Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary has concluded that the arrest of Damian Green MP was not proportionate.
All those people who accused the Conservatives of political interference in policing should look at this incident because I have little doubt that one or more people in the Home Office misled the police and in doing so put them on a collision course with party politics.
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Will you accept that Boris acted in an "extraordinary and unwise way" as concluded by the report from Jonathan Goolden. Your reporting of the issue at the time was 'Boris in the clear', which was a misrepresentation of the report.
The arrest of Damian Green was wrong and the police and the Speaker should have behaved better (and probably civil servants / Special Advisors at the Home Office). But the problems of politicisation of the police will not go away while you and Boris think he behaved appropriately.
I was one of the people who accused the Conservatives of political interference and i stand by what I say.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of the investigation - and it's quite clear that Labour minions in the Home Office greatly exaggerated the importance of the information that had been leaked - the fact is that Boris very clumsily interfered in an ongoing police investigation. there can be absolutely no excuse for this.
There must be no political interference in policing and the Conservatives must take heed of this and not seek to use the police in the way the Labour government have for the last 12 years.
It is worth copying John Yates's response below, simply to put your rather selective post in context -
Statement from Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations John Yates:
"The MPS is grateful to both Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor and Sir Ian Johnston for the work they have carried out during their respective reviews. Both have recognised the sensitivities and challenges surrounding investigations of this nature. Both also acknowledge the need for change and for clarity surrounding the arrangements between police, the House of Commons and other agencies in the future.
The HMIC report clearly reinforces that the police must have the unfettered right to investigate any matter and be able to act without fear or favour on any investigation when there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence may have been committed.
From the moment we were told that the leaks from the Home Office may have involved matters relating to national security, it was our priority to carry out a thorough investigation.
We accept that some elements of the inquiry could have been carried out differently, and lessons learned from this have already been factored into how we conduct this type of inquiry both now and in the future. The HMIC has recommended the need for clear protocols and careful checks and balances as an operation develops. We accept this.
Both reports question the proportionality of some aspects of the investigation. The MPS recognises the importance of these conclusions.
We welcome the findings of both reports that the arrests and searches were lawful. The Johnston report states that there were reasonable grounds to suspect an offence had been committed and a reasonable basis to arrest Mr Green to obtain evidence through questioning him.
This has also been echoed by the Director of Public Prosecutions, who stated that once a pattern of leaks was established it was inevitable that a police investigation would follow. He also said that it had been a thorough investigation.
Now is the time to look forward. We accept the HMIC's recommendations insofar as they affect the MPS and look forward to being a party to any deliberations concerning the way in which we work on inquiries of this nature in the future."
more worrying is the 'Americanization' of your spellchecker
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