Annoyingly…
...it must be said that the arrest of Damian Green, anti-immigration Tory twit that he is, is an affront to justice, democracy and investigative journalism.
Green may spend his days in a desperate race with Phil Woolas to see who can sound the most hateful towards immigrants (though I do wonder if deep down whether the pair of them are really as anti as they like to make out in pleasing statements for the right-wing press) but his arrest is an appalling act by the state.
The precedent was set when Milton Keynes reporter Sally Murrer was arrested earlier this year. Her alleged crime? To have received information from a police officer. The trial is forthcoming.
If Green is charged with the same offence, just for having been in possession of leaked documents, it effectively means the end for Government leaks, investigative journalism and truly does enforce a police state. It's breathtaking.
So no matter what kind of idiot Green is, and no matter how much I find myself in agreement with the Mail on this one, I have to say it's a very worrying development. Hopefully some good will come of this, not least the end of the legislation in question or at the very least its sudden reappearance to target whistleblowers.
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November 28th, 2008 - 12:41
Yes, my initial grinning when the story flashed up, disappeared overnight when the manner of the arrest became apparent.
Michael White makes the points about nods and winks, but I wonder whether there is a different case with a civil servant like Ponting and Tisdall than a shadow minister.
The poice heavy-handedness is worrying. There seems to be a culture of making headlines among some of the upper echelons of the old Bill, rather like high profile arrests (complete with press leaks ironically)of celebs.
This mirrors the situation in the 60s over pop star drugs arrests.
I don’t think it is state assisted but it does provide an opportunity for the tories to make a bit of hay, albeit carefully.
November 28th, 2008 - 14:16
Not sure that’s true about the high-profile-ness – I think anyone suspected of breaking the OSA would get a large turnout of Special Branch officers. And as Jim Bliss pointed out at PDF, at least the cops didn’t shoot anyone innocent this time round, which is again an improvement on some non-famous suspects (lucky for Green that he isn’t Asian)…
November 28th, 2008 - 20:37
Murrer has been acquited
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/28/leak_case_dismissed/
November 28th, 2008 - 20:44
Sally Murrer and three others were cleared today after the judge ruled the prosecution infringed their article 10 rights and threw out the case.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7750669.stm
Given the arrest of Green, I’m surprised it isn’t bigger news.