The Beginning of the End of British Democracy.

[Old Mike]

Published Date: 29 November 2008
THEY arrived at 1:35pm and asked if there were any children at home. Alicia Collinson's "blood ran cold", according to a friend of the barrister, as she feared something dreadful had happened to her husband, the Tory MP and shadow immigration spokesman Damian Green.
After all, what could possibly have brought nine counter- terrorism police to her front door on a Thursday afternoon?

The officers, who had a warrant, put on purple rubber gloves for their search the family's west London home, which lasted until 5pm. Files were opened, computers scanned, photographs taken, three folders filled with bank statements.
The search extended to letters Mr and Mrs Green had sent each other during their university courtship. The couple's 15-year-old daughter returned during the afternoon and, shocked to find police raiding the family home, burst into tears.

This was the reality of the decision by the Home Office's most senior civil servant, Sir David Normington, to ask police to investigate suspected leaks of sensitive information to the Conservatives. A Home Office official was arrested two weeks ago.
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Pity, really.
The democratic experiment lasted a while, but is now over.
Heil Brown!!

[so what]

Yeah, purple rubber gloves...yeck!

[Dr. Phil]

I agree this is the most serious attack on parlimentary freedom in in my memory and typically it comes from a Labour government which yearns for the good old days of Stalin.

I mean, we're still reeling from Blairs alleged use of MI5 to assassinate Dr Kelly. 

The Home Secretary clearly knew in advance notwithtanding her protests of innocence. She must resign immediately and accept the responsibility also the sergeant and other Commons administrators who consented to this attack on the constitution.

The conservatives and liberals must boycott parliament until the above is met. In the event Brown remains unrepentant the Queen should dissolve parliament and call immediate elections.
 

[Wicket]

I don't understand why this is so significant?

As a friend in the UK said: I wonder if there would have been such a fuss if they were ransacking some "hoodies" home for a stolen dvd player.

[Dr. Phil]

When Mugabe arrested the leader of the opposition it caused an outcry. This was an abuse of democratic principles. This is effectively what Gordon Brown has sanctioned.

When police to enter parliament, search and arrest an elected member, this is a police-state tactic and its no less worrying that Brown should invoke anti-terrorist laws to do this. This is the second time he has misused these laws; the first was to freeze Icelandic Banks assets. Neither have anything to do with terrorism; although the illegals he is protecting might well be terrorists.

In UK we elect MPs to serve us, the people, and the party with a majority form a government and the minority of elected MPs form opposition parties in parliament. The opposition parties ensure the government behaves, always ready to challenge the government and offers an alternative manifesto to the electorate.

For centuries parliament has been beyond the reach of the police; unless approved by the sergeant-at-arms. Of course any politician can be arrested but protocols exist to ensure arrests are not anti-democratic.

When democracy and parliamentary freedom breaks down, it is the constitutional monarch's role to step in and dissolve parliament and call for elections. This is safeguards democracy and prevents a single party creating dictatorship.

In fact, Bush was treading this road with his anti-terrorism laws, Guantanamo bay internment and the abandonment of habeus corpus. Just as the Bush Administration's abuses are being addressed, Brown "discovers" across them.
 
The arrest of this MP was a warning to whistle-blowers. It specifically relates to illegal immigrants' data, manipulated and/or suppressed by government. The nature of the disclosure relates to illegal immigrants working in parliament as cleaners and also in other sensitive government departments. The government will not remove them because they work for less than a local would expect.
 
I suppose if Baby P's parents are representative of the population of the UK, it is not surprising people wonder what all the fuss is about. 

[Wicket]

If we have a police state we’ve had it for a long time


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Tisdall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Ponting

These matters also embarrassed the government of the time, were a bit more interesting, but no less an example of extreme heavy-handedness. I think the truth is that politicians just don’t like being made to look silly.

[Dr. Phil]

If we have a police state we’ve had it for a long time


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Tisdall

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clive_Ponting

These matters also embarrassed the government of the time, were a bit more interesting, but no less an example of extreme heavy-handedness. I think the truth is that politicians just don’t like being made to look silly.

I think these people were civil servants.

The Home Secretary said the opposition MPs were wrong to complain about government leaks. But the complaint was about a breach of parliamentary privilege, not leaking documents.

In any event, if it was a leak, it concerned an illegal government activity hence the Opposition are duty bound to disclose it.

The Quen is about to open parliament. Even she has to knock before the door is opened. 

[mr platohead]

I don't know about British democracy ... but could we please have an end to the British monarchy ?

And Dr Phil, I always knew you were a raving Tory - but conspiracy theorist?!