Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

It was rather overshadowed by the Byers/Hoon/Hewitt lobbying affair on Monday, but the is a fascinating and occasionally rather disturbing read.

Mr Green, the Conservative immigration spokesman was arrested, after embarrassing ministers with a series of documents leaked from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Office. MPs were outraged that his Westminster office was searched by police as part of the investigation, without even a search warrant - and a special committee of senior MPs was convened to investigate. They damn almost everyone.

They clearly find it preposterous that a common-or-garden political leak was treated as a national security matter, and regard the subsequent investigation as heavy-handed and inept. But the most damning conclusions cover the handling of the issue by the Commons authorities.

Parliamentary privilege is not supposed to be about giving MPs some kind of immunity from prosecution - it is about shielding them from intimidation by the executive. The famous 1689 Bill of Rights was the product of Parliament's clashes with the over-mighty King James II. It was intended to prevent the courts from being used to intimidate MPs, and the idea that being in receipt of a leak should mean the Met get to rootle through their correspondence and computers alarmed a lot of parliamentarians. Even worse was the muddled way in which the Commons uuthorities, the Clerk, the Serjeant-at-Arms and, ultimately, the Speaker allowed them in.

The Serjeant, Jill Pay, was not told she could say no. She did not demand a search warrant (although anyone who has ever watched a cop show should surely know that a warrant is needed) and there was no summit between these top officials, at which these points might have occurred to one or other of them. The report notes that the Speaker was "not well served" by his officials, but adds that he had "failed to exercise the ultimate responsibility, which was his alone, to take control and not merely to expect to be kept informed."

This is damning stuff. Mr Speaker Martin is now Lord Martin of Springburn, and his handling of the Green affair was a contributory factor in his departure. And the future of the other officials involved is a matter for the House of Commons Commission. But at the fag end of a parliament, they're probably safe from further rebuke. It seems unlikely that time can be found for the House to debate the report before Parliament is dissolved.

And all this will seem like ancient history by the time the next parliament assembles.
The committee is recommending that the whole issue of privilege is examined by a special committee, with a view to deciding whether the time has come to legislate on the precise rights and protections MPs should enjoy. But that will be a technical and abstruse exercise, which could keep some fine legal minds happily splitting hairs well into 2011, and possibly beyond.

Meanwhile, the protagonists can thank Channel 4's Dispatches programme, and Messrs Byers, Hoon, Hewitt and Butterfill for providing a good day for the burial of their bad news. It is now safely interred - leaving only the memory of some forensic questioning by a rather impressive committee, and the lingering feeling that an important protection for the democratic process has been eroded.

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