The "judicial intimidation" of Damian Green

Lots of posts last night so I thought I'd try and summarise what we know in one post:

What happened?  Damian Green was arrested yesterday and his Kent and House of Commons offices searched by nine counter-intelligence officers.  Mr Green spent nine hours in custody but has not been charged. He was apparently under investigation for handling four leaks of Home Office information on matters relating to the Government's record on immigration.

Why?  The authorities may have wanted to frighten Mr Green. They may have wanted to frighten all civil servants and MPs and stop the increasing regularity of leaks from Whitehall.

Mr Green has the Tory leadership's support: David Cameron is standing by Mr Green and is "very angry" at what some Tories are describing as "Stalinesque" behaviour by the authorities.  "Stalinesque" might be thought to imply suspicion of Gordon Brown's involvement but his office were very quick to deny involvement.  As Greg Hands has noted, however, it was a typical Brownian denial - not absolving him comprehensively from involvement.

When did ministers know?  This is now one of the most important questions.  Even if Brown didn't know when did the Home Secretary know?  Given that Boris Johnson and others received prior warnings - but were unable to act - it seems very unlikely that a Home Office Minister (who did have the power to stop the police and may have even had to sanction what happened) did not have prior knowledge.  Such is the reputation of this Government, few are likely to believe ministers' denials anyway.  If Jacqui Smith did know she should resign.

Why were counter-terrorism powers used?  This seems to be yet another example of their misuse.  As David Davis told Today, this had nothing to do with terrorism and comes close to "judicial intimidation".

MPs will be outraged at the police searching one of their colleague's offices: There is something worryingly undemocratic about the police entering an MP's Commons office and undertaking a search.  There is probably no coincidence in the fact that parliament wasn't sitting yesterday.  As Iain Dale noted in a superb post, if MPs had been sitting many might have "physically barred" the police's way.

Many, many MPs receive leaks: As the BBC's Norman Smith told Today listeners at about 6.30am if every MP who had been passed confidential information was arrested the Commons would be half-empty.  Jim Naughtie himself noted that Brown made his early reputation by receiving numerous leaked documents from inside Whitehall.  There's extraordinary hypocrisy here - not least from a Government that couldn't/ wouldn't keep its own Pre-Budget Report secret over last weekend. 

This is another PR disaster for the Government: It's not just the BBC that is incredulous.  The Daily Mail leads with the story and as the beneficiary of some of the leaks is going to be very sympathetic to Mr Green.  There are few areas of Labour's record that exhibit more incompetence that its record on immigration.  The public are unlikely to have sympathy with attempts to hide, for example, the fact that 5,000 illegal workers were cleared for security details.  That story is reportedly one of Damian Green's leaks and a very clear example of whistleblowing in the public interest.

Britain is not Zimbabwe: Yesterday's events were deeply worrying but Britain is not Zimbabwe and we must be careful about suggesting otherwise.  To do so risks insulting the suffering of women like Memory.  As Robert H Halfon has previously blogged: We must not trivialise real evil.

Tim Montgomerie

Comments

[pp]

Leftie -- you miss the point entirely (I will assume that it is not deliberate).

I am not suggesting that this is a slippery slope or the thin end of a wedge. That is because I am not suggesting that Brown/Labour are gradually getting a more totalitarian mindset.

Brown/Smith/Labour already have an entirely totalitarian mindset - it is just the implementation that is gradual, so people must be made aware of it, and it must be resisted.

Shoplifting may not lead to murder (unless you hold up stores with a gun) - but if someone is already minded to be a murderer they may not care too much about paying for their shopping.

[Percepied]

I do very much agree that this is an abuse of power, but in all the commentary on the Green arrest, I don't think I have yet read on opinion on whether it is possible for an MP to actually fall afoul of 'conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office'.

I would imagine this means actively seeking to solicit leaks from a civil servant rather than being only the recipient of said leaks. I offer no comment about the relevance of this in the current case.

