The arrest of Damian Green

Outrageous! It is unprecedented that an MP has been arrested for receiving and revealing leaked information, or "aiding and abetting misconduct in public office" as the police put it, and had his homes and offices searched. This is especially the case as none of the information leaked put, in any way, national intelligence, national security or international relations at risk.

Green has essentially been arrested for releasing information that is in the public interest but not in the government's interest. His arrest follows the arrest last week of a Home Office official who the police believe leaked the immigration information to Green.

It is also important to remember that it is a part of our democracy that civil servants leak information to opposition politicians which is in the public interest. And before anyone takes the high and mighty approach to leaks, the government uses leaks all the time. How else did we know about the fall in VAT and the increase in the top rate of tax before the Pre-Budget Report was announced? Government ministers leaked the information to help drive the news agenda. And what about Robert Peston, the BBC's economics editor, who has been the recipient of leaked information regarding the nationalisation of banks by the government? That information was not from wicked civil servants but from government ministers. Is the Metropolitan Police going to arrest him too?

There are many questions that need to be answered:

1) The Prime Minister claims that he knew nothing about this (a claim David Davis says he finds "extraordinary"), Labour HQ have released a statement that no minister had prior knowledge, and the Metropolitan Police have said in a statement that the arrest was made without any ministerial influence. "The decision to make today's arrest was taken solely by the MPS without any ministerial knowledge or approval." But even if the Prime Minister knew nothing, is it conceivable that the Home Secretary would not have been informed prior to an arrest of a Member of Parliament? If she did not know, why was she not informed?

2) Why did no minister know about the arrest prior to it taking place if David Cameron and Boris Johnson had both been informed? I agree with David Davis, the former shadow Home Secretary, it is "astonishing" that no one in senior government also knew.

3) If Jacqui Smith did know beforehand, however, why did she not call off the arrest? Could it have been because the Met's investigation into the alleged leak of confidential government material followed their receipt of a complaint from the Cabinet Office and thus she did not want to call off an investigation into a complaint the government had itself made? Also, was it not in the Home Secretary's interests to pursue this investigation which was, after all, an investigation about leaks emanating from her own department? There is clearly motive on Smith's part...

4) If the government was not involved or aware, what do they think of yesterday's arrest? Do they condemn it like the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have? David Cameron has described it as "heavy handed;" David Davis said the arrest was somewhere between "an astonishing error of judgment" and "judicial intimidation;" and the Lib Dems have said Damian Green's arrest was a "worrying development" with serious implications for the balance of power between the government and parliament. Chris Huhne, the party's home affairs spokesman, has said: "Receiving information from government departments in the public interest and publicising it is a key part of any MP's role. It seems that either the law needs to be changed over the police have overstepped the mark." Does the government agree?

5) If the police did act alone the decision would have had to have come from the top. Is it a coincidence that the arrest came on the last day of Sir Ian Blair's tenure as Metropolitan Police Commissioner? It is highly plausible that as an act of revenge against the Tories who forced him out of his position early, New Labour's favourite policeman gave the all-clear for the arrest or even instigated the arrest of a senior Conservative frontbench MP.

6) Why on earth were counter-terrorism police and counter-terrorism powers used to arrest an MP over leaked government documents? This is not what the legislation was drafted for! The Counter-Terrorism legislation has been repeatedly abused by the police and needs to be re-drafted much more tightly. On the day of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, this arrest did not place the police nor the government's legislation in a positive light.

7) Why did the police use such "heavy handed" tactics? Not only were nine counter-terrorism police officers used, they chose to arrest Damian Green rather than just question him; they chose to search his homes and offices - including his Commons office; and then held him for nine hours at a police station - only bothering to start questioning him after seven hours had passed. These are the tactics of intimidation which some have even described as "Stalinesque." David Davis has claimed that the move was designed to intimidate whistleblowers across Whitehall and it is difficult to disagree with him. He stated: "What we are seeing here is something designed to intimidate whistleblowers across Whitehall and actually to undermine the role of opposition doing its job, and doing its job properly in the public interest." Guido reckons it was a move to intimidate a Treasury mole who many believe exists and is passing information to George Osborne. Will Osborne be arrested now?

8) Finally, why did the Serjeant at Arms and the Speaker give the police the authority to search Damian Green's House of Commons office? Conservative MPs are said to be very unhappy with the Speaker and Iain Dale called the move "outrageous." Dale also highlighted the fact that the police had waited until the Commons was no longer sitting so that there would be no opposition from Tory MPs trying to bar their entry to Green's office.

Lots of questions lacking answers. Damian Green is safe, he was just doing his job and will continue to do so, but the whole incident does not place Labour or the police in a very good light. Expect this story to run...

UPDATE: So, David Cameron told the arrest before it happened. So did the Mayor of London. So did the Speaker of the House of Commons. So did Sir David Normington, the Permanent Secretary of the Home Office. But the Prime Minister, Home Secretary nor any other minister had a clue the arrest of an MP was going to take place and were thus kept in the dark by the police.

This account is seriously stretching credibility! Surely the Home Secretary knew? But if we are to take the government at its word (and you'll excuse the scepticism developed after 11 years of untruths) that ministers honestly did not know, then why the hell were they not told! Why did the police inform other politicians but no government ministers? Was it a conscious decision not to implicate the government as it would put ministers in a difficult position? By not telling them the police could go ahead and the government gets its leak investigation including Green's homes and offices searched.

Finally, why did Sir David not tell Jacqui Smith? Did Sir David, like the police, consciously choose not to implicate the Home Secretary so that the investigation could run its course? This can be the only explanation for the Home Secretary not knowing! Plausible deniability!

UPDATE 2: Damian Green was not the only politician who built his reputation by handling leaked government information. Gordon Brown was a past master of using leaks to make a government's life difficult. Check out Guido and an excellent dossier compiled by Danny Finkelstein. Are the counter-terrorism police about to come for Gordon and detain him for 9 hours? I think not somehow! Double standards!