If you have ever heard MPs debate their own expenses, house sitting times or committee selection then you will know how self-obsessed they can be. The Speaker's permission to allow Mr Plod to empty Damian Green's Parliamentary offices last Thursday, purely for his political activities, will stir nearly all MPs (apart from Ministers) to rebel and kick back. As Tony Benn said yesterday, "Once the police can interfere with Parliament, we are into the police state."
Speaker Martin may have sealed his own fate if it proves correct he failed to advise or inform any Minister, at the very least Leader of the House Harriet Harman, about the police operation. MPs return on Wednesday for the Queen's Speech. Unless a majority see a reasonable case by then for such overkill (in the words of David Blunkett) then one can expect an unprecedented constitutional crisis of serial points of order being raised and no speech from Her Maj. Mick Martin has never been very forthcoming about the detail of the Speaker's deliberation and has shown to be very sensitive to criticism. It has all the makings of a bloody conflict.
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It has been revealed the Home Office 'mole' was an APS (Assistant Private Secretary in the Special Advisers office). That office is copied into every significant policy document and letter. He was arrested but not charged and no doubt has been given an empty threat of a jail term. There have been other similarly ludicrous cases of late but I would resist calling this a pattern - the rozzers are not that organised.
Yesterday Judge Southwell dismissed a case brought by Thames Valley Police against a local hack in Milton Keynes for talking with officers about current criminal cases. That's not conspiracy - it is just bread and butter journalism.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5254372.ece
The case wasn't so much as thrown out of court as catapulted. I suspect the basis of the problem is police officers with rather limited brain power taking it upon themselves to make quite far-reaching legal judgements. Why do they think they should? Their role is to uphold the law and not interpret it. Coming out of Hendon with a woodentop and a Merit badge in crowd control does not make you Director of Public Prosecutions.
Apparently the coppers described Green's Parliamentary office as 'crime scene' and fixed his personal e-mail so it returned messages with the Dalek-like reply of "Your message was not delivered because of security policies."
Their actions show these officers to be both legalistically incapable and politically dense.
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Jacqui Smith on the Andrew Marr show failed to take the hint the political heat was higher than she realised. She justified the police action in response to, "systematic breaches of security," when she really meant confidentiality. When asked by AM whether she could apologise to Green about the violation of his Parliamentary privilege she said to do so would compromise the operational independence of the police. It was quite early on a Sunday for such a jaw-dropping experience.
Speaker Martin may have sealed his own fate if it proves correct he failed to advise or inform any Minister, at the very least Leader of the House Harriet Harman, about the police operation. MPs return on Wednesday for the Queen's Speech. Unless a majority see a reasonable case by then for such overkill (in the words of David Blunkett) then one can expect an unprecedented constitutional crisis of serial points of order being raised and no speech from Her Maj. Mick Martin has never been very forthcoming about the detail of the Speaker's deliberation and has shown to be very sensitive to criticism. It has all the makings of a bloody conflict.
************************************************************************
It has been revealed the Home Office 'mole' was an APS (Assistant Private Secretary in the Special Advisers office). That office is copied into every significant policy document and letter. He was arrested but not charged and no doubt has been given an empty threat of a jail term. There have been other similarly ludicrous cases of late but I would resist calling this a pattern - the rozzers are not that organised.
Yesterday Judge Southwell dismissed a case brought by Thames Valley Police against a local hack in Milton Keynes for talking with officers about current criminal cases. That's not conspiracy - it is just bread and butter journalism.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article5254372.ece
The case wasn't so much as thrown out of court as catapulted. I suspect the basis of the problem is police officers with rather limited brain power taking it upon themselves to make quite far-reaching legal judgements. Why do they think they should? Their role is to uphold the law and not interpret it. Coming out of Hendon with a woodentop and a Merit badge in crowd control does not make you Director of Public Prosecutions.
Apparently the coppers described Green's Parliamentary office as 'crime scene' and fixed his personal e-mail so it returned messages with the Dalek-like reply of "Your message was not delivered because of security policies."
Their actions show these officers to be both legalistically incapable and politically dense.
****************************************************************
Jacqui Smith on the Andrew Marr show failed to take the hint the political heat was higher than she realised. She justified the police action in response to, "systematic breaches of security," when she really meant confidentiality. When asked by AM whether she could apologise to Green about the violation of his Parliamentary privilege she said to do so would compromise the operational independence of the police. It was quite early on a Sunday for such a jaw-dropping experience.
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