Firstly there's the dreadful news that the two top coppers who
comprehensively loused the whole of this up, want to take over from
the dreadful Ian Blair to run the Met as Commissioner. Talk about
'out-of-the-fryingpan-into-the fire' !!
There's one thing that I want to know even if nobody else does.
Where is Mr Galley right now. Is he under arrest still or released
on poioce bail. Have the police any authority to keep him
incommunicado. In short is this another breach of the law?
I wrote the above and just before sending this got the statement at
the end! I think, from reading it, that he was present when that
statement was made on his behalf but I can't be sure.
xxxxxxxxxxxxx cs
=========================
THE TIMES 1.12.08
Officers who approved Damian Green arrest apply for Met Commissioner job
Sean O'Neill, Crime Editor
The two police officers at the centre of the Damian Green affair have
applied for the top job in policing, Commissioner of the Metropolitan
Police.
Scotland Yard sources have confirmed to The Times that Sir Paul
Stephenson, Acting Commissioner as of today, and Assistant
Commissioner Bob Quick, head of specialist operations, submitted
applications to the Home Office by today's noon deadline.
Mr Quick made the decision to arrest Damian Green MP last week as
part of an investigation into Home Office leaks. That decision was
approved by Sir Paul who then had a furious row with Boris Johnson,
the Mayor of London and chairman of the Metropolitan Police
Authority, about the tactics used in the raid on Mr Green's home and
offices.
Mr Johnson has a major say on who will succeed Sir Ian Blair as
Commissioner as will Sir David Normington, the Home Office permanent
secretary, who ordered the leak inquiry.
The Times can also confirm that Bernard Hogan-Howe, Chief Constable
of Merseyside, and Julie Spence, Chief Constable of Cambridgeshire,
have also applied for the job. Ken Jones, president of the
Association of Chief Police Officers, is another confirmed applicant.
Sources have said that Sir Hugh Orde, Chief Constable in Northern
Ireland, and Mike Fuller, Chief Constable of Kent, have also applied
for the vacancy created when Sir Ian was ousted by Mr Johnson. Sir
Paul Scott-Lee, police chief in the West Midlands, is also understood
to have applied.
The latest betting for the job, by Paddy Power, reveals that the
events of the past week surrounding the arrest of Mr Green have
dislodged Sir Paul Stephenson from his position as odds-on favourite
to 4-1. Sir Hugh Orde is the new favourite in the betting at 5/2.
The Home Office refused to say which officers had applied for the
post or how many applicants there had been. It is understood,
however, that 11 senior police officers had asked to be sent
application packs.
=========================
TELEGRAPH 1.12.08
Arresting MPs and nationalising banks happen in dictatorships
By Janet Daley
I've never actually seen a cabinet minister caught on camera with his
(or in this case, her) eyes tightly closed before. When Andrew Marr
began addressing the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, yesterday morning,
she looked as if she was desperately trying to catch up on the sleep
she had lost over the past three days.
Or perhaps she was just attempting to shut out the image of Kenneth
Clarke, who had preceded her on the air. Mr Clarke had just
proclaimed that, if he had been told as Home Secretary that an MP had
been arrested and detained in the way that Damian Green had been, he
would have insisted on issuing an immediate apology. His reaction to
being informed that a senior opposition spokesman who was not
suspected of any crime, had had his home and office raided by the
police would have been horrified fury.
So, Miss Smith was asked, did she agree with this former occupier of
her office that Mr Green was owed an apology? Answer: no. Sort of. It
was, in fact, rather difficult to discern what the answer was amid a
lot of blather, the main object of which was to hang the police out
to dry - they apparently being solely responsible for this
extraordinary incident. (I suspect that the next day or two may
produce some interesting responses to this performance from the
police - quite possibly in the form of leaks.)
