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Ordeal of MP's family as nine anti-terror officers raided home
Joe Murphy, Political Editor28.11.08
EXTRAORDINARY details of the heavy-handed police operation against shadow immigration minister Damian Green were revealed this afternoon.
Nine counter-terrorism officers raided the MP's London home, frightening his 15-year-old daughter Verity and wife Alicia who were there.
Mr Green was seized at his constituency home in Ashford, Kent, and held at Belgravia police station for nine hours, only one of which was used to question him about his alleged crime - leaking information embarrassing to the Home Office.
As fury grew over the way an elected MP had been treated after helping to expose government blunders, the Evening Standard learned that when his Commons and constituency offices were searched his mobile phone, BlackBerry and computers were all removed for examination, complete with confidential files stored on them.
His email account had been disabled. Messages were bounced back with the terse explanation: "Your message wasn't delivered because of security policies."
A Tory source said angrily: "He cannot do his job, which means the voters of Ashford have been disenfranchised by the police."
The affair was turning into the biggest row over Whitehall leaks since the prosecution of civil servant Clive Ponting in 1985, over leaks about the Belgrano sinking, and the jailing of Sarah Tisdall in 1983 for leaking secrets about US cruise missiles in the UK.
By contrast, however, the molehunt at the Home Office was for the source of a stream of stories that embarrassed the Government rather than threatened national security. They included that 5,000 illegal migrants had been cleared to work in security. Last week a junior Home Office official, aged 26, was arrested.
Tory leader David Cameron said police and ministers had "serious questions" to answer, particularly about the use of counter-terrorism officers.
David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, said Mr Green's job was exposing failures in the Government and that the arrest was "reminiscent of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe". He added that Winston Churchill relied on a Whitehall whistleblower to expose lack of preparedness before the Second World War. "If the police had applied these rules in the Thirties, Churchill would not have been Prime Minister - he would have been a prisoner," he said.
Liberty director Shami Chakrabarti said: "The fundamental duty of the Metropolitan Police is to protect Londoners from harm, not the Government from political embarrassment."
Mr Green, 52, was finally released on unconditional bail shortly before midnight without charge but must return to face further questioning in February.
The MP described his arrest as "astonishing". Speaking outside Parliament this morning he said: "I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong."
Some Tories suspected that the action was an attempt to intimidate other civil servants tempted to leak documents, especially from the Treasury where ministers think there is a high-placed Tory mole.
Reader views (56)
Nobody is above the law
- Alex Lisinge, Putney London
This has been orchestrated by the same party that wants us all to have ID cards. The wants to have 40+ days before they have to charge a person. I could add that they are also one of the worts legislators around, how many bills have turned out to be a complete shambles.
10p Tax, IR35, Now the about turn on lap dancing - they were told about their crap law before hand. The latest prostition law is another example. Whether you think the law is correct or not the actually implemntation turns out to be frankly a mess.
The current Labour Party are a deaf, vindictive and very dangerous bunch of extremists in my book.
Interestingly the one group that seem to have sussed them are the Scots, which will probably ensure that
they don't make it into power, regardless of what happens in England.
- Neil Martin, Milton Keynes, UK
If they have the affrontery to do this to an acting member of the opposition what chance has an ordinary working class being got.
- P.M.Hughes, Norfolk
Nice one Gordon - another own goal. You have just lost the next general election, because even your own party hate your dictatorial ways. You are too much of a coward to say that the job is not for you and step down.
- Andy T, London
If this arrest was without Jacqui Smiths knowledge the police were out of control and in this country with the control freak Brown in charge that would never happen.
Either the police run the country or the government they can't have it both way's.
This is now a police state is it?.
- Kenherts, hertford
The police action is absolutely outrageous and unforgivable.The police must now be viewed as being politicised,thay have acted to subvert the democratic processes of parliament,thay cannot be allowed to do this,democracy its self is in danger,heads must roll,the people must not let this drop,it is her majesty's government, the queen must intervene.
- Kev, London
What next,as i am presently out of the UK on holiday will i be returning to a Police State-maybe with my British Passport i will not be allowed back!Brown and his cronies make the ANC party in South Africa and Mugabe in Zimbabwe look like amateurs.
- Harvey Lawrence, london
The Turkeys voted for Xmas at the last election and probably will do again. The average voter appears to be as thick as the average policeman being unable to take in how Labour has destroyed the country.Bankrupt both morally & financially.
It is obvious that this unnecessary caper is Government inspired. The sensible way to have gone about it would have been for a couple of policemen to drop by at his house when they knew he was in and drive him down to the Nick. But NO,They go in mob handed,tipping off the Press, frightening his family ,hold him in custody for hours yet only talk to him for an hour. Then release him on bail which is not a requirement . An insult to an M.P., to those who voted for him and to British Justice.
Come on Cameron go for the jugular. Lets hear from Frank Field,Kate Hoey and the few decent Labour M.P's.or perhaps not as they might end up in the cooler as well!!
IT STINKS
- Mordwinoff, Lisle FRANCE
Stealing and distributing Government information is against the law.
- Keith Price, Luton, England
Oh, and another thing, Val in Mijas: if you are so fussed about what your glorious government is doing, why don't you come back to the UK and suffer it like the rest of us.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
This is another example of The Speaker's disgusting partisan actions. If it had happened in Betty Boothroyd's or Lord Tonypandy's day they would both have stood astride the Shadow Minister's door, physically barring the police officer's way, before they would have allowed any such disgusting excess of zeal to take place. It simply beggars belief. What on earth what has happened to British politics!!, this government is no better than a tin pot dictatorship. Nye Bevan will be spinning in his grave.
- Mark, Brighton U.K.
Did he have have is DNA and fingerprints taken? If not why not? Everyone is required to have these samples taken thanks to dear Gord (luv i'm). Can one of your reporters ask Mr Green if his DNA and fingerprints were taken?
- Geoff, Manchester England
I bet he was terrified when he saw the anti terrorist police ... I wonder if he vote for the 98 days detention without charge ..
- Robert Page, notts
It is wasting tax payers money when the country most needs it and instead of fighting and spying amongst yourselves in Parliament pull yourselves together and actually sort this complete derelict mess the a country out, that is tell the truth, brainstorm, and put policies into place to benefit Britain, and remember you are no longer 5 years old you have a duty to perform to the British People and that is serve your country to make it the best it can be, tell your constiuents the truth or hand over to someone who can, be big and brave and for once in your lives work for your Britian! When that happens we will have a proper democracy and a healthy wealthy happy fun loving law abiding country.
Has the gamblng casino policies that went foot, surfaced as a government policy to save the country?
- Ruth, London
Another of 'Commandant' Jacqui Smith's ideas? One thing I've noticed about the present lot of Labour women in power is how they all look similar-flat faces as if hit by a large wok, muppet hair cuts, and all with a power complex-are they aliens from another planet methinks?
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK
I tend to agree with Fergus. Jacqui Smith denies all knowledge of this, of course, but then she would, wouldn't she?
- Tom In London, London UK
Been a long time since anyone said to you,"Well,it's a free country"?It has,hasn't it?
I can't think why that may be,can you?
- J Austin, Thame,England
Labour going Stalinist now.
- Delphine, Oxford
labour MP's leaking = Spin
Conservative MP's leaking = criminal offence
- Ed, suffolk
David Cameron said it all spot on. The real voice of common sense whilst the so called "Prime Minister" denies all knowledge. Gordon Brown this is not how we run a British democracy and Sir Paul Stephenson is proving himself to be a clone of Sir Ian Blair. Can we please have some sense and sensibility back into British politics, policing and our democracy. Terrible state of affairs.
- Paul, Berlin, Germany
Too late Mike, Britain's at yet another early bird late night turkey shopathon-opium of the people indeed!Virgin tokens with your labour ballot at the next election anyone?
- A Moreno, Luxembourg
First the BNP, then the Tories. The Lib Dems better tread carefully or McStalin will have them arrested.
This country gets worse every day, we must look so pathetic to the rest of the Western world.
- Liam, London
Val Daniels, you MUST be being paid by the government for spouting propoganda. As I remember it the wonderful Gordon was considering an election. The Tories said they would cut IHT, the polls said the Tories would win hands down and Gordon chickened out. Darling then immediately copied the IHT cut although at a lower rate. Val,please open your eyes this is a nasty, bullying and vindictive government and the sooner they go the better for all of us.
- Michael, London
Jacqui Smith is well known to be vindictive, ill-tempered and despite accomplished handlers, prone to gaffes and bad decisions. As Home Office Maitre D', there is little doubt she knew this was coming, and I imagine Liam Byrne was in the loop along with a number of Permanent Secretaries. Sooner Smith gets dumped the better.
Paul Stephenson, acting Commissioner of the Met, has now seen his chances of getting the job all but disappear.
- Ian, London UK
Strange that the Government are telling every they didn't explicitly know when they are not demanding to to know why it happened, they protest too much me thinks.
- Christopher, Hemel Hempstead
Val Daniels: "Now we find it was this hypocrite who was responsible for those same leaks". You idiot. Damian Green has been arrested for RECEIVING information not for leaking it. Stay in Spain and let us worry about our democracy being eroded bit by bit by a bunch of self-serving communists. It wasn't so long ago that the Spanish lived under a similar totalitarian regime. Ask your neighbours how it was for them.
- Invicta, Chatham, Kent
The problem with the Labour Party, and left wingers in general, is that if you don't agree with them they think you are either stark raving mad, or at worse a traitor. Has everyone noticed that every answer they give to a question these days is answered with "What the Conservatives said"? Are they writing down Tory quotes for a future State Trial?
- Patrick, Reading
We really have arrived in a police state, ruled over by Zanu-Labour. Statements regarding non-ministerial involvement can be dismissed as brazen lies, of the sort which are grist to the mill for all totalitarian regimes.I understand that our friendly Stasi have told Damian Green that he will be summoned for questioning again in February. He should stand his ground and tell these corrupt scoundrels to go to hell in a handcart. The officers who acquiesced in this grotesque abuse of power should, after a Conservative return to office, be hunted down, thrown out of the Force -sans pension-and subject to criminal investigation. The legislation under which this arrest was made should be repealed as a matter of extreme urgency along with all other laws misused by govenrment officials to snoop on and victimise ordinary, law-abiding citizens
- Peter, Pirot, Serbia
Val, Why are you in Spain moaning about the Tories. Ideally you should be in Spain to run away from Labour! Why bother to jump ship if you love this country and the Labour Party so much?
- Sally, Orpington, Kent
Why don't we lock up the other liars in government then: Blair and Brown wouldn't see the light of day until about 2050.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland
Night of the long knives!!
It's started then, this gov feels it can now act unimpeded and silence anyone who speaks out. To arresst an opposition MP like this is abhorrent. I always thought Jacqui Smith was not to be trusted
- Fergus, london
First, this wretched lot employs anti-Terrorism laws against Iceland, without any readiness to help, on the flimsiest of excuses and now resorts to the same practice against a respected MP.
They have sunk to a new low in abusing our legal system and the only hope is this will alert the majority of UK voters to the bullying that is becoming more and more evident from this poor excuse for a government.
- Bingham Macnamara, lymington, uk
I think Val Daniels,s Comment is complete rubbish.She obviously has forgotten Gordon Browns behaviour in opposition in the 1990's
- Frank, London
Don't be surprised that Zanu Labour's Metropolitan Police don't understand the importance of Parliamentary privilege. For 11 years Labour have been reducing the accountability of the Police to we that pay their wages and turning them increasingly into the State police. Small surprise then that they feel they can raid our Parliament with impunity; as far as Ian Blair's Met are concerned, we're all terrorists.
It's high time we got the Met back under local borough control, with a superintendant responsible to a local elected police committee. Labour's Statism is leading exactly where many of warned it would - to totalitarianism.
- James Parnell, London, UK
Should not our Head of State, The Queen be calling for an immediate response from our Prime Minister on the meaning of this affront to our hard won (Two World Wars) democracy.
I think our 'Mugabesque' Prime Minister, Gordon Brown should be summoned to the Palace at once to provide our Head of State with some answers to this shocking state of affairs.
- Freddie, Suffolk
David Davies was absolutely right to make an issue of the destruction of our civil liberties and this proves he was right. I am keeping my identity anonymous in case Labour's state police arrest me for saying this.
- Anon, London
This is discraceful, this bastion of freedom that WAS has now become a police and a nanny state, where are the bleeding heart liberals that used to march and protest against every other government in the world that acted exactly the same as Labour is doing now...
- Viv - Watching, SCOTLAND
Have we ever heard Cameron complain about any other innocent person being locked up for 9 hours.
Surely if he has broken the law or encouraged other to break the law then he should expect to be questionned|
- Richard James, London
This news needs to be kept high profile over the next few days and weeks to show people clearly just what kind of state the Labour Party are running here. Ever since they came into office 11 years ago they have tried to scotch all legitimate opposition, as though opposition were the equivalent of treason. A man does his job- and a job that Labour politicians did so effectively in the 1990s- and he gets arrested. Damian Green is an elected Member of Parliament and is a shadow minister in Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. He has every right to uncover information about how the Government is running the country, whether it embarrasses the Labour Party or not. The Labour Party should realise that MPs swear an oath of allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen, not to the Labour Party itself. That is a huge difference it hasn't quite fathomed yet.
- Richard, Haringey, London, UK
Welcome to Gordon Brown's Great Dictatorship. We've been stealthed out of existence and now we're being arrested if we complain. A revolting regime.
- Fiona, London
Wake up Britain!
Police action against those the government does not like for political reasons is nothing new - see the BBC documentary True Spies.
What is new here is the crude tactics in arresting a senior member of the official opposition. This is a significant step on the road to a full police state following the East German communist Stasi model.
You've been warned.
- Mike Newland, London
The hypocrisy from Damian Green is beyond belief. It was only a short time ago he was appearing on BBC and standing up in the House exhorting the Government to 'get a grip' on the information leaking from the Home Office. Now we find it was this hypocrite who was responsible for those same leaks. Similarly, the Tories are responsible, through their moles, for the leaks from the Treasury as well, including Alastair Darling's plans for Inheritance Tax, which plans George Osborne tweaked and claimed as his own at the Tory conference. Why is anybody surprised at anything the Tories do?
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa. Spain
I find this totally alarming. Our country is bordering on a state controlled one-party dictatorship.
People need to open their eyes and get rid of Labour in the next election.
The alternative is something I don't want to consider.
- Lisa, London
Our typical communist Labour government, doesn't like someone getting the truth to the public, so they send in the bully boys. Labour is so corrupt.
- Anon, London
T have us believe that senior government ministers knew nothing of this is stretching credulity to far. They lie to us about everything so why believe them this time. Clearly an arrest sponsored by this fascist government as a warning. The Met bleating that they did it off their own bat sounds like 'I want to keep my job and my pension so will say anything they tell me to'. Tiem for an election before this government manipulates our voting rights to keep them selves in power for ever. just like North Korea is'nt it.
- James, Bury st Edmunds UK
It would not have happened on David Davis's watch. Where's Dominic Grieve? David Cameron must deal with the weak links on his front bench.
- John, London
Does no-one in Briton understand how scary the country now looks to the rest of Europe? Everything is in place for the next Reich! How can someone be released on bail if they haven't been charged with anything? He's lucky he was only held for 9 hours: the present Government would like to have the power to hold him without charge for 7 weeks. Since coming to power Labour has done nothing but tinker with laws that have worked for centuries: it is wholesale removal of the civil liberties of the individual purely to empower the State.
- Roz, Chamonix, France
The detention of MPs is the sort of thing Charles the First used to get up to.
- Peter Haldane, London
Welcome to the new Soviet Union. If citizens can be arrested on a whim of the police using anti-terrorism laws how long will it be before they are whipped of to a gulag camp to disappear. Well done Labour, no-one else could have created (with the help of the EU) a new Soviet Union so quickly. You should all be locked up in The Tower of London for treason.
- Vanessa, London
This is another example of why Labour are not fit for office. To arrest a member of the opposition for doing his job is an assualt on democracy. And why were anti-terror police involved? Labour (and various councils around the country) are far too keen to use these anti-terror laws for situations which have nothing to do with terrorism e.g. the Icelandic bank crisis or suspected benefit fraud. The arrest of Greene is another example of the government's misuse of power.
- Richard Mather, Manchester, UK
It is inconceivable that government ministers did not know about this before the arrest, or more likely, they were behind it. The use of 9 counter-terrorism agents puts the UK in league of repressive regimes such as Russia, China or Zimbabwe. How have we sunk to this? Totally outrageous. Labour out now.
- Andrew, London
First the BNP were targeted, now it's the turn of the Tories. Who next ?
- Greg, Wigan
If government ministers were aware of this, then we would all need to take to the streets to confront the NuLabour police state that would have arrived. If they were not aware, then we need to know who is in charge of this new, unknown "Ministry for State Security" which has the power to enter and search Parliamentary premises ... and why Mr Speaker allowed that unconstitutional move.
- Sean, Coventry UK
There you have it, we are now officially living in a communist police state.
Thank you brother Brezhnev Brown.
- Frank, Home Counties, England
You know, if Nu Liebour didn't lie all the time then people wouldn't need to leak this information would they? It's hardly a national security problem is it?
- Bob, Cheam
There is indeed an obscure law that allows the police to make an arrest of this kind. Guess who wanted this law in this Anti Terrorism legislation?
The Conservative Party. With help from the Labour party of course.
Unbeknown to them it was indeed the very law that was not intended to be used against them!!
- James Mcculloch, Vancouver Canada