Outwith the legalities of the matter there is a broader political point.

MPs, rightly, should enjoy special privilege as a function of their role, but what of those instances in which they are merely seeking to embarrass the government for its own sake? Sure, that is the stuff of party politics - and most certainly not a matter for the Police - but it goes to a form of abuse of an MPs privilege.

There was some commentary last weekend about PQs Greg Hands MP had tabled on personal training courses taken by members of the government. The facts in this case were revealed through normal Parliamentary process, but many criticised Greg for making a news story out of what might be considered trivial matters.

Returning to Damian Green, we might consider the leaked document in September which revealed that the government expected that a recession would bring increased hostility toward immigrants, and a rise in crime. Both of these conclusions seem perfectly reasonable and exactly the sort of statement one would anticipate a policy planning document to make. They might be uncomfortable truths - and so cause embarrassment to a Government if the document becomes public - but the content of these claims does not speak to real failures in the process of government. The functioning of government would be fatally impaired if internal policy planning documents shied away from confronting such realities.

I am, therefore, a little uncomfortable when I see this last story being spoken of in the same manner as the other leaked documents of which Mr Green was the recipient, and which revealed actual failures in the work of the Home Office.

[Adam in London]

There is a Minister for Civil Liberties already. We know the post more commonly as Lord Chancellor or Justice Secretary.

It is simply inconceivable that the police would inform the Mayor but not a Minister. There are not that cretinously stupid.

The offence Green was arrested under is one more usually associated with police corruption. I fail to see how it is relevant to leaking documents unless money changed hands.

[Jake]

"I'd just like to say that Gordon Brown acts not unlike Oliver Cromwell and we all know how that ended in a big sorry mess for the British Public and their Parliament."

Rugfish ,I applaud the sentiment but your grasp of history is tennuous perhaps attributable to 301 years of British occupation of England and the resultant British supression of English appreciations of our own history.

Oliver Cromwell was the most successful of the English military leaders against the antidemocratic forces of the Stuart crown.In his latter years he did indeed become an obstacle to democracy
( he blocked the English levellers demands ie from his own army, for full democracy in 1647)
but as a conscious agent of change and resistance to royal totalitarianism he was instrumental in the forcible transfer of power from the monarchy to parliament as subsequently cemented by the revolution of 1688(the Suarts had shown there was no other way)
I would have thought a far better parallel for Brown would be Charles 11.

By the way, there was no "British public" in the mid 17nth century only an English public who would have been dubious at best ,more likely have hotly rejected, the idea of Britishness.
The British state did not commence until 1st May 1707.

[nigel syson]

Not since Charles 1 tried to seize the 5 members has an MP been arrested for opposing the government.
This is the european way of dealing with dissent , see Nazi germany , Franco's Spain , Vichy France ,Stalin's Russia, fascist Italy and fascist Portugal.
We English are going to have to fight once again for our freedom of speech and liberty against an over mighty state.

[Steve]

This will backfire BIGTIME!, if the Labour Regime thought they would be out at the next general election than they are out even BIGGER now!.....that is if they havent banned Elections by then.

And if they do somehow get in again, then we deserve to lose our country, and rest assured that we would.

[Edward Huxley]

Tony Benn and Michael Howard have just made some forthright comments on the World at One. Whatever you think of Benn he does stick up for what he thinks is right.

[Peter Gooderham]

It is NOT judicial intimidation. I suspect the judiciary would take a very dim view.

It is police state intimidation.

"If we can do this to a moderate opposition MP, just think what we can do to YOU!"

ZANULabour indeed.

[George Hinton]

The arrest of Damian Green sets a dangerous precedent; that seeks to gag whistle-blowers, leakers and the ability of MP's and others to release embarrasing and sensitive information, detremental to the incumbent regime.
The grounds and explanations offered by various Labourite mouthpieces is scandalous and mealymouