The Wardman Wire

The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee has published it’s report on the incident when the Police searched the home and House of Commons Office of Dominic Grieve, the Shadow Immigration Minister.

The Telegraph Reports:

The damage to national security by a series of Home Office leaks was exaggerated by Government civil servants as they urged police to launch an investigation which led to the arrest of Tory MP Damian Green, an influential group of MPs conclude.

The Guardian says:

The police handling of the arrest “owed more to the Keystone Kops than Softly Softly”, Keith Vaz, the chairman of the committee, said last night.

Green, a shadow immigration minister, and Christopher Galley, a Home Office official, are still waiting to find out whether they will be charged in relation to the investigation, which provoked fierce controversy at Westminster last year because the decision to arrest Green and raid his office in the Commons was seen by many MPs as an assault on parliamentary privilege. Green strongly denies wrongdoing and Galley has issued a statement saying he acted in the public interest.

The original arrest was authorised by a team of officers under Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick, who had just resigned after forgetting to put a secret document in a briefcase, and allowing photographers to read it in Downing Street.

The report is clear that there was no political involvement on the Government side.

You can read the whole report on the Home Affairs Committee Website.