Monday, December 01, 2008

More on Damian Green

I've posted before (as have many others) of my disquiet at the inadequacy of our Prime Minister and Home Secretary's response to the arrest of Damian Green. There are also serious questions about the behaviour of the Police. I was particularly disgusted by the use of the word 'grooming' during the questioning of Damian Green. This shouldn't be a party issue, and I suspect there are many Labour MPs who share the disquiet. Which is why I was pleased to read this impressive article in today's Telegraph by Labour MP, Denis MacShane.

And now we have an attempt by Labour to stitch up the response by the Speaker to the concern of MPs like Mr MacShane tomorrow. Amusingly, this has become public through a leaked email. If Labour do try any funny business to cover up, we could be in a Watergate situation. And if the Home Secretary is found not to have been entirely truthful, she's toast. This is a very big issue, and the Government knows it. This attempt to 'arrange' things without the involvement of opposition parties is a big mistake.

Tomorrow's statement by the Speaker is going to be a lot more interesting than the Queen's Speech, which is likely to be not much more than a series of transfers of power to the state.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have it from Ms. Mopbucket's best friend, who works in London's best hotels, that Forrest Gump has been visiting Britain and staying at a hotel near Parliament. He rang the local power company last night concerned that there might be a power outage in the building opposite his hotel - he says he could see people using flash-lights ...

Anonymous said...

If nothing else this shows that the elite of the Civil Service may have first class minds but no common sense whatsoever.What were they thinking of?

They should now simply say sorry.Instead they bungle an attempted stitch-up and make things worse.

I don't know how the opposition parties should treat the state opening.To boycott it would be disrespectful to HM.Could the Speaker in practice survive if the opposition parties unite to ask him to stand down?

Anonymous said...

You would expect a politically motivated police force to arrest opposition politicians for legitimate criticism in somewhere like Zimbabwe or Burma; but NOT in the United Kingdom. You wait, next time you write a letter to complain about street lights being turned off, you will get a knock on the door in the middle of the night!

Glyn Davies said...

Penlan - I am responding without reading today's news, but I hope there was not and disrespect to the Speaker today. To show disrespect to the office of Speaker will compound the felony.

Roman - I do think this incident has been a disaster for the Met.

Anonymous said...

Where is Dixon Of Dock Green, and more specifically Dixon and his "warm, paternal and frequently moralising presence"?

Does Gordon Brown come across as a "moralising presence"?

Should we be surprised to hear from the Speaker that the police had no warrant to search Green's office? Does anyone find this amazing?

Did the Speaker come across as a "moralising presence"?

If the Speaker is correct then the Police are in hot water. According to the Sergeant at Arms the Speaker was told twice that the police were going to arrest Green - if this is correct what does this say about the Speaker?

Did the Sergeant at Arms come across as a "moralising presence"?

The Police - are they going to be the fall guy for Gordon Brown? "Taking one for the team"?

Anonymous said...

Well, if the Daily Mail is to be believed, looks like a deadly 'game' of cat and mouse cross bred with 'musical chairs' is unfolding between the Speaker and the Met - how does that SAS saying go? 'Who dares wins'?

Anonymous said...

Perhaps 'it would help' if I attached a link/URL to the Daily Mail article 'in question':

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1091612/The-end-Mr-Speaker-Calls-quit-grow-Yard-contradicts-statement-Commons.html