Assistant Commissioner of the Transport Police Ian Johnston has called into questions the tactics and methods used by the force in its handling of the Green affair. But he said the arrest of the shadow immigration minister was “lawful.”

But he said:

He [Mr Johnston] recognises that there are arguments, either way, regarding proportionality over the manner of arrest of a Member of Parliament but questions the method taken in this case.

He also raises concerns as to whether elements of the investigative approach meet current policy and best practice. These issues will be carefully considered.

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bob Quick recognized that work was needed in developing procedures when investigating members of parliament.

Ian Johnston notes that police investigations can be especially challenging when faced with Parliamentary rights and freedoms and suggests the Met should work with the relevant authorities to develop guidance to inform future decisions and actions in such circumstances.

You can imagine my shock when I open up an email from Twitter this morning containing seven little words than no one in their right mind ever wants to hear, “Karl Rove is following you on Twitter.”

Following revelations that the British National Party’s candidate in the Waddon by-election has a criminal conviction as a militant animal rights, a spokesman for the party said “increase its share of the vote”.

The comments by BNP spokesman Robert Bailey, came after it emerged that Charlotte Lewis was given a six-month prison sentence in 2001, after sending death threats to staff of Huntingdon Life Sciences and harassment.

Speaking to local paper, the Croydon Advertiser, Mr Bailey said: “It’s free advertising. There’s no such thing as bad publicity. It’s extra publicity for us and it will increase our share of the vote.

Defending their candidate, Mr Bailey said Lewis was not a violent person saying “She only sent some letters,” he said. “If you have met Charlotte you will know that she hasn’t got a threatening bone in her body.

During the height of protests against Huntingdon Life Sciences in 2001, Lewis sent letters to members of staff which included threats such as: “If you don’t quit HLS then your life will not be worth living,” “This is a warning. Your life is in grave danger if you don’t stop working at HLS,” in another she wrote “You will find yourself having a gun aimed at your stupidly ugly head.”

So not intimidating or frightening in anyway then.

In the wake of the controversy over Carol Thatcher’s sacking from the One Show for a racial remark, Shadow Leader of the House Alan Duncan this morning called for a parliamentary debate on political humour. At Business questions in the House of Commons he called for:

“A debate on moral authority so that this house can help establish a code of modern manners for privacy, humour and comment which can be practiced and agreed by everyone in place of the current chaos which provokes animosity and condemnation where it all could be so much better handled”

While the BBC’s move should be seen as an attempt to head-off a repeat of the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand debacle, the notion that politicians have the ability to judge what humour is appropriate is comical in its own right. While no one accepts racists jokes as an acceptable form of humour, a parliamentary debate on “of modern manners for privacy, humour and comment” will solve nothing.

Alastair Campbell Alastair Campbell is followed in the steps of John Prescott and launched his very own blog, and although a new piece of internet real estate, the ‘Spinner-in-Chief’ does little more than pimp himself and products.

In his first, and so far only, post Campbell does little more than tell the world how good his diaries are, gloat about his so called “victory’ over the BBC with the publication of the Hutton Report and his involvement in The Speaker – a competition to find Britain’s best young public speaker.

…Of course there is a bit of history between me and the Beeb. But it is five years since the Hutton Report was published. Five years is a long time. One and a quarter terms for Barack Obama (we fervently hope). One and a quarter Olympiads.

But when the BBC devoted three hours of documentary airtime to my diaries, (still selling nicely thank you, and the site can guide those who are still looking to buy) oh how the critics got their dander up. I know I’m biased, but I thought it was rather good television. Then there was a mini squall when they gave me an hour to tell the story of my nervous breakdown. (On which, by the way, I think I have had more comments from the public than on anything else I have ever done on telly.) My involvement in The Speaker has got one or two of the ‘critics’ going again. It’s weird really. It is as though there should never be reconciliation between people who fall out from time to time.

I should warn them – it could have been worse. Originally the BBC approached me about fronting the whole thing. But time constraints, and my worries about the elimination format, led me to restrict my role. I have to say, having been involved now, my worries about the elimination element were unfounded. The producers handled the competition aspect really well, as shown by the presence of most of the eliminated contestants as spectators at the recently recorded final.

I hope people watch The Speaker when it comes out in a few weeks time. In the main young people get a bum rap from most of the media. The Speaker gets closer to what the vast bulk of them are – lively, intelligent, hard-working, keen to learn about the world around them – and some pretty good speakers among them too.

While it may be too early to judge Campbell and his blog his opening gambit is a little disappointing, to say the least, considering he was at the heart of government communications for 10 years.

Later on today YouGov will publish a survey looking at the most important seats in the next general election – the 60 marginal’s. In these seats Labour is defending majorities of between 6 per cent and 14 per cent, so their importance to both parties cannot be understated.

Although the full poll results won’t be known for some time, someone has been whispering in Guido’s ear, who is reporting that the polling data shows Labour 3 per cent down on 2008 results – giving the Conservatives 54 seat majority.

