Reid tells Smith how he'd have done things differently

Andy Leeds

Of course she should have been told and should have known. As John Reid pointed out Damian Green was no ordinary prisoner. She would do well to remember that.

Mrs Campbell

It's not a question of "calm". You can ask pertinent questions calmly or you can complacently not ask any questions at all. Smith is the Home Secretary. She has a continuous duty to account to the nation through Parliament for the activities of the police. She must have known the leaker in her own department had been caught and who it was. She certainly knew what he had leaked. She therefore knew to whom he had leaked. She seems to have deliberately distanced herself from the whole affair. Why? So she could say I know nothing - just like the Speaker. A Home Secretary who does that is deliberately disabling herself from doing her duty. She can't account to us, the citizens, through Parliament because she made sure that she couldn't and she says she'll do just the same another time. Who is responsible for anything in this Government?

John Page

What about the comment from the Lib Dem which floored her - that the prosecutions were for obtaining information which would have been available under FOI?

Bocephus

Hands up if you think she didn't know?

This shouldn't take long to count!

disgusted

Did Smith *ask* to be kept uninformed?

Wilhelm

Yeah, yeah, yeah, John.

If only the entire world would listen to bar room brawler John Reid, the universe would be perfect.

oldtimer

The more that is revealed - day by day, statement by statement - about this affair the more likely it appears that this was indeed a Labour dirty tricks operation. The partisan smears, the conflicting accounts, the unexplained gaps in the sequence and timing of events, the punting the Speaker`s enquiry into the long grass (adjourned even before its members have been selected), they all point to a government cover up of an acutely embarrassing episode.

Andrew Forbes

What John Reid would have done. I guess that's even less reliable that when John Reid said what he'd actually do which was "work 18 hour days to sort this f###ing mess out", then promptly went on a 2 week holiday in the South of France.

Mrs Campbell calls it correctly. It's one thing to know nothing (though doesn't make Jacqui look very competent or in command). It's quite another to have taken steps to ensure she knew nothing, or at least could achieve "plausible deniability."

Henry Rogers

You have to wonder to what extent the whole thing was worked out in advance, and was really intended as a trap for the Opposition into which they have not walked. Once the trap had been set, of course the plotters didn't need to be informed exactly what was happening as it happened. If it hadn't been carefully planned they would probably have been told everything as a matter of course, and probably stopped the police making complete idiots of themselves. I don't think any of the top level denials cover all of that somehow, but time will tell.

Now that the whole thing has collapsed into farce the plotters must be wishing they'd simply issued all the leaked information through official channels. It would have caused the Government a lot less grief!

Serious as this all is it's also hilariously funny, though I wouldn't expect Mr Green's unfortunate family to see the funny side just yet. The PM looks really down in the dumps in the Commons again, after his hyper-active high of the previous few weeks. How long I wonder? White coats?

TrevorsDen

No bombshells? - Iain Dale reports that she even got the charge wrong !!

Wake up Spectator - no wonder Mandelson thinks he is on to an easy away win.

Her slur that there might in future be some more serious leak - was just malicious disgusting invective directed against the opposition. A complete tit of a woman.

Get your sodding knives out Spectator - You know what? You're just too goddam soft. And Mandelson knows it.

A load of pathetic wimps - don't you even know that these bastards are after your blood?

LOOK - no crime has been committed. Leaking embarrassing info is NOT a crime. (The only 'crime' is one of wasting police time).
The very argument that the police are needed is a HUGE smokescreen.

Why not cut to the chase. When was the identity of the leaker known? When were the police called in? Why were they called in? If the identity of the leaker were already known the ONLY reason for calling the police in was to con them into arresting Green.

WAKEY WAKEY you hacks.

Patrick

Sounds like Boris got it right, then.

Dominic Allkins

No real bombshells?

From what I read on Iain Dale, Jackboots said that there were concerns that national security information COULD have been leaked in the future.

This to me sounds like arresting pre-crime. It could have happened so let's arrest anyway.

The government now arresting anyone for something that might happen (never mind whether or not is actually does) sounds like a bit of a bombshell to me.

John Page

"Did Smith *ask* to be kept uninformed?"

Michael Howard asked precisely that. She said no.

Henry Rogers

Now that the police have been made to look like complete fools, some of their top brass must be smart enough to see that being used in party politics like this is far from career enhancing. Too late for some, which may be good fortune for the rest of us.

In career terms Brown, Smith, Martin and two or three Top-Plods seem to be competing for the political equivalent of an 'Offical Darwin Award'.

Serve 'em right!

dennis

The Government's spin on this is clear: they want it to be an issue about Police investigations being free from political interference.

The Tory line is far from clear. All this 'who knew what, when' is a considerable distraction.

The line to take should be: encouraging the Met to investigate something that isn't even a crime IS political interference of the worst sort.

The only 'what,when' that really intrigues me is when, if at all, the Met discussed what they were doing with prosecutors. I cannot believe the old DPP ( Sir Ken Macdonald) would have permitted this charade to continue for 5 minutes.

Bocephus

Of course this was dirty tricks. They probably knew but no doubt they would be kept informed verbally so no paper trail.

Boris would have been told in advance in the hope he would try to stop them thus, Labour would hope, leading to an even bigger scandal and possibly even forcing his resignation. They must have been foaming at the mouth with excitement that the Tory world was about to come crashing down. After they saw how easily Mandy put the press off the scent over Osborne a few weeks ago it probably never crossed their mind that the press would question the validity of the arrest.

When it all started going wrong Mandy was sent out to reframe the debate but that didn't work either so all they are left with is pointing the finger at each other.

The one interesting thing is will the Tories still receive killer leaks from other sources. If they don't the government will think all this was worth it.

Andy Leeds

Guido Fawkes has the letter sent by the acting commissioner to the Home Secretary detailing the issues surrounding a search warrant.

George Laird

Dear All

Is it not funny that John Reid becomes Chairman of Celtic FC, Glasgow and finds a voice.

John Mason MP for Glasgow East hasn't recieved a freebie to see Celtic play as far as I understand.

I wonder is it because he is from the SNP.

Last I heard, he told me personally, it is in the pipeline!

How long is the pipe?

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

Victor, NW Kent

I believe Pontius Pilate also did not wish to be informed.

One can only believe that Ms. Smith acted in the same way so as to preserve plausible deniability.

The Speaker was either totally incompetent or too bored to deal with the matter as he should have done. Imagine, he is told the police intend to search the Commons the next day so he dashes off to Glasgow.