Miss Smith soldiered on, making a great deal of the notion of "police
independence" - even trying rather ingeniously to turn the argument
round on those who see Mr Green's arrest as an indication of an
emerging police state. What would truly constitute a police state,
she maintained, would be for ministers to intervene when the police
were engaged in an investigation.
Not that this investigation was being carried out on a unilateral
police impulse: oh no, her department had certainly been concerned
about the leaks in question. But again, it was unclear in what way
that "concern" had mutated into police action, or what happened after
the "concern" had been expressed. (Did the Home Office, which has
direct responsibility for the Metropolitan Police and for the anti-
terrorist force, simply make known its "concern" and then wash its
hands of the matter?)
At what point, then, the Home Secretary was asked, had she become
aware of the arrest of Mr Green? Not until after it had occurred, she
stated flatly in one of her few unequivocal answers. But she had
known that there was an inquiry being conducted into what she
portentously called "a systematic series of leaks" involving some of
the most "sensitive" government information. (You bet it was
sensitive, revealing as it did that the Government's handling of
immigration was in chaos, it was absolute dynamite.)
Backed against the wall over the grotesque breach of political
freedom and constitutional principle that the MP's arrest
represented, she resorted to hinting that the four leaks that were in
the public domain were not all there was to this story, and that
national security might well have been involved in some way that has
not yet come to light. She could not elaborate, of course, national
security being what it is.
Left at that, her remarks could well be construed as a smear. We
shall have to wait for whatever official prosecution might be brought
against the alleged Whitehall leaker to find out what basis there was
for such an insinuation.
Anyone who thinks that this incident is being somehow blown out of
proportion by opposition politicians and an excitable media had
better think again. A senior opposition spokesman has been arrested
and detained, had his personal possessions and confidential
correspondence examined, and his family home occupied, without being
suspected of any criminal offence.
The object of the exercise seems to have been intimidation and the
flaunting of power. Short of an outright, totalitarian suspension of
democracy, this is about as serious as it gets. Freedom is under
threat in ways that we would not have thought conceivable a
generation ago. The threat seems to be coming in various forms from a
government desperate to save its own credibility and to be so
convinced of its moral righteousness that it can justify the most
blatant abuses of what we had taken to be the fundamental principles
of a free society.
Infuriated by the banks' unwillingness to lend money readily (even
though it was lending money too readily that got them into so much
trouble in the first place), the Government threatens to take them
over. It uses the language of moral outrage to justify the threat of
nationalisation: the banks are behaving "selfishly" and
"irresponsibly" by refusing to offer easier credit (even though it
was also "selfish" and irresponsible" of them to offer credit that
was too easy).
Such a nationalisation of the banking system would constitute nothing
less than the true Marxist dream of "seizing the commanding heights
of the economy". And since financial services are now Britain's most
important industry, taking over the banks could be understood as
achieving the chief communist goal of taking "ownership of the means
of production".
But no one is going to put it quite like that. The language of all
this is terribly important. The modern parties of the Left make use
of the most attractive words, such as "fair" and "progressive" in
which to package their attacks on personal freedom and private
responsibility.
Gordon Brown and his ministers are busily denying that Labour is
returning to its Old Left roots: their only objectives, they say, are
"fairness" and "social justice", which they must impose. Alistair
Darling insists that his tax increases on the higher paid are not
class vengeance: he is just determined to see that the better-off
carry "their share" of the load in a time of economic crisis.
In reality, penalising higher earnings is likely to slow economic
recovery because their ability to invest is needed to provide future
growth, but punishing them through taxation is justified on the
ground that they owe some sort of apology to society for their
advantages.
Mr Darling reiterates the new anti-Tory mantra, "Doing nothing is not
an option", which seems to assume that government action can only
consist of seizing more power, usurping more responsibility and
restricting more freedoms.
Indeed, there is scarcely a problem facing the country to which this
Government does not see taking more power for itself as the answer -
even if that involves arresting MPs and controlling the levers of
what was once a free economy.
