James Cleverly AM: How not to be aware

29 November, 2008

How not to be aware

A question.

Did the PM and Home Secretary specifically ask NOT to be informed about the possible arrest of Damian Green?

After all, there are none so blind as those who wish not to see.

11 comments:

Excalibur said...: I re-iterate............Hilarious! It's called karma and its coming home to roost.

Boris Johnson shamefully thinks he can manipulate the police by sacking the Commissioner and then appointing one of his stooges to carry out political policing his style, with the full support of the Conservatives.

Now the Conservatives are screeching and wringing their hands in a show of pious disbelief because the police have arrested one of their own on suspicion of committing a CRIMINAL act. What goes around comes around. No-one is above the law.

Politics must be kept out of policing - and that's a message for both the Conservatives and this corrupt Labour government.; 29/11/08 14:26
James Cleverly said...: Excalibur,

Your argument is all over the place.

Boris didn't fire Sir Ian, he resigned. Boris doesn't appoint the next Commissioner the Home Secretary does and the people who have put their names forward are long standing professional police officers. So how could they be Boris' or anyone else's stooge?; 29/11/08 15:32
Excalibur said...: James,

You are being somewhat niave here - deliberately, I suspect as I have always found you to be a very intelligent and knowledgeable person (somewhat rare for a politician, but I believe you are destined for higher office.

Boris and Kit Malthouse made Sir Ian's position untenable by exerting such pressure on him that this honourable man felt the need to resign before further damage was made to the reputation of the Metropolitan Police Service.

The next Commissioner will always have the Sword of Damocles hanging over him/her, knowing that the disturbing precident has been set for a Commissioner who does not tow the party line to be forced from office.

With regard to Damian's arrest, someone with your extensive military background must understand the need for leaks to be fully investigated without interference of any sort - and the conviction and jailing of Corporal Daniel James shows the need for continued vigilance in these times of heightened security. If Damian has done nothing wrong, he has nothing to fear from the investigation.; 29/11/08 16:11
Rob Atkins said...: When Blair, Brown and Mandelson first promoted the New Labour project, I honestly believed they were sincere in trying to create a new coalition in the centre ground of British politics

Now I realise they were and are just grasping opportunists who will say and do anything to get and keep power. I feel a fool to have been taken in so easily...

Unfortunately, I have only one recourse - my vote - but I intend to use it, at the first available opportunity, to remove from power this disreputable bunch of charlatans.

Brown has dumped his once inviolable Golden Rule. I'm just introducing mine : NEVER AGAIN VOTE LABOUR !; 29/11/08 17:21
Anonymous said...: Yes Minister introduced the concept of a 'right NOT to know' for ministers, to save embarrassment if errors came to light. This looks like a prime case.

Excalibur has posted his argument three times so he clearly believes that 'politics should be kept out of policing' - or to put it another way 'policing should not be democratically accountable'.

In my view all public services should be democratically accountable, including policing and the courts. Otherwise you can forget holding ministers responsible for rates of crime.; 29/11/08 17:32
Roger Evans said...: That last post was me - must get the hang of new technology.; 29/11/08 17:34
Ralph said...: Buried by bad news? BBC 24 has today (Sat)given blanket - and tediously repetitive - coverage to Mumbai - and (during the time I was painting the kitchen) nothing about Damian Green.; 30/11/08 00:15
Rattler One Seven said...: MPs are subject to criminal law just like the rest of us. Period. Wait until the full facts of the case are revealed before you start slagging off the police. They have a job to do investgating crime, and you should be supporting them in their quest to uphold the law, regardless of the fact he's a political colleague. Shame on you.; 30/11/08 15:40
Henry Rogers said...: R17 must be one of Draper's kids. Same person (or persons) as Excalibur perhaps? A Blogger identity which has only been viewed a couple of times looks rather less credible than 'anon'. We haven't yet seen any evidence of a crime, as opposed to an internal disciplinary offence in the HO, being committed. Arrest was clearly a device to enable a fishing expedition. Searching Parliamentary premises isn't quite the same thing as searching a private house. Time for a few promising careers at the Yard and the HO to lie in the past perhaps? This is intimidation plain and simple. It may be ok in the sort of country R17 and Exc. want the rest of us to live in but it's up to that 'rest of us' to disappoint them at the next GE!; 1/12/08 15:56
Excalibur said...: Believe you me, I'd love to see a change of government at the next GE. Nothing would please me more!

However, I'm of the real impression that the Conservatives are beginning to 'blow it' and are in danger of slipping back into the sleazy and ineffective ways that characterised the Major government from late 1992 onwards.

In our desire to play party politics and give this corrupt government a good kicking, we must not lose sight of the fact that the arrest followed breaches of security in a department that deals with some of Government's most confidential information - the leaking of 20 top secret documents (and those were only the ones known about) - including those on terrorism.

No-one is above the law and the police must be allowed to carry out their statutory investigation without fear or favour.

In this country we have an independent police service. What's important here is that politicians do not interfere with the natural course of an investigation.

The very important principle, and one that is being conveniently being overlooked here, is that MPs - apart from when they are speaking in the chamber and dealing with constituents' correspondence - are as subject to the law as the rest of us. If the police decide not to take action against an MP which they would against an ordinary citizen, then that would be discriminatory.

People would rightly say: "Well, we are not living in a police state but a state where people, because they have been elected to parliament, have certain exemptions from the law". That can't ever be alloowed to be the case. MP's are subject to the same laws as the rest of us and must accept this.

The Metropolitan Police Service does not participate in political games, but serves to protect the constitutional order and safety of the individual, society and the government within the bounds of he law. Cross the line - whoever you are - and you must expect to get your collar felt!; 2/12/08 10:16
Anonymous said...: How not to be aware.

simple, let the Elites control the net.

Enemy Censorship and Control Increases.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=3d3NWP7TnoE

How the enemy used Censorship to Win the US elections.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iW5kOB1pmg; 10/12/08 09:08