This is all very odd

[rozk]

The police have felt the collar of a Tory spokesman -Oh so that would be good news then?- and everyone is talking about how democracy is in danger if a chap can't talk to a whistleblower about immigration statistics without having a long chat with the counter-terrorist squad. It is odd that no-one in the Government knew about it until the story broke while eg Boris Johnson did.

One theory I've heard is that it is just Sir Ian Blair being demob happy on his last day in the job at the Met. He certainly has no reason to love the Tories.

Another possibility is simply that the information being leaked on this occasion was genuinely something a bit sensitive that someone decided had no business being leaked - I can imagine Ministers making very clear that they did not want to know about something which might be needful but awkward.

Another possibility is that there was some element of bribery involved - not financial, because the charges are not bribing a civil servant, but misconduct in a public office. An evil imp keeps demanding that I hope that the bribery involved involved the Shadow Minister's less than luscious body - but that would be so very wrong.

Of course, all of the above could be true at the same time. If it damages the Tories, that'd be good; if it damages Jacqui Smith, well, that would not break my heart either.

******

Jacqui Smith's new best friend, Julie Bindel, is at it again in g3, painting herself as the innocent victim of teh evil trans. It really is remarkable how many lies that woman will tell, and presumably convince herself of, in public.

Comments

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be marvellous if the Tories decided this meant that police powers of detention had Gone Too Far, and it was time to move back in the direction of liberty? We can but dream...

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

Worrying isn't it. When the Tories win a landslide, they're really going to enjoy using all of these very evil powers that New labour have created under the promise that nobody was ever going to use them for evil.

Gosh, can you imagine if Thatcher had even a fraction of the new powers the police have these days?

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

I saw David Davies on the news banging on about how if these laws had been in place in the 1930s, Winston Churchill would have been imprisoned. I might be impressed if (a) this wasn't hyperbolic bullshit, and (b) I believed for a moment that once back in power, he hand his mates wouldn't revert to authoritarian type. Which I don't.

[ceemage.livejournal.com]

Actually, a lot of the information that Winston Churchill had in the 1930s was perfectly legit. His request for special access to Foreign Office telegrams "on Privy Council terms" was approved by the then Foreign Secretary and (in the best Whitehall traditions) no-one ever got around to rescinding it. Of course, there was other stuff that *was* leaked to him. When he became First Lord of the Admiralty again at the outbreak of war, he had quite a difficult time explaining how he knew so much about the supposedly ultra-secret Radar and Sonar projects...

Of course, this is the famous irregular verb from Yes, Minister - "I give off-the-record briefings, You leak, He's being prosecuted under section 2 of the Official Secrets Act..."

Bindel

[blahflowers.livejournal.com]

Crikey! Mind you, wasn't it someone who worked for G3 that was going on about how shameful it was for us to be demonstrating?

Re: Bindel

[auntysarah.livejournal.com]

There's a letter from the editor as well that says we should be finding better things to get worked up about.

Dumb trannies.

[paulathomas.livejournal.com]

Knowing the way the Police work I'm surprised he was only held for 9 hours. I have advised on cases wherre people have been held for 18 hours and eventually acceepted cautions that were not, in my opinion, justified and where the CPS had said they weren't going to prosecute.

But it has to be remembered that before PACE 1984 being black was a guarenttee of arrest on non-specific suspicion and being held for longer. One friend of my sister's was arrested for possesion of cheque book (his own) under these law and held for 72 hours under these laws.He happened to be black and his partner was white. He also happened to be a solicitor. He successfully sued for wrongful arrest.

I know things are wrong now, not the least the anti-terror laws. But they are a lot better than they were under the old revolving door system, where people could be arrested - held for 24hrs. then released and re-arrested for sus.

PACE = Police and Criminal Evidence Act.