Harriet Harman has announced that the Speaker's committee of seven senior parliamentarians that will be looking into the issues surrounding the Damian Green affair will meet only once the police action against Damian Green is complete. Furthermore, she announced it will reflect the composition of the Commons - 4 Labour MPs, 2 Conservatives and 1 Lib Dem.
Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, therefore has understandably decided to boycott the committee.
Not only is Harman trying to pack the committee with Labour flunkies to ensure the final report goes easy on the Labour speaker and government, she has kicked the committee into the long grass by saying it won't meet now until the investigation into Damian Green and any subsequent action is complete. As Dale noted, the committe doesn't have to mention Damian Green at all as it will be looking at future policy "to ensure that such a situation never reoccurs." Harman, like Gordon Brown, has taken the view that she cannot pass comment on anything that happened, including expressing regret that the police entered the Commons office of Damian Green without a warrant because it compromises the operational independence of the police. Funny that the Speaker could offer regret, isn't it?
David Cameron should follow Nick Clegg's lead and boycott the committee too! We all know that whenever the committe were to report it would be a whitewash!
No comments:
Post a Comment