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Shameful: Jacqui Smith slammed for Damian Green fiasco
Joe Murphy, Political Editor16 Apr 2009
HOME SECRETARY Jacqui Smith faced a storm of outrage this afternoon as the secrets case against Damian Green was dramatically thrown out.
A searing verdict by the Director of Public Prosecutions said leaks about government blunders obtained by Mr Green were actually matters of public interest.
The pointless Scotland Yard investigation cost taxpayers between £3 million and £5 million and led to the shocking sight of an MP being hauled into police cells and threatened with prosecution on serious charges usually used in bribery cases.
But today Mr Green was cleared of conspiracy to cause corruption in public office. Also in the clear was Home Office whistleblower Christopher Galley, who has spent six months on paid gardening leave despite admitting he passed documents on to the Tory MP and shadow minister for immigration.
In a separate report, the Commons home affairs committee revealed that, contrary to government claims, there was no threat to national security from the leaks.
The only damage inflicted has been the political embarrassment to Ms Smith and the Home Office. As fury erupted over the handling of the case, the question being asked by Tory MPs was whether the power of the State was used against Mr Green because of his success at leaving ministers with red faces.
Although he did not accuse Ms Smith of directly influencing the investigation, a relieved Mr Green said he believed officials may have over-reacted because of the level of anger among their political masters.
“I think that is very possible,” he told the Standard. “You can assume that the atmosphere inside the Home Office and the Cabinet Office was one of frustration that their failings in immigration policy were being exposed and they were embarrassed about that. This whole affair has been the upshot of that atmosphere.”
The leaks included a memo showing that Ms Smith was warned that thousands of illegal immigrants had been given sensitive jobs in Whitehall security. Another revealed that ministers were warned that an illegal immigrant was caught working in Parliament with a fake ID.
The Cabinet Office called in Scotland Yard by writing a letter claiming there had been “considerable damage to national security”.
The letter was by Cabinet Office director of security and intelligence Chris Wright. Sir David Normington, the most senior civil servant in the Home Office, told a committee of MPs that “at least one” of the leaks related to national security.
But both were contradicted, first by the home affairs committee report, and then by the sensational statement by Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions, announcing there would be no charges. He said the material did not relate to “military, policing or intelligence matters” and also touched on “matters of legitimate public interest”. He said no one was exposed to risk of injury or death, it was not highly confidential and was already known by many people.
Ms Smith defended the decision to hold an investigation, insisting it would have been “irresponsible” not to have taken action. “I think senior civil servants and myself in fact have a responsibility to keep information safe,” she said. “My job is to protect the British people. It is also to protect the sensitive information about how we protect them as well and that is what we have done.”
Allies of Ms Smith attacked Mr Green's conduct, saying he had been found by the investigation to have “aided and encouraged” a relationship with Mr Galley in the hope of obtaining more leaks.
That was tantamount to “grooming” the junior civil servant to commit wrongdoing, they said. Mr Galley was “extremely relieved”, said his solicitor Neil O'May. He will, however, face disciplinary action by the Home Office.
There was a torrent of criticism of the Government's handling of the affair. Former shadow home secretary David Davis said: “The fact that this case was brought amounts to a massive misjudgment by the Cabinet Office and the Home Office and demonstrates only too clearly the political culture within these departments which encourages such misuse of the law to protect ministers from political embarrassment, since there was never any significant threat to national security.”
Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, branded the police raid on the Commons “a very regrettable state of affairs”. “I think most Members of Parliament are very concerned about the fact that police were able to search an office of a Member of Parliament without getting consent,” he added.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne described the arrest as a “monumental shambles”.
Mr Green was arrested on 27 November and held for six hours. The father of two girls, he was fingerprinted and had to give a DNA sample, which he now wants destroyed. Police seized his mobile phone, bank statements and computers. His wife Alicia and 15-year-old daughter were upset when police combed their home, even reading love letters.
He said today he had no doubt that the officials who ordered the investigation were influenced by the political climate set by ministers. “Fish think from the head down,” he said.
