Wednesday 3 December 2008

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Harman Signs The Speaker's Death Warrant

Iain Dale 10:50 PM

It really does come to a pretty pass when the Leader of the House of Commons is asked to express confidence in the Speaker of the House of Commons and the Serjeant at Arms and three times declines to do so. It hasn't been a good day for Harriet Harman, has it? Skewered by Eddie Mair, and now by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight.

If the Leader of the House of Commons doesn't have confidence in The Speaker then how can the rest of us? Harriet Harman tonight signed Michael Martin's death warrant.

The Daley Dozen: Wednesday

Iain Dale 10:12 PM

1. Laura Sandys on Our Kingdom explains the parallels between the Damian Green case and her father's (Duncan Sandys) in the 1930s.
2. Shaun Bailey on the Blue Blog attends the Damilola Taylor memorial service with David Cameron.
3. Nigel Fletcher on why the Met Commissioner should be brought to the bar of the House of Commons.
4. Kerron Cross is reduced to saying that Tories are being beastly to Michael Martin because he's working class. Not, it's because he's crap at his job. Simple as that.
5. Iain Martin explains why the show trial of Damian Green is indeed Stalinist.
6. Lord Norton wonders what would happen if the Police wanted to search a Peer's office.
7. Jon Craig asks some pertinent questions on the Damian Green affair and has a bird's eye view of the Serjeant at Arms.
8. Greg Hands reports from the CDU party conference on Merkel's conversion to Thatcherism.
9. Dave's Part on the Johanne Kaschke libel issue (he is being sued, along with Alex Hilton).
10. Three Thousand Versts on some LibDem hypocrisy north of the border.
11. Baroness Ros Scott loves a bit of pomp.
12. Nadine Dorries calls Michael Martin a Speaker without honour.

Kevin Maguire is Mandy's Parrot

Iain Dale 9:45 PM

Kevin Maguire's political "commentary" is becoming more of a joke by the day. Earlier on he was on Sky News getting a pasting from the Telegraph's Andrew Pierce. And now I see he has written on his blog the following words of wisdom.

"Each day the Tory indignation at Damian Green's arrest looks like a smokescreen to hide the fact they have colluded in a possible crime."
Earlier on today Peter Mandelson said...

"I also think it's pretty self-serving by Conservative MPs, who want to put up a smoke screen to hide their own party's role in allegedly colluding with a Home Office official in breaking the law."

If Kevin Maguire wants a job as Peter Mandelson's parrot, why doesn't he just ask for one?

Labels: 

Eddie Mair Skewers Harriet Harman

Iain Dale 7:00 PM

Eddie Mair skewered Harriet Harman on PM just now - several times. Click HERE and then scroll in about 17 minutes. The really good bit starts at 20 minutes. Listen to her squirm when he asks her if she received leaked documents from her lawyer sister. "I was perfectly entitled to receive them. I was Solicitor General," she shrills. Funny how a court of law didn't see it that way. Her sister was found guilty of a contempt of court, had to resign as a Judge and had to pay £25,000 court costs.

UPDATE: I am told that Harriet is on Newsnight tonight - with Mr Paxman. I do hope he was listening to PM.

Did the Police Have a Warrant Requested Denied?

Iain Dale 5:44 PM

There's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing in the previous threads about whether the Police needed warrant or not. The Police apparently think they did, because they had three warrants issued at 5.15pm on Wednesday. One was to seach Damian Green's Ashford home, one to search his London home and one to search his constituency office.

Why did they not apply for a warrant to search his House of Commons office? Did they think they didn't need one? Or was it because Jill Pay had already given them the nod.

Or there is another explanation. The Police did think they needed a warrant to search Green's Commons Office, applied for it, but the magistrate turned it down. Unlikely, but in this peculiar story nothing is impossible.

Anyone know how this could be checked out?