Jacqui Smith in the firing line over security and secrecy Times: Jacqui Smith faced renewed pressure last night after the secrets case against Damian Green was thrown out and the leaks with which he was involved were deemed not to have involved national security. |
Quite apart from the furore over her expenses, the Home Secretary has demonstrated that she is not a safe pair of hands with this latest episode over the arrest of Damien Green MP, who was told by police at the time of his arrest that he could be facing life imprisonment if convicted. Mr Green won’t be convicted, nor will the Home Office whistleblower, because DPP, Keir Starmer, has refused to prosecute and said ‘his decision was based on the fact that the leaked documents “were not in many respects highly confidential”.’ Guardian
While Ms Smith did not press for the arrest of Damien Green MP, she did “back a Cabinet Office decision to call in the police following 20 destabilising leaks from the Home Office in the past two years.” It now appears that the leaks were not substantial state secrets, affect national security or put lives at risk as was being ‘suggested’ at the time of Green’s arrest.
Starmer, not surprisingly, covers his position by saying – as reported in The Guardian – “the unauthorised leaking of restricted and or confidential information is not beyond the reach of the criminal law and can amount to an offence of misconduct in public office”.
David Davis MP, former shadow home secretary, commented: “…the police were increasingly trying to use “misconduct in public office” to target officials who leak, undermining a key reform to the Official Secrets Act introduced to allow the disclosure of information. Green said the episode “whipped away the veil over this government and the way it exercises power”. He said: “They make serious mistakes on immigration policy and rather than correcting [them] they try to cover them up and when the cover up is exposed they lash out and, in this case … they exaggerated the security implications.”
Carl Gardner, a former senior government lawyer and author of the Head of Legal Blog has written three good posts on this issue, the most recent, this morning: Damien Green – Jacqui on the rack
Gardner writes: “The way I’d put it is this: Jacqui Smith is under suspicion of having used the police as a political tool; of having allowed her own anger and frustration at the embarrassment the leaks caused her to cloud her judgment, so that she authorised the involvement of police for a wholly wrong purpose – to stop that embarrassment. I can’t imagine a more serious charge against a Home Secretary. I don’t like suggestions we live in a “police state”: I think that kind of claim is always over the top . But vigilance must be eternal, and, if it means anything, it means making sure ministers do not use the police for their own political interests.
So Jacqui Smith is now on the rack. The onus is on her to acquit herself of these suspicions – which I don’t think it will be easy for her to do.” Carl Gardner then says that she needs to answer a number of questions and suggest the questions she needs to answer. Read Carl’s piece for further information…
For my part, if she is not able to allay suspicion that she may have misused her office – then quite apart from the expenses furore, she should resign. She may not have to worry about taking the honourable way – there are rumours that she will be part of a Brown re-shuffle fairly soon anyway.
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