The theme of Jacqui Smith’s interview with Andrew Marr this morning? Responsibility-dodging. Not once did the Home Secretary apologise for the disgraceful arrest of Damian Green, but she took every opportunity to stress the “operational independence” of those investigating the Tory MP. In other words: not my fault, guv.
Thing is, Dominic Grieve has since suggested that Smith knew more about the arrest of Green that she’s letting on. He told Sky News that:
“I think she knew there was an MP involved in this investigation and she decided to simply sit back on her hands…”
And that’s only one entry in this morning’s catalogue of charges aimed at the Government and the police over the Green arrest. There’s the claim that Green was entrapped; news that MPs may revolt during the Queen’s Speech; and even suspicions over whether other top Tories have been bugged.
Now, all of these items may not be true. But they do suggest quite how angered the media and the public are by the Green arrest, and how much potential this has to explode in the Government’s face. As each day passes, the damage to Brown and his ministers looks set to be greater and greater. Will there be blood? Watch this space.
P.S. Plenty of punchy comment pieces on this in the morning’s papers. Here’s David Cameron, David Davies and Sharmi Chakrabarti.
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