THE TELEGRAPH: MPs are threatening to disrupt this week's State Opening of Parliament in protest at the arrest of the shadow minister Damian Green.
The signal for a week of unrest in Westminster came after the Leader of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman, said that she was "very concerned indeed" at the threat to "fundamental principles" posed by the affair.
She called on Michael Martin, the Speaker, to order a formal inquiry into the decision to allow a police search of Mr Green's Parliamentary office. Mr Martin was under pressure from MPs on all sides to issue an apology after personally allowing the police access to the Commons.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, faced further criticism for refusing to intervene in the row or apologise to Mr Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman. Instead, she used a television interview to defend the police's tactics.
She claimed that it would be "Stalinist" for politicians to intervene in the inquiry – a reference to how Mr Green's arrest had been compared to state control during the Soviet era. Mr Green, who had made a series of embarrassing disclosures after receiving leaked Whitehall documents, was arrested and had his property searched last Thursday in an operation involving 20 police officers. He was bailed on suspicion of conspiring to break the archaic law of "misconduct in public office".
It has emerged that MPs were privately discussing whether to protest during the debate on Wednesday's Queen's Speech if Mr Martin did not act. Senior Conservative figures said they might even organise a walkout from Parliament if the authorities did not apologise.
In The Daily Telegraph on Monday, Denis MacShane, a former Labour minister, describes the affair as "a mammoth breach in the core democratic doctrine of parliamentary privilege." >>> By Robert Winnett and Richard Edwards | November 30, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Damian Green Arrest: Video Footage of Police Search Released
Video footage of counter-terrorist police officers searching the Parliamentary office of a senior Conservative minister has been released.
The release of the footage on David Cameron's personal website has escalated the stand-off between the Conservatives and the authorities. Officers are seen being confronted by a senior Tory MP and preparing to search Damian Green's confidential files.
The video shows Andrew Mackay, Senior Parliamentary and Political Adviser to the Conservative leader, entering Mr Green's office and confronting the officers carrying out the search. He is asked to leave. A police camera used to photograph evidence is clearly visible.
Dominic Grieve, the shadow Home Secretary, said: "These pictures document a dark day for democracy. They show Officers from the Metropolitan police searching the office of Damian Green - an MP who was guilty only of doing his job.
"MPs are not above the law. But they must be allowed to bring the Government to account and to put into the public domain information which may be uncomfortable for Ministers." >>> By Robert Winnett | December 2, 2008
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