=========================
THE SUN 1.12.08
We are a police state here & now
By TREVOR KAVANAGH
I USED to think ID cards were a good thing. Along with CCTV cameras
and DNA databanks. Even, at a pinch, 90-day detention. What law-
abiding citizen could object to these new weapons against terrorists,
rapists and murderers? Nothing to hide, nothing to fear.
Not any more.
Not after the death of innocent Jean Charles de Menezes or the
pointless shooting of drunken barrister Mark Saunders by two police
marksmen.
Not after the inexcusable bugging, strip-searching and futile
£1million vendetta by police against journalist Sally Murrer for
revealing officers had lost the keys to the local nick - a case which
was rightly dismissed last week.
And certainly not after the Stasi-style raid by anti-terror police on
an MP I know to be above reproach.
Damian Green's "crime" was to make Home Secretary Jacqui Smith look
even more foolish than she is by exposing the chaos in her department
over illegal immigration - surely a matter of national interest.
If Damian Green can be banged up for nine hours for telling the
truth, what hope for you and me?
Indeed, if Westminster is not a sanctuary for an elected MP, what
hope for any of us?
Parliament may at times be a disreputable bear pit, but it is the
core of our democracy for which many fought and died. It is
unforgivable for Labour Speaker Michael Martin to abdicate his role
as guardian of those privileges and wave the cops in.
His partisan surrender symbolises the way blinkered, insensitive
authority now tramples over the rights of people it is supposed to
protect.
Police chiefs are a law unto themselves. And they are out of control.
The Government's kneejerk abuse of anti-terror laws as a political
weapon is increasingly sinister.
Pygmies
It uses them on any pretext - even freezing the economy of friendly
Iceland recently when its banks went bust.
Faceless town hall officials use counter-terrorism as a pretext for
spying on our garbage bins and school runs.
Soon, unelected snoopers will be able to pry into our mobile calls,
text messages and emails.
These are the alarming consequences of an authoritarian regime that
sees the state as paramount and the people as pygmies.
Labour's Stalinist attitude to dissent became shockingly apparent
when they manhandled an 82-year-old heckler out of their 2005
conference for daring to shout "nonsense" at Jack Straw. This
bullying has seeped into a bureaucracy that purports to represent the
human face of the welfare state while presiding over the torture and
tragic death of Baby P.
Public sector managers see their first duty as covering each other's
backs while paying lip service to hospital patients, school pupils,
crime victims and children at risk.
And the only response from the likes of Haringey children's welfare
supremo Sharon Shoesmith and sulky Jacqui Smith is a glare with
resentment - as if THEY are the victims.
In an ill-judged outburst yesterday, the Home Secretary disgracefully
smeared Damian Green by hinting there was more to the terror raid
than we knew. If so, we must be shown the evidence.
Labour likes to portray itself as the caring party - in contrast to
the "nasty" Tories. But imagine if the events of recent weeks had
happened after 12 years of Tory rule.
There would be screams of "fascism", violent protests and street
marches by civil libertarians.
What we are seeing today is the arrogance of a buck-passing,
secretive political class who see criticism as tantamount to treason.
That's how the Home Secretary justifies her department's anti-terror
squad rummaging through the love letters of an innocent man whose
"crime" was to expose her ministerial incompetence.
This raid, seen initially by gleeful Labour as an embarrassment for
the Tories, has blown up in their faces.
Now it threatens to overshadow the Queen's Speech to Parliament on
Wednesday and could signal the end for Speaker Martin.
Gordon Brown should apologise quickly - before voters decide he is a
ruthless control freak willing to accept any abuse of power to harm
his opponents and stay in office.
AS the nation slides into debt and depression, cash-strapped voters
are beginning to ask if we can afford the bloated bill for the 2012
Games. Others say it will be a spectacular way to celebrate the end
of the slump.
But will the recession be over by then, as Gordon Brown promises?
Olympics minister Tessa Jowell seems to have her doubts.
She has taken the career-threatening step of asking the PM to promise
the new 45p top-rate tax hike is the last. Fat chance.
=========================
THE TIMES 1.12.08
Damian Green is accused of orchestrating up to 20 leaks
[To avoid repetitions of earlier postings I have omitted a passage -cs]
Francis Elliott, Richard Ford and Sean O'Neill
Detectives accused Damian Green of "grooming" a young civil servant
during questioning over the leaking of up to 20 Home Office
documents, according to a senior Conservative.
The row over the arrest of the Tory frontbencher escalated last night
as Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, and Michael Martin, the Speaker,
came under pressure to explain further their roles in the affair.
Ms Smith's claim not to know that a Tory MP was under investigation
was directly challenged by her Shadow, Dominic Grieve. Mr Martin was
forced to announce that he would make a Commons statement on why the
police were allowed to raid Mr Green's parliamentary office.
In a welter of briefings from police, ministers, civil servants and
Commons officials, the most incendiary came from a senior
Conservative who said that Mr Green was accused of "grooming his
contact" during his nine-hour detention on Thursday. "Damian was very
angry at this clear attempt to provoke him and did not reply. As a
party we want to make it clear that this was grossly inappropriate
but symptomatic of the cack-handed way the police have conducted this
investigation."
Sources close to the investigation confirmed that they were examining
information suggesting that Mr Green encouraged the official,
Christopher Galley, 26, to leak documents and may have set him
specific tasks.
(- - - - - - - - -) Senior civil servants said that about 20 leaks
were being investigated. The Tories had put the figure at four.
Ms Smith refused to apologise for the manner of Mr Green's arrest.
She said that the investigation was triggered by "a systematic series
of leaks from a department that deals with some of the most sensitive
and confidential information in Government". [= 'information
exposing Home Office blunders -cs]
Mr Grieve alleged that she "knew very well" that an MP was being
drawn into the investigation, but "just decided to sit back on her
hands". The Shadow Home Secretary rejected Ms Smith's claim that it
was proper that ministers kept out of police investigations, saying
that "all sense of proportion and common sense" had been lost. The
police appeared to have been acting on "flimsy and trivial grounds",
he said.
The Speaker said that he would make a statement after Harriet Harman,
the Leader of the House, questioned the decision to allow police to
search Mr Green's Commons office. Mr Martin faces questions over
whether he personally approved the raids and on what basis.
Sir Paul Stephenson, who becomes acting commissioner of the
Metropolitan Police today, may withdraw an application to be the next
commissioner after a row with Boris Johnson, the London Mayor, over
Mr Green's arrest. One Yard source said: "This is the worst crisis
ever - if we call off the inquiry we look stupid and if we go ahead
the criticism will be relentless."
Gordon Brown was told that a Home Office mole had been caught before
Mr Green was arrested. Treasury officials refuse to say formally
whether there is a leak inquiry into the disclosure of information
from No 11, including details of the Pre-Budget Report. A source said
that the investigation was internal and that the police were not
involved as yet. [They won't be, for these were government leaks -cs]
Other Home Office leaks being investigated are: the complete version
of Sir Ronnie Flanagan's report on the future of policing in
February; the information that a disc containing details of 4,000
Dutch offenders that had been sent to Britain had been lost for a
year; and news of the loss of data on thousands of prolific
offenders. [All showing goverrnment incompetence -cs]
The leak in August this year that a memory stick containing names of
prolific offenders and the names and addresses of 84,000 prisoners
had been lost was particularly damaging as it was disclosed just two
days after Ms Smith herself was informed.
=========================
OTHER PAPERS - main articles - summaries 1.12.08
Bruce Anderson: Parliament's rights are under threat
"As we learned about the harassment of Damian Green and his family, a
lot of us wondered whether we were still living in Great Britain, or
whether our country, which was once synonymous with its people's
freedom, had ceased to exist." - Bruce Anderson in The Independent
Harman voices her concerns over Green arrest...
