Ministers deny that they knew in advance about Mr Green's arrest. What they cannot deny is that, after 11 years, they have created a culture of expectation in the machinery of state, that stretches from permanent secretary to police officer, in which the control of information is the defining feature of power. These leaks were an intolerable loss of that control. The irony is that this fixation led to an inquiry and an insanely ill-judged arrest that will only foster the public's impression that nobody is in control at all.
Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer.
I am sure it has not been a happy experience for the MP for Ashford and his family, but he has not been carted off to a gulag. He has been presented with a gift-wrapped opportunity to cast himself as a victim of state bullying and a hero of liberty. I bet David Davis is inflamed with jealousy that he wasn't arrested as well. He would have insisted on the police leading him away in irons... Britain is not a police state, but some people, notably in the Met and Whitehall, are beginning to behave as if it were.
"Britain is not a police state"
ReplyDeleteNow, where is my gnat's whisker, I need to do some measuring...
Just in:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/conservative/3536668/Harriet-Harman-calls-for-review-into-Damian-Green-arrest.html
What are the odds on Bet Fair that Smith resigns/loses job before the next election? I will check right now and shove a tenner on.
Just goes to show how little I bet. Turns out that Bet Fair is only sports betting. So I called Ladbrokes.
ReplyDelete"Are you offering odds on the Home Secretary keeping her job?"
"No"
"Will you accept a one-off bet from me then?"
"You mean a 'special'?"
"Yes (= I suppose so)."
"Please hold ........ Thanks for holding ...... No. I am told 'for ethical reasons'."
"'Ethical reasons'? Never heard of that before (what do I know, but it sounded good)."
"No, neither have I"
Oh well, I tried.
And one must see vid:
ReplyDeletehttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=2jgcZmfwiHo
Hey, you lot, trot along to Guido's and watch the wonderful You Tube video there.
ReplyDeleteEat your heart out Boothroyd!
And The Devil's Whore is running on telly right now! Life imitates art.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see if Sir Paul Stephenson still gets Iain Blair's job.
ReplyDeleteThe odds were 1/2, so if he does get the job you could reasonably conclude that the arrest of Damian Green was *not* seen as a blemish on his career...
Were Section 8 PACE warrants got. If they were got, they have been subject to some judicial scrutiny in that information will have been supplied as to why the warrant was needed and what evidence / investigation / information backed up the application.
ReplyDeleteAndrew Rawnsley: "Britain is not a police state, but some people, notably in the Met and Whitehall, are beginning to behave as if it were."
ReplyDeleteWell if they are, then it is - innit! Please spare me this crap (I can say that becasue Iain did earlier)
Actually I thought D'Ancona's article was poor - windy, unclear and failing to take a principled stand.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was marginally better than the approach of the Sunday Telegraph as a whole, which was an utter disgrace. NO mention of this key issue on the front page. NOTHING at all until page 10. Then a miserable HALF PAGE. NO LEADER. Just a feeble Cartoon.
Meanwhile there was a whole page on the love life of some cook.
The Telegraph is shamed by both the Independent and the Observer, and that's saying something.
Isn't the Sunday Telegraph supposed to be a Conservative newspaper? Thanks for the help guys! Hope you've improved by the time I look you over again next decade.
iain,
ReplyDeleteIn all this let us not overlook what that two brains minister PHIL WOOLLAS said on the today programme early Friday Morning.
Je told us Mr Green had been CHARGED with Conpiracy....now that was a stange thing to say if Ministers knew nothing about the arrest!! etc
I believe he and other politicians were in on meetings deciding what to arrest Green for! and I hope Cameron can get Smith's head on this.
For how much longer will the country be degraded and wrecked by this "New" Labour filth ?
ReplyDeleteRawnsley - if it talks like a duck, walks like a duck and tastes like a duck - it is a duck.
ReplyDeleteIt is now effectively a police state, as ministers have confirmed in their public interviews.
Will you only accept proof of this when you yourself are carted off to the Scrubs for publishing a leak story?
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ReplyDeleteRuth Turner was treated far worse than this surely. And she hadn't "run" any moles at all.
ReplyDeleteWhere was Iain Dale to the rescue then? And does it matter that she was not an MP? Not in my book.
The Tory governments of recent decades have been "as bad" or "as good" depending on your point of view as this government.
And the police have now acted against both sides of the political argument with heavy handedness etc.
If the HOM/HS had stopped police on Turner, or a Tory HOM?hs had stopped arrest of DG that would be a problem too would it not?
As Rawnsley says DG is not in a gulag. He's been set up as some kind of hero possibly ... depending on what exactly he's done.
Iain - is this a spoof post by Chris Paul or has he merely overdone his medication?
ReplyDeleteAny way - why are we asking if Jacqui or God knew about the arrest of Damien before hand? Surely the real question is whether or not Mandy or Campbell knew. Or are there some out there who are still naive enough to think that Gordon is still in charge ....?
ReplyDelete