Friday, November 28, 2008

Tory MP, Damian Green arrested - is Britain now a police state?

The British media is currently focused on the Mumbai terror attacks but also on another big news story in the UK - the shocking news about the arrest of a member of Parliament. Damian Green, the Conservative shadow immigration minister was arrested on suspicion of "conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office" after a series of Home Office leaks. Mr. Green was actually doing his job by revealing information that was in the public interest! Tories express fury with police over Damian Green arrest Conservative MPs expressed their fury today over the decision by the police to arrest Damian Green in connection with a government leak inquiry. The shadow immigration minister's Tory colleagues believe that, in publishing documents allegedly provided by a whistleblower, Green was doing his job as an opposition MP, not breaking the law. And the Tories are particularly angry about the manner in which police have handled the matter – using counter-terrorism officers to arrest the MP, rather than just inviting him in for questioning. I find this news very disturbing indeed. It seems clear to me that if these details weren't leaked by a government employee to Mr. Green and he didn't pass the information to the press, that the truth would never be revealed or only a version of the "truth" would. What else is the Labour government hiding? Amd doesn't this show how anti-terrorism laws can be abused (and are)? I believe very little of what the government tells us and for them to deny any knowledge about the arrest is very hard to believe, especially after reading that David Cameron, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London and the Speaker and Sergeant at Arms of the House of Commons confirmed they were all informed. Surely, if they were told, Gordon Brown and his cronies knew full well what was happening. It raises the disturbing and sinister idea that the Labour Government are using the police. Frankly, the current government scares me because the ministers appear to be corrupt. I believe the police are too. Put those two together and Britain has become a very, very scary place indeed. When the governement can use the police to punish whistleblowers for exposing serious misconduct in the government, it is the beginning of a police state. What are your thoughts about the arrest of Mr Damian Green?

6 comments:

  1. I believe that the Government do use the police and that we are already a police state to a large extent.
    I think that you're right to be scared because such powers, and abuse of them, will continue to grow.
    It's yet another sad reflection of the times we now live in.
    Take care. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Flighty, I thought I might be over-reacting to this news but the more I read about what happened to Damian Green, the more I realize just how serious this news story really is.

    It's unbelievable that anti terror police arrested an elected representative of Parliament for revealing information that was in the public interest! This arrest has undermined democracy and the role of MPs. When whistleblowers are silenced, it's very frightening indeed.

    I hope this serves as a wake-up call and there will be serious inquiries about what happened. This government needs a shake-up badly. The only good result from the disgraceful arrest of Damian Green is the damage to Brown and his ministers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You've not over reacted at all!
    I agree with all you say, and think that criticism over what happened will continue in, and out of, parliament for some time to come.
    Not having a written constitution doesn't help matters such as this either. xx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just to clear one point up - it used to be the Special Branch that dealt with this type of case. However, due to re-organisation within the Met - Special Branch is now called Counter Terroism Branch. I serously doubt that it was CTB officers who are specialists and not SB officers who are dealing with this case.

    Change of Name causes lots of problems and heightens people's fears.

    If you wait long enough - you will probably find that 'money' has been involved. Otherwise zilch would have happened.

    GC

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Flighty. I appreciate your comments.

    Indeed, it's incredible that Britain still doesn't have a written constitution

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the information, GC. I'm sure there is a lot more to this story. It seems to get more and more sinister as more facts are revealed.

    It's probably irrelevant now what branch of police they were since eveyone will simply remember that members of the police force arrested an MP and searched his office and home.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.