Date published: 2008/11/28
The BBC says:
The Lib Dems have called shadow immigration minister Damian Green's arrest a "mayday warning" for democracy amid cross-party anger over the move.
Mr Green was arrested, held for nine hours and had his two homes and offices searched by police investigating alleged leaks from the Home Office.
Tory leader David Cameron called the police operation "alarming" and said the government had questions to answer.
But the Home Office said ministers were not informed until after the arrest.
...
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told the BBC that he was "really shocked" by Mr Green's arrest.
...
"This is something you might expect from a tin-pot dictatorship, not in a modern democracy," he said.Given the culture of "extraordinary secrecy" in Whitehall, it was getting harder to hold the government to account and opposition MPs had a constitutional duty to keep "ministers on their toes", he added.
He called on Gordon Brown to "rule out any further use of anti-terrorism powers in cases that have nothing to do with terrorism," although the Metropolitan Police stressed the arrest was made under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act and not anti-terror legislation.
The Met said some counter-terrorism officers were involved because they were the most "appropriate" to carry out such an operation.
But David Cameron attacked the "heavy-handed" way in which it took nine officers to make the arrest and search the premises.
For once Nick Clegg is correct. He just forgot to mention the phrase "police state". It is unbelievable that the police have acted in this way, and using counter-terrorism officers as well. Was this a final despicable act by Ian Blair? Or are there lots of other rogue elements inside the police force or elsewhere? Whatever, hopefully heads will roll over this one. Britain should not be allowed to become a country where the police can arrest someone for political reasons. The really interesting question is whether Gordon Brown or Peter Mandleson were involved. It's hard to believe they would be so stupid, but if so, the government is toast.
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