Aren't all Politicians from the same Litter except of course during an election when its every man for himself. Thereafter, the sole purpose of the non elected parties to make the show believable.
What did they fear from Damien Green?
This was certainly the work of someone high up, not necessarily a politician or a civil servant.
Government not only lies but it has forgotten its responsibility to the people of Britain.
Protectionism is for now the only way forward. The economy has been drained by Construction/Real Estate companies while Government slept on the job.
What is the top man at Bank of Canada doing on the board of one of the wealthiest companies in the world?
Food prices are set to soar - Can Britain feed its self on off the land not in the clutches of Developers?

JFox,

The whole point of this is the sanctity of Parliament - that they arrested an MP for a very obscure Common Law offence, and using this law they searched and took away items from that MPs Palace of Westminster office.

Perhaps the only way to prevent such an occurrence again is to legislate that no Member of Parliament may be subject to arrest without a warrant signed by Her Majesty in Council. And further, that 'Session Orders' remain in force between sessions of Parliament until the moment the Sovereign actually physically sets foot within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster. Again that would prevent any such incursion again.

One final thing: we must be rid of this hideous Government and the sooner the better. But in the meantime the Government should be taught a lesson; the Parliament has teeth and will bite when the need is there.      

JFox,

I do not think this is so. They used the Common Law offence of whatever of 'public office'. I doubt the two Acts you mean were involved, dreadful as they are.

To me there are two points in all of this. The first is the action of the Speaker and the Sergeant at Arms. One doubts the Police would have dared to do this had Parliament been in session, simply because of the 'Session Orders'. So Speaker Martin needs hauling over the coals. 

The second point is the arrogance not only of the Police but also of the CPS. It seems that Asst. Commissioner Oakley (think that is his name) who was in charge of the case consulted the CPS. If they were involved they need to explain what they said and didn't say. All of them certainly need to be brought before the Committee of Privileges.

I suppose the third point is what Ministers knew. Judging by the language used by the Home Secretary she certainly knew of the Raid on the MPs office and so must, by logical extension, have know he was to be arrested. She might not have know the exact hour but I think she knew. If she knew then the Prime Minister knew.  

The anti-terrorism law was worded so that it could be used like a spatter gun. The way it was used to freeze the Icelandic assets proved that. The question is what can we do now.

I think there are two approaches, immediate and long term. The immediate approach is to exploit the fact that Green is a Tory to persuade the Tories to make reversing the terrorism law part of their manifesto. We all know that traffic lights, once installed, are very rarely removed. The long term approach is to work for a written constitution

At the heart of Damien Green's arrest is the licence afforded to police by the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Bill (2001) and the Serious Organized Crime and Police Act (2005). These omnibus pieces of authoritarian legislation effectively permit the government and/or the police to trample on rights and freedoms that took our forebears hundreds of years and several wars to secure. The same legislation was used by the government for such improbable initiatives as the  freezing of Icelandic bank assets, and the arrest of a young woman for reciting - in the vicinity of Downing Street - the names of soldiers killed in Iraq. Our much-vaunted democracy is being eroded by those whom we have elected to stand in its defence. We, the people, will have to take it back. 

" They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety," wrote Benjamin Franklin, "deserve neither liberty nor safety."

The most infuriating aspect of this is the searching of Green's House of Commons Office. The Palace of Westminster is a Royal Palace and the Police need the permission of the Speaker to enter. So the question is did Speaker Martin grant such permission, or was it the Sergeant-at-Arms ? If the latter, why did he not consult the Speaker ?? If the Speaker one wonders why he did not defend to the death the rights and privileges of the House. 

This is a clear breach of Privilege and the matter should be taken up by not only the Conservatives but ALL MPs after Parliament is opened next week.  

Jumping to hasty conclusions aside, I'm still shocked by this very disturbing development. Without predugding the exact situation it seems that Damien Green was merely doing his job, which is to hold the government to account.

The phrase "questions in the house" was never more apt in these circumstances. The senior officers in charge should be hauled, immediately, before the relevant scrutinising committee and questioned in public (with the threat of instant imprisonment for contempt hanging over them) to explain in detail, the motivations for their actions - in short, why they did what they did and who told them to do it.  

This development appears to strike at the very heart of the doctrine of "Parliamentary Privilege". John Jackson is perhaps the most eminently qualified OK contributor capable of providing an objective legal context to this disturbing scenario?

Peter Davidson, Alderley Edge, NW.England

This is indeed a very worrying situation.

Perhaps it will produce a rush of tickets for the convention (http://www.modernliberty.net/) on the 28th Feb. by members of the Tory party.

Then again the convention may need it's own protection unit.

It seems that no-one is beyond the reach of 'anti-terrorist' forces.

From a civil liberties angle, yes I agree - but then I never swallowed the "If you've nothing to hide, then you've nothing to fear" argument. 

But from a narrower political angle, what is it that they are so afraid of in order to sanction this police action?  If they followed their own advice - "If you've nothing to hide, then you've nothing to fear" - then the police wouldn't be needed.

One rule for Them, another for Opposition members (and probably an even more disadvantageous one for us hoi polloi).

For even measure the police should be sent in investigate deceit and bad-practice at the Home Office.

I find it much more serious and alarming if there was NOT political bidding. Because this would suggest that the 'anti-terrorist' forces are a law unto themselves. They have scooped up a shadow minister's computers, searched his information system, discovered who has been in contact with him, in what should be the privacy of a citizen's communication with an MP, even if that citizen works for a government department. It will intimidate everyone who works for the state and might want to whistleblow quietly (eg not leak but tip off an MP about a concern) including those who work for the... police. Damien Green may also have a small network of contacts who have not gone public. This is very bad indeed: very intimidating. It is so out of order that we have to wake people up to what is missing in our country: constitutional democracy.

Common Purpose Fabians of the Yard doing the politicians’ bidding:

Common Purpose police

The Purge begins.

How they managed to squeeze Damien Green into a cell with the entire population of Iceland I'll never know.

I doubt very much that the police would have arrested Damian Green without the knowledge and the active connivence of Ministers. 

I also want to know by what authority they the police entered the precincts of the Palace of Westminster and searched his office. It is a Royal Palace and as such the Polices writ does not run there. Did the Palace authorities permit this incursion or not ?

It also seems an interesting timing that today is Sir Ian Blair's last day in office. I wonder if there is some link here. After all it was the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson (a Tory) who quite correctly called time on Sir Ian's disastrous period of office. 

Gordon Brown is just showing how unfit he is to hold his office. It is high time he resigned and took this bunch of unreconstructed Fascists with him.  

Were the police just going about their normal business, do you think?  Or were they called in by some other politician, or some civil servant?  I find it hard to believe that this wasn't the work of someone high up in government.  And it's vey scary if the Government are using police intimidation to cover up their incomptence - especially in a matter like immigration, which is very much in the public interest because we've been lied to by Government many times over the years.