It is rare for people in the Westminster Village to actually be outraged, as opposed to be claiming to be. But everyone I’ve spoken to this morning about the Damian Green affair is genuinely angry. As Iain Martin — who has been waging a noble struggle to make Parliament take itself more seriously — writes over at Three Line Whip:
“…the implications of his arrest in connection with information he gathered from a whistleblower (information which was true) are horrendous for parliamentary authority.”
I suspect that most MPs feel this way. Jacqui Smith should be summoned to the Commons to tell the House just what, if anything, ministers knew and when they knew it. If Parliament fails to act, it will be colluding in the setting of a very dangerous precdent.
One exception to this general outrage is Phil Woolas. His performance on the Today programme this morning was one of the most disgraceful I have ever heard from a government minister.
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