A British army officer who allegedly leaked figures about civilian deaths in coalition operations to Human Rights Watch has been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of leaking official secrets.

Lieutenant Colonel Owen McNally, who was on a one-year posting from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, is reported to be flying back to the UK and the Ministry of Defence has said the case will be handled by the Metropolitan police upon his return.

According to the Sun newspaper he had access to the figures due to his work with Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

“We can confirm that a British Army officer has been arrested in Afghanistan on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act.”

“He is being returned to the UK for questioning. The investigation has been referred from the MoD to the Metropolitan police and is now under consideration. No further details will be released at this stage,” a spokesman for the MoD said in a statement.

Last year Human Rights Watch said civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and Nato air strikes tripled between 2006 and 2007.

If charged and convicted Lt Col McNally could face 14 years in prison.

Former shadow home secretary David Davis has demanded a Commons statement from the Government on accusations that British agents had tortured a man held in Guantanamo Bay.

He also urged the Government to address an alleged US threat to withdraw intelligence sharing relations with Britain if details of the Binyam Mohamed case are released.

Mr Davies described it as “a matter of utmost national importance”.

“At 1.45pm today Lord Justice Thomas issued an astonishing ruling in the case of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident currently being held at Guantanamo bay and who has made an accusation of British involvement in torture inflicted on him while held in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Morocco.

“The ruling implies that torture has taken place in the Mohamed case, that British agencies may have been complicit, and most important of all, that the United States Government has threatened our High Courts that if it releases this information, the US Government will withdraw its intelligence co-operation with the United Kingdom on matters of security.

“The judge rules that there is a strong public interest that this information is put in the public domain even though it is politically embarrassing.”

Earlier, in a joint judgment involving terror suspect Binyam Mohamed, Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones launched a scathing attack on the US authorities over their suppression of evidence of torture allegations.

But the judges decided not to release the evidence because the US had threatened to withdraw cooperation over terrorist intelligence and “the public of the United Kingdom would be put at risk”.
The judges said they had no reason to anticipate the US would threaten to “reconsider its intelligence sharing relationship, when all the considerations in relation to open justice pointed to us providing a limited but important summary of the reports”.

Last August the same two judges said in their initial ruling that MI5 had participated in the unlawful interrogation of Mr Mohamed, an Ethiopian national.

In another part of the ruling, the judges said they had been informed by lawyers for Foreign Secretary David Miliband that the threat to withdraw co-operation remained even under President Barack Obama’s new administration.

This is a test post sent by Blogo in order to generate a preview template. It should be deleted shortly.

Ian Kirby is reporting on the NOTW blog that tomorrows paper will report that neither Damian Green nor Christopher Galley, the Civil Servant who passed on the document to the shadow immigration minister, will face charges over the leaked Home Office documents…

TORY MP Damian Green and his Home Office mole will NOT be charged in the leak scandal, the News of the World can reveal.

Prosecutors say papers seized from Mr Green’s Commons office cannot be used as evidence in a trial.
They add that cops FAILED to conduct a proper search in Westminster.

The conclusions, in a secret early review by the Crown Prosecution Service, coincide with the initial findings of an independent police probe.

That investigation is already concluding the case is “not prosecutable”, and the decision to arrest the Shadow Immigration Minister was “over the top”.

One source said: “This was a sledgehammer to crack a nut by Scotland Yard—totally disproportionate.”
The findings are a humiliation for Met Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, head of the counter-terrorism unit.

The view is growing that the original arrest decision, made by a chief inspector, was simply rubber-stamped and the implications not properly considered by his ultimate boss, Mr Quick. Acting Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson told Quick: “You are completely f**king me over, you know. I will
get the blame when it all goes wrong.”

Cops had told the Commons’ Serjeant at Arms, Jill Pay, they wanted to search an MP’s office but failed to tell her WHO the MP was.

A top CPS source said: “Police must state clearly who they are investigating and why they wish to carry out a search. This did not happen until after they had obtained permission.

“Therefore the evidence would be subject to a sustained legal challenge.”

Police found that mole Christopher Galley only passed on documents relating to immigration—not
terrorism. He faces Home Office disciplinary proceedings and is expected to be dismissed.

Meanwhile the Sunday Times is reporting Michael Martin, who has disgraced his officer by the way he’s handled the Green affair is planning to stand for a third term as Speaker of the House.

The revelation – through his official spokeswoman – will be greeted with incredulity by many backbenchers, who had assumed he would step down at the end of this parliament. Although his critics acknowledge that he is determined not to be forced out, they hoped that he would retire quietly when the country went to the polls.

Instead, on Friday night his office authorised his spokeswoman to declare that his position “has not changed” since he issued an unequivocal declaration in 2007 that he would stand again. “He has always been clear that he will continue as long as his constituents in Glasgow North East and the House of Commons want him to,” she added.