WRITTEN ON November 28th, 2008 BY William Heath AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, Political engagement, What do we want?
So what’s with this whole Damien Green arrest thang? I’ve no idea of course. But’s far from Ideal.
I do recall some general principles. We’re committed to open government. Government is the servant and not the master. There’s an excellent charity to help whistleblowers called Public Concern at Work, and a useful site called Wikileaks, which is ideal for budgets leaks, and sinister hidden agendas behind Benighted Schemes:
Also that a state which has nothig to hide has nothing to fear from openness, especially the sharing of public documents with our elected representatives.
5 Responses to “Damien Green arrest: some principles”
Perhaps ministers knew in advance about the police raids on Damian Green. Perhaps they didn’t. In one respect, that is irrelevant.
For us customers, it’s the look of the thing. The soundbite. The image. That’s what we respond to. And there’s no doubt that this looks bad.
If it looks bad, that tarnished the image. A lot of money has been spent building the UK brand, a lot of effort has been put into the project and this sort of caper frankly isn’t helpful.
What the government needs is more professional brand management. Put it that way, and the problem solves itself, doesn’t it? Who is the greatest brand strategist of the age?
The sooner Gordon Brown and Peter Mandelson bury the hatchet, the sooner Peter Mandelson is brought back into the government (perhaps via the Lords?), the better.
Leaving him in Brussels keeps the rest of the world under control. But at times like this you realise that that is a luxury we can no longer afford.
In a recent letter to the Sunday Times signed by Jacqui Smith and Sir David Normington, it was made admirably clear that you couldn’t get a cigarette paper between the politicians and their officials:
Finally, you allege that the home secretary “faces a revolt” by Home Office officials. There is no disagreement between the home secretary and Home Office officials on these issues.
Obviously we would expect nothing less in a tightly run ship. This is just the proper way for government to operate in a mature democracy.
The matters referred to in the quotation above included the need to provide identification before customers can buy a mobile phone and the need for the government to keep records of all our phone calls and emails in order to protect us and keep us secure.
We may surely be certain that the same close agreement between ministers and officials exists in this later matter, the terrorist police raids on Damian Green.
A copy of the following email was sent to me, presumably by mistake:
From: Sir Gus O’Donnell
To: SecStateDTI
Date: 29 November 2008
Subject: BunkerPete
I’ve failed. You’ve failed. We’ve all failed.
Alastair Campbell’s moved into the office next door. Frankly, it’s a bit hard to concentrate, what with the screams of pain, but his interview with Spliff should be over soon. Then we’re seeing Normington together.
He thinks he’s going to get Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. He just doesn’t understand, does he. This is a new world.
Purdeys were a bit sniffy. Said they’re not a toy shop. MoD couldn’t help. In the end, my daughter tracked down a pair of pearl-handled revolvers on eBay. They’re on their way to you.
And I’m off, too. Shan’t be Master of Trinity after all. Chairman of the trustees of one of the smaller museums. In the Orkneys.
And for Whitehall, it’s welcome back Sir Richard – Mottram, of that ilk.
Damn. What a shame.
Best
Gus———-
* Believed to be a reference to the Home Secretary
In best Private Eye style, I should draw attention to the fact that all the news media seemed to have full details of the entire budget statement by last Sunday, a full 24 hours before the official statement in the House of Commons, but this is not deemed worthy of police action. Apparently, leaks by ministers are acceptable but leaks by thorn in the side opposition MPs are not.
WIBBI senior civil servants who feel that their departments are being undermined by these kinds of leaks should seek guidance from their minister first?
As you say, much is currently unexplained. But hearing about this late last night left me completely stunned.
Over the last few years, we’ve become all too accustomed to hearing about events in Britain which we long believed could never happen here.
During this time, the media and Parliament have been strangely silent; supposedly, opinion polls have shown public support for what has happened.
Often, as in Germany during the early 1930s, mostly isolated or marginal people have affected; at least the media has been quick to swallow government leaks & press releases which portrayed these people as marginal and largely to blame for their misfortune:
Eg. After the Stockwell Tube shooting, the victim was quickly accused of “vaulting over the barriers”; “wearing a bulky jacket”; “carrying a suspicious rucksack”; etc. etc. – all of which were untrue; all of which were repeated over & over again by the whole media and never really corrected. Finally, in a rumour which appeared to emerge from government, he was accused of overstaying his visa – as if that is now a capital offence.
Strangely, no-one was to blame for this awful event.
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This time, a senior politician has been affected; the sanctity of Parliament has been breached.
This time, on the face of it, I hope that senior civil servants and senior police officers will now find that they’ve put their jobs and pensions in jeopardy of summary dismissal for blatant abuse of office;
Naturally, the BBC is treating the arrest of a Conservative politician as a great joke, but let’s hope that politicians at last feel sufficiently threatened to pause & reconsider the dreadful laws passed in recent years and the dangerous powers they’ve granted to unaccountable officials.
Wibbi: Parliament re-asserted its authority and responsibility for governing Britain, in the interests of Britain’s whole electorate.