm to go into 
battle under a banner held aloft by Cash.[Eh?  I know this is The 
Guardian but why not ? -cs] Further amendments could be tabled. The 
Tories are also talking to the Lib Dems. Nick Clegg has said he will 
boycott the committee, but I'm told that threat only applies to the 
committee as proposed by Harman. If Harman's motion gets defeated, 
and an alternative committee gets set up with a slightly different 
remit, then the Lib Dems are expected to take part.

"Labour still has a decent majority and normally Harman would expect 
to win. But some Labour MPs are opposed to the inquiry being 
postponed and it must be at least possible that a Commons majority 
could coalesce behind some alternative proposal. Interestingly, 
Martin himself is thought to be opposed to Harman's plan. On 
Wednesday and again on Thursday he kept dropping strong hints about 
how the government's motion was amendable. Monday's vote could be 
close."
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PRESS ROUND-UP  4.12.08
Telegraph Blog - Rosa Prince  4.12.08
Sir Humphrey heads for the shredder

The mole hunt is on.

Home Office sources are briefing  [Is that not "leaking" but for the 
government this time ? -cs] that as well as the Damian Green inquiry, 
a number of other police probes are being carried out as we speak 
across our leaky Government.
The Cabinet Office is keeping schtum about where and how many, but 
I'm guessing there'll be a whole lot of shredding and email deleting 
going on in the Treasury and DWP round about now...