Damian Green. If the rights of our members of parliament are held in such esteem what price for the rest of us?

Reading about the trauma that the family of Damian Green went through, probably like many ordinary people have gone through from time to time, I would like to fast forward a little if I may? What do you think Mr and Mrs Green would have felt like if it had been the Eurgendarmerie that had broken into their House and taken Damian Green away plus all his papers?

How about, unbeknown to him he had been tried in absentia on the Continent, found guilty and taken away to serve his sentence on the Continent. Think it could not happen? Does Mr and Mrs Green think because he is a British MP, it could not happen, that he could not be treated in the way he so recently has? Think again and read the Treaty of Velsen.

Headlines in the Daily Mail 18.12.2004 “Palace Dismay as British FBI fails to swear its Allegiance”. Will SOCA and SO19 eventually come under Europol, or Eurogendfor? If these two former organisations are to remain under UK authority there really is no reason why they should not swear allegiance to the Crown and this Country. The other reason why they have not as yet sworn allegiance to the Crown is too horrible to contemplate. Perhaps through that paragraph one can see the real danger to this Country by ‘no discrimination on the grounds of Nationality”. (No Discrimination is in the Treaty of Lisbon and the Human Rights Act.)

Look at Article 5 of the Treaty of Velsen; and whether we are in the Eurogendarmerie or not, it makes no difference at all for, “Eurogendfor (EGF) may be placed at the disposal of the European Union (EU) and also of the United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and other international organisations or an ad hoc coalition”. So basically Eurogendfor may be put into use anywhere that may be deemed a crisis situation by the EU, perhaps a country that objects to EU Treaties or Legislation, especially if the Lisbon Treaty is ratified, or perhaps NOT ratified?

Article 16 (2) Eurogendfor Personal may possess, carry and transport arms, ammunitions, other weapon systems and explosives on the conditions that they are authorised to do so by their orders and that they do so in accordance with the laws of the Host State (HOST means the Party on whose territory the permanent HQ is located) and the Receiving State (The Party on whose territory EGF Forces are stationed or in transit).

11) Eurogendfor has many Privileges and Immunities, (Art 19). Individual Privileges (Art 20) and they also have Inviolability of the premises, buildings and archives (Article 21). In other words, Eurogendfor can basically do what it wants. Don’t you wish all of us had the right to do what we want? If they come crashing into your house in the dead of night, we might all wish our premises too were inviolable. (For now, they cannot do this in the UK) I believe even the innocent have much to fear, perhaps more so than the Criminal because criminals know the risks they are taking when they set out to break the law. My thoughts turn to my memories of how I watched newsreels of the Gestapo in action during world war two. Some tried to have us believe they were just propaganda films. Now? Who would have thought this kind of thing could happen in peacetime? Do you still think the police are your friends? Does Damian Green or Mr Cameron STILL think it couldn't happen? Think again. Anne Palmer

First they came for Damian Green, and I said nothing . . .

Is anyone arranging a demonstration or protest of some kind?

Please keep us apprised as I would shift my fat arse to attend for the first time since I rocked against racism in my youth.

My knowledge of the laws of Parliament and how these laws protect MP's and their information sources is sketchy but nobody has come out and said that the Police broke any laws when they arrested Mr. Green.

If it is also true that the Speaker let the Police into Mr. Green's Parliamentary office then the Police broke no laws there either.

If the police were within their rights according to the law, bad or good, all this affair has done is show that despite lots of waffle about, "Parliamentary Privilege", MPs' and their information sources are as unprotected as you and me in their right to keep information or the providers of information confidential from the police. The Right Hon. Mr. Green lost his computers, mobiles and boxes of papers to the police just like any other subject of the crown.

I think that it is more that as the police have become more powerful under the endless, "War on Terror", with powers of arrest before they find evidence, detention without trial, the intensifying surveillance of society and the right to shoot to kill with no consequences they have lost their fear of both public opinion and of Parliament. The conventions under which the MPs' thought they were privileged have been shown to be no more than conventions which do not stand up to a powerful police force operating only under legislation not convention. Arcane conventions and tradition are just that to the new police in this country. What are needed are well defined laws which lay out what rights an MP has when operating in the public interest.

The question is did Brown and Smith know about the police plans to arrest Mr. Green and if they did why are they evasive about it now? A simple, "Yes, we knew about it and it we let the police get on with the job", or, "No we didn't, and we're going to see heads roll for keeping us in the dark", would both be much better responses than the shifty and carefully crafted replies we have received so far.

I don't think this is going to sink Brown as he's now unassailable in the Labour Party but it's going to sink the Speaker Michael Martin and the Serjeant at Arms. They let the police in to search a Parliamentary office. That's never going to be forgotten or forgiven on either side of the house.