Did a minister have advance knowledge of the Green arrest?

oldtimer

The other day I came across this description of the phases of a project. I couldn`t but help think about its relevance to the project to arrest Damien Green.

1 Enthusiasm
2 Confusion
3 Panic
4 Search for the guilty
5 Punishment of the innocent
6 Praise and promotion for the non-participants.

kinglear

Not so much undermine the claim to know nothing, more like make one wonder why noone said anything - or will even tell the truth now.

Anon

Got to be Tony McNulty - haven't heard a bean from him recently.

Draughtsman

Oldtimer - Yes that is an old one in the petrochemical design field dating back to the 70s and before. The version I was used to went thusly:-
1 Excitement/Euphoria
2 Disillusionment
3 Search for the guilty
4 Punishment of the innocent
5 Distinction for the uninvolved

Most times that is exactly how it went! The other truism was that when the mass of the paperwork equalled the mass of the plant you were designing you knew it was finally finished.

Will J

Slightly off topic, but I'm hoping someone knows: did Green or Galley actually break a law? Galley seems to have broken a civil service code (and therefore got the sack) but I assume the code has no legal force. What exactly is supposed to be illegal here and under which law? Is it something lots of other people are guilty of, e.g. Gordon Brown?

Obnoxio The Clown

Liam Byrne gets my vote.

TGF UKIP

Anon, certainly struck me immediately as well. "Uncharacteristically quiet" - got to be McNulty.

Bet he's not answering his mobile.

mac

Obnoxio:

13,821 others in Hodge Hill give theirs, too. Mystifyingly.

strapworld

Phil Woollass the incompetent minister for immigration said on the Today programme the morning after that Mr green had been CHARGED with Conspiracy..he had to be corrected...but HE is my bet..but I say, again, that I believe that this was a Labour plot to charge a Conservative MP so that they could create a massive row and call an election whilst the tories were in 'disgrace'!! It has backfired spectacularly!

So, Mr Hoskin, Iain may consider just ONE knew. I suggest they ALL knew.

john problem

Don't really care. But one thing is sure in all of this. We cannot afford to allow Speker Martin to resign for his part in the affair. We need men like Martin. He reminds us off the fact that here, in our treasured isle, we are ruled by leaders of unmatched honesty, probity, intelligence and competence. He should definitely stay in his post, a post which he has dignified over the years by his creative accounting and his unswerving loyalty to his staff. It is only right and proper that it should be this man, this fine figure of dignity, this exemplar to us all, who welcomes Her Majesty when she enters that august shrine to democracy and fair-play, the House of Commons. Where look down the shades of other great men - Gladstone, Disraeli, Palmerston, Churchill..... all puking as they watch.

RODEST

There is only one Minister? or Secretary of sleeze that would keep this juicy bit of information quiet and be the likely instigator of the whole affair. Hopefully this leads to a third resignation.

When in the mire, throw the brown stuff so as to smear the opponents to throw them off the scent.

This corrupt government is hell bent on the distruction of the English Parliment, our heritage and the Monachy. It would be no suprise to see Brown and Mandelson making a bid for the thrown and the wealth it would bring them.

Mandelson is busy selling us out to Europe and Russia and intends to deprive us of a vote. Its time to wake up and get rid of these tyrants or suffer the concequences. He made the deal at a meal, but who knows when?

Athesius the Facilitator

I am sure they all new Mr Strapworld. But if I/we are wrong then McNulty is your man.

I see this incident and the home secretary's statement did not even warrant a mention on the 6.o'clock news.

Are there any lawyers out there who know if you can be charged for POSSIBLY leaking information that MAY effect national security. I am baffled.

Ivan Dunnow

How that rumour compare to the fact that Boris a.) knew & b.) attempted to interefre with police business? I appreciate that the Central Office Daily Gazette, sorry, Spectator may have other things on its collective mind.

Insider

It's one Tony McNulty.

George Laird

Dear All

"Did a minister have advance knowledge of the Green arrest?"

I don't know but I think they are considering Denzel for the movie!

However it is worth throwing a tenner bet on!

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

justintime

Anon - Surely the charming and gifted Tony McNutly couldn't be the party in question?

He might have been quiet because he's been helping his other half deal with the rather difficult nature of her job in recent weeks...

justintime

Ivan Dunnow - what a splendid post. When I put it through an online Japanese translator, it made more sense than ever.

Dear Derek D., I do hope that your patients aren't subsidising all this...

mac

Ivan,

You omitted to mention that it's all Margaret Thatcher's and America's fault, that this is no time for a novice, that we need serious people for serious times, and the PM and Ms Smith knew nothing about stitching up Damian Green.

Come on, give us the full 9 yards of Dolly's rebuttal cribsheet.

CCTV

helping his other half deal with the rather difficult nature of her job in recent weeks...

Former Chief Exec at Tower Hamlets gives Persilschein to Chief Exec at Haringey.....Sisterhood

EC

Will J: "What exactly is supposed to be illegal here and under which law?"

Conspiracy. I believe it is possible to get a longer jail sentence for "conspiring to rob a bank" than actually robbing it. It the political arena it can be a very handy, cynical little device. The burden of proof may, tortuously, be found to be unbearable but inconvenient people can be kept "off the streets" as it were, or in this case plastered with excrement and innuendo.

oldtimer

Thank you, Draughtsman, for the origin of the saying. I did not know that.