Terror police seize Tory MP Damian Green over 'immigration leaks to the media'

A senior Conservative frontbencher was sensationally arrested by anti-
terror police yesterday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1090062/Terror-police-seize-Tory-MP-Damian-Green-immigration-leaks-media.html

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green also had his home, his
Commons and constituency offices searched over claims that he leaked
confidential Government documents.

The arrest, in an operation described by Mr Green's colleagues as '
Stalinesque', plunged the Tories into an unprecedented row with the
police and the Government.

Furious party officials said the move was of such a sensitive nature
that Downing Street and the Home Office must have been notified.

One senior backbencher said it 'smacks of a police state'.

Speaking to reporters outside the House of Commons after his release,
Mr Green said: 'I was astonished to have spent more than nine hours
today under arrest for doing my job.

'I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong. I have many times
made public information that the Government wanted to keep secret -
information that the public has a right to know.

'In a democracy, opposition politicians have a duty to hold the
Government to account. I was elected to the House of Commons precisely
to do that and I certainly intend to continue doing so.'

Mr Green was arrested on suspicion of an obscure offence of
'conspiring to commit-misconduct in a public office' - for which the
maximum sentence is life imprisonment - after a Whitehall official was
held earlier this month.

Counter-terrorism officers are understood to have descended on Mr
Green's home in Kent without warning and arrested him. He was taken to
a central London police station to be interviewed.


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Mr Green was late last night released on bail to face further
questioning in February

The information Mr Green, MP for Ashford in Kent, is accused of
leaking includes a Home Office memo revealing that an illegal
immigrant had been working in the House of Commons as a cleaner.

Another leaked document suggested a cover-up by Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith of a massive Government blunder over thousands of illegal
immigrants cleared to work in sensitive Whitehall security jobs.
Damian Green

Tory leader David Cameron was understood to be satisfied that all of
the information Mr Green is accused of making public was
'categorically' in the public interest.

Mr Green, who was arrested just before 2pm, was released without
charge from Belgravia police station late last night saying he was
'tired and angry'.

Sources close to Mr Cameron insisted the shadow minister would remain
in his job ' whatever the outcome'.

Party officials questioned the timing of the operation, pointing out
that it came on outgoing Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian
Blair's last day in office.

Sir Ian - dubbed 'New Labour's favourite copper' for the politicised
nature of his leadership - was effectively forced out by the Tory
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

Last night the Daily Mail learned that Mr Johnson was informed of Mr
Green's impending arrest in advance and expressed outrage at the
heavyhanded nature of the operation.

A statement issued by the mayor's office said: ''The mayor finds it
hard to believe that on the day when terrorists have gone on the
rampage in India that anti-terror police in Britain have apparently
targeted an elected representative of Parliament for no greater crime
than allegedly receiving leaked documents.'

The fact that Mr Johnson was notified yesterday of the arrest suggests
it is highly unlikely that no one in Government was also informed.

Tory sources also said that had the arrest come while the House was
sitting, MPs would have questioned Mr Green's treatment in the
chamber. The Commons rose for a five-day break on Wednesday.
David Cameron

Supportive: David Cameron is standing by his shadow immigration
minister

Senior Tory backbencher Patrick Mercer, a member of the influential
Home Office Select Committee, said the raid was 'clearly politically
motivated'.

'This is Jacqui Smith and Ian Blair exacting revenge and trying to
even up the score because they have been so publicly humiliated,' said
Mr Mercer.

'It is extraordinary that a shadow minister should be subjected to
this kind of treatment on these alleged grounds, especially by counter-
terrorism officers. It once again smacks of a police state.'

Tory sources described the police action as ' unprecedented and heavy-
handed'.

One added: 'David Cameron is angry. He believes this must have been
cleared at the top of Government - if you're talking about arresting
a shadow minister, that must be the case.

'We are not suggesting an MP should be above the law. But this was
Stalinesque.' In a statement, the Conservative Party said Mr Green had
' legitimately revealed information which the Home Office chose not to
make public.

Disclosure of this information was manifestly in the public interest.

Mr Green denies any wrongdoing and stands by his actions.'

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a 52-year-old man 'has been
arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public
office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in
a public office'.

Late last night police released another statement denying any
ministerial involvement in the decision to arrest Mr Green.

Police said: 'The investigation into the alleged leak of confidential
government material followed the receipt by the MPS (Metropolitan
Police Service) of a complaint from the Cabinet Office.

'The decision to make today's arrest was taken solely by the MPS
without any ministerial knowledge or approval.'

A spokesman for 10 Downing Street said: 'This is a matter for the
police. The Prime Minister had no prior knowledge of the arrest of Mr
Green and was only informed after the event.'

Government sources said Tory suggestions that the operation was
politically motivated were 'desperate' and 'ridiculous'. In a
statement, the Metropolitan Police denied any ministerial involvement
in the decision to arrest Mr Green.

The statement said: 'The investigation into the alleged leak of
confidential government material followed the receipt by the MPS
( Metropolitan Police Service) of a complaint from the Cabinet Office.

' The decision to make today's arrest was taken solely by the MPS
without any ministerial knowledge or approval.'

As shadow immigration minister, Mr Green has won plaudits for getting
the Government on to the back foot on one of the key flashpoint issues
of modern politics.

Studious and self-deprecating, he is regarded as an 'attack dog' who
has succeeded in embarrassing Miss Smith over events in her
department.

For a politician considered on the left of the Tory party, Damian
Green has made a huge impact handling the sensitive immigration brief.

For a politician considered on the left of the Tory party, Damian
Green has made a huge impact handling the sensitive imigration brief.

He has spoken out about genuine public concerns about the problems
caused by the unprecedented influx of foreigners into Britain, and has
opposed the controversial Sangatte II refugee camp near Calais.

The frontbencher has also weighed into stories accusing Home Secretary
Jacqui Smith of covering up warnings that thousands of illegal
immigrants had been cleared to work in Whitehall security jobs and a
dynamite Home Office briefing that crime, violence and terrorist
numbers will rise because of the economic slump.

The 52-year-old MP was made shadow minister for immigration after
David Cameron was elected party leader in 2005.

The MP for Ashford in Kent is not a traditional right-wing Tory,
possessing a pro-European outlook. He backed Ken Clarke's bid for the
leadership after the Tory trouncing at the 1997 election, when he won
the rock-solid seat.

On the basis of his strong performances in the Commons, he soon joined
the front bench and remained on it throughout the Parliament, most
notably as a pro-Kyoto environment spokesman.

In Iain Duncan Smith's first appointments, Green joined the shadow
cabinet as shadow education secretary. In this role, he announced the
Conservative intention to scrap tuition fees.

When Michael Howard was appointed leader, Green moved to the transport
portfolio, a position outside the shadow cabinet.

But in September 2004 he left the front bench completely after
reportedly refusing an alternative job. He returned to the backbenches
to argue for 'compassionate Conservatism' before Mr Cameron gave him a
fresh lifeline in 2005.

He is a former financial and business journalist, is indeed a rare
flag-carrier for One Nation, or 'wet', Tories of his generation in the
Commons.

Mr Green was a close ally of John Major, having served in the former
Prime Minister's policy unit from 1992 to 1994.

He is a leading member of both the Tory Reform Group and Conservative
Mainstream.
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