The Met need to change their tactics
In 2008, the Home Office asked the police to investigate leaks. The Met raided the offices and homes of Damian Green MP, then shadow immigration spokesman, and arrested him. He was released without charge. The raid breached parliamentary privilege and was taken as proof that the police had become politicised under Labour. Nearly a decade later the raid is being used against Mr Green, who is in the middle of a separate inquiry into accusations of sexual harassment. The supposed relevance of the 2008 raid is that pornography was reportedly downloaded and watched on a computer in Mr Green’s office. Mr Green denies downloading or watching pornography.
Several things are alarming. First, the police themselves have stated that the pornography was not of a criminal nature, so what is its relevance? It might be a matter of professional discipline but any involvement by the police appears inappropriate. Secondly, a retired detective involved in the 2008 raid has spoken to the BBC, saying that he believes with certainty the pornography was there all along. Thirdly, data on which he bases his claim was supposed to be destroyed as a matter of procedure, and yet this man claims he kept copies. He is now being investigated for allegedly sharing confidential information. It all smacks of an institution struggling to maintain its objectivity.
We have been here before. The police pursued Tory grandees over charges of sexual abuse, egged on by Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, at huge cost to the taxpayer. And the pattern continues across Britain’s public services: men and women who ought to display non-partisanship and just get on with their job inject themselves into political matters. Take Simon Stevens, head of NHS England, who has demanded that the £350 million written on the side of a Brexit campaign bus be spent on healthcare as promised (even though, as Remainers will point out if it is to their advantage, Brexit hasn’t actually happened yet).
In the case of Mr Green, any unnecessary police involvement is doubly troubling because it threatens to distract from the original purpose of the inquiry. It is an inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment, not whether or not someone looked at smut online a long time ago. Mr Green insists that he is innocent of harassment, and the truth remains to be seen. In the meantime, the police should stand back and allow this Cabinet Office-led inquiry to run its course.