"Harriet Harman yesterday broke Government ranks to join a chorus of
concern at the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green in connection with a
leak inquiry. She said there were some "very big constitutional
principles" that needed to be safeguarded, including MPs' right to do
their jobs without interference from the law." - Daily Express
...and a senior Labour backbencher says that heads should roll
"If the Speaker has doubts he should consult privy councillors rather
than take the decision on his own... If not, then the Commons must
assert its rights on behalf of the people who send us to Parliament."
- Denis Macshane writing in the Daily Telegraph
Doubts raised about what Jacqui Smith says she knew
"Miss Smith stubbornly refused to condemn the treatment of David
Cameron's migration spokesman, insisting that Ministers' first duty
was to 'uphold the independence of police'. She also denied knowing
that the Home Office leak inquiry was targeting a Tory MP... Miss
Smith's denial of any advance knowledge was swiftly challenged by
Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve, who came close to accusing her
of lying. Mr Grieve said: 'The most important is about what the Home
Secretary knew. 'I found her answers extremely unconvincing. I think
she knew that there was an MP involved in this investigation and she
just decided to sit back on her hands." - Daily Mail
...as David Davis rallies support for a challenge to Martin's
authority...
"David Davis has placed himself at the head of a cross-party campaign
to challenge the Speaker over his role in the police raids on Damian
Green. The Tory bruiser has set up a Commons showdown on Wednesday -
when MPs gather for the first time since Mr Green's arrest to debate
the Queen's Speech." - Daily Mail
Jackie Ashley: Jacqui Smith failed in her first duty
"At the heart of the government's dismal mishandling of the Damian
Green affair is its woeful failure to grasp the proper relationship
between elected authority and the police. Again and again yesterday,
the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, said she knew nothing, because it
was "right" that the police should be "independent"... Smith should
have found out what was being contemplated by the police and then
intervened to stop it. Far from being "Stalinist", that would have
been the proportionate, liberal and sensible thing. Having failed to
do that, she should then have apologised to Green." - Jackie Ashley
in The Guardian
=========================
POLITICS HOME Blog 1.12.08
Comments on Police Scandal
===========================
The World At One, BBC Radio 4 at 13:36
Review into leaks at Whitehall needed, says Tony Wright
Tony Wright, Labour MP
Mr. Wright said that there was going to be a review into the matter
of leaks in Whitehall.
"We need to know how the whle issue of leaks are handled."
He also said that the issue of the police had to be dealt with. "I
think one issue is when police are involved and when they're not
involved.
"On the face of it, I think something very serious happened and my
first reaction was one of the police going completely over the top."
He said, however, that Members of Parliament were not above the law
and he refused to say whether he thought the police's actions was a
Contempt of Parliament.
==========================================
POLITICS HOME 1.12.08
Christopher Galley gave info to Damian Green in "public interest"
Mr. Galley, speaking through a solicitor, said that he had met Mr.
Green first in 2006 and had leaked information to him on several
occasions.
His statement said "Mr. Galley gave Green information which was
important for the public to know in an open and democratic
parliamentary system.
"As the Shadow Minister for immigratoin, Damian Green received the
information in the same spirit and used it in his parliamentary
duties. In providing this information, Mr. Galley believed it would
be used in a wholly responsible manner in the public interest.
"As a consequence, Mr. Galley was arrested by anti-terrorist officers
on the 19 November this year. He was held under arrest at a police
station for 17 hours and only released after exhaustive questioning
by police."
He said that " If ever there was a case of don't shoot the messenger,
this is surely it."
His lawyer said that the material was "of the lowest level" of
security clearance.
"Most would describe it as embarassment material and material that is
part of the public interest It's really not national security,
terrorism, financial jeopardy, loss-gain to others. Nothing remotely
like that."
In a separate statement, Mr. Galley dismissed rumours that he had
been used to entrap Mr. Green. "This is a malicious rumour and
wholly untrue."
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