No charges against Damian Green
By politics.co.uk staff
Damian Green will not face charges for helping to leak Home Office information, the crown prosecution service (CPS) has confirmed.
Mr Green, emerged from parliament to make a statement to the press today wearing a broad smile.
“One of my jobs as shadow immigration minister is to expose the main failings of government immigration policy,” he said.
“That is precisely what I was doing and why ministers were so embarrassed.
“This led to the first arrest of an opposition politician since Britain became a democracy.”
Home secretary Jacqui Smith announced a police inspectorate review of the “operational aspects” of the inquiry but former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell went further, calling for a full inquiry into the affair.
Ms Smith tried to put a brave face on events today, defending the decision to launch a police investigation.
“In the Home Office we deal with some of the most sensitive information in government; that relates to terror, to serious organised crime,” she said.
“When senior Tory politicians are bragging about the fact they have access to information it’s our responsibility to make sure we take that information seriously.
“Senior civil servants, and myself in fact, have a responsibility to keep information safe. There has been potential for damage to the Home Office and to our business.”
The police, who were found to resemble the “Keystone Kops” by home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz this morning, were also on the backfoot.
While the decision to investigate the matter can be put down to the Home Office, who framed the issue as one about national security, thereby making a police investigation all-but inevitable, the Met is facing sustained criticism for its decision to arrest Mr Green, and the manner in which it did so.
Assistant commissioner John Yates said: “We recognise that this was always going to be a sensitive investigation and we understand the extensive debate that it has generated.
“However, our priority has always been to conduct a thorough investigation, and as with all operations it was our duty to secure any available evidence.”
An independent review by British Transport Police cief constable Ian Johnston concluded that the arrest and the searches carried out as part of the investigation were lawful but raised questions as to how “proportionate” the operation was.
“In the light of today’s announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service we are reviewing Mr Johnston’s report with our lawyers to establish what we can make public as soon as possible,” the assistant commissioner said.
The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, confirmed the news this morning, saying that although some damage had been incurred by the leaks, it did not relate to national security.
The information was “not secret or affecting national security,” Mr Starmer said.
“It did not relate to military or intelligence matters. Some of the information leaked undoubtedly touched on matters of public interest.”
Christopher Galley, the 26-year-old civil servant who gave Mr Green the information, will not face any charges either.
A statement released by Mr Green’s lawyer said: “I am of course delighted by the announcement. Mr Green has always emphatically denied these allegations.”
The finding will make life very difficult for the Home Office, which already faced criticism today from the home affairs committee, which found claims concerning national security were exaggerated in order to prompt a police investigation.
More on the home affairs committee report
But the police will be facing tough questions as well, with concerns about their conduct during the arrest.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: “Senior civil servants appear to have confused their own embarrassment with national security, and misled the police into believing that national security was involved. The Director of Public Prosecutions makes plain that it was not.
“This foolish complaint has wasted police time, tied up prosecutors unnecessarily and created a constitutional squall because of the searching of an MP’s office – and all for a matter that should have been handled as an internal civil service disciplinary case.”
Mr Green was arrested last November, prompting a minor constitutional crisis in Westminster.
