Various ministers have been emphatic in saying that they did not know in advance about the arrest of Damian Green. Jacqui Smith says she didn't and the PM says he didn't either and neither did any other minister in his government (as far as he is aware). Smith was more specific in the Commons today, saying that no Cabinet Office minister knew.With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to try and pin the tail on this donkey:
However, the strong rumour is that one minister with good police contacts did know and has remained well under the radar since the row erupted last week, for understandable reasons. One thought: if that person was aware of what was going on, when it backfired would they actually 'fess up to the cabinet Secretary Gus O'Donnell, the PM or the media or just stay uncharacteristically quiet until the row blows over?
The 'who knew what and when' end of this business is far from resolved.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Vote, Damian Green's arrest, Who knew? part 2.
From Iain Martin of the "Three line whip":
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7 comments:
Liam Byrne
Jack Straw. My initial comment on this post seems to have been lost in the black hole that is the 'blogosphere'.
Speaking of black holes: What happened to the post on bubbles?
Tony Mc Nutley? Bill Brewer, Jan Strewer, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Honestly, would you trust any of this "government of all the talents" to pass on a message correctly in time? "Oh, that reminds me, someone called Met or something phoned about something, I dunno really, but he said it was important or urgent or something and asked if you could call him back, no I don't have the number, I think it began with a 0."
The butler did it.
I'd put money on it being McNulty. He's too much of a mouthy yob to not be commenting on this unless he had specifically been told not to; commenting would have left him open to questions he'd have to answer with lies.
Same ol' smoke, mirrors, spin and media manipulation. Unique 'method' of government in a democracy .....
It isn't the 'X Factor' - it's an unprecedented raid minus the statutory search warrant, 'paramilitary style'.
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