Martin Salter's Westminster Diary

Martin Salter MP • Last updated 11 Dec 2008 11:23 0 Comments

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WITH the Commons prorogued there are normally a couple of days of relative quiet as we get ready for the State Opening of Parliament.

But this was shattered on Thursday evening with the extraordinary news of the arrest of ex-Reading School student Damian Green for allegedly 'grooming' a mole to breach his contract as a Home Office official and leak confidential and sensitive information to the Conservative Party.

Some of the hysterical claims and synthetic outrage that have followed Damian Green's arrest have been as exaggerated as they have been hypocritical.

Let me first say that I like Damian - we are both Reading FC fans and entered Parliament at the same time - and on a personal level I feel sorry for what he and his family are going through.

However, the fact remains that MPs are not above the law of the land. The absolute parliamentary privilege that we enjoy only extends to speeches we make in the House of Commons and not to what we do in our offices or homes.

If MPs were keeping stolen goods or stolen documents in their Westminster offices or using the premises to plan criminal activities then they are just as likely to be the subject of a police investigation as any ordinary citizen.

When the Tories and their cheerleaders at the Daily Mail and the Telegraph pause for breath and start thinking through some of their more absurd 'death of democracy' claims, perhaps they will reflect that they are not after all in favour of allowing, for example, Sinn Fein MPs to have complete immunity from prosecution for anything they get up to in their offices.

I also doubt whether a future Conservative government would tolerate a public official, with access to highly sensitive material covered by the Official Secrets Act regularly leaking it to third parties in breach of their contract of employment.

I am old enough to remember how enthusiastically the Conservative governments of the 1980s prosecuted civil servants Clive Ponting and Sarah Tisdall for precisely the same thing. Perhaps a little less hypocrisy and a little more calm reflection from Tories would be in order.

It has also become clear that the entire Conservative Shadow Cabinet may have some questions to answer if reports are true that Damian Green was appointed as their 'point man' to run a mole inside the Home Office. This is, after all, the government department which has responsibility for national security and which handles some of the most important and confidential information in Whitehall.

Of course all journalists love to be offered leaks just as politicians love to use them for party political advantage. But there is a world of difference between passing over an unsolicited leak to cause embarrassment to a political opponent and systematically setting out to run a spy operation in the private office of the Home Secretary.

Conspiring with civil servants to commit acts of mis-conduct and potential breaches of the Official Secrets Act is a criminal offence and if the evidence trail leads to an MP why on earth shouldn't the police make arrests? They wouldn't hesitate if it was anyone else.

If the Conservatives think that such an offence should not be on the statute book then let them say so and let's hear why they did nothing about it in the 18 years they were in government. In any event it is certainly not the job of politicians to seek to prejudice or otherwise influence a police investigation.

This blog appeared in Reading Chronicle 04 Dec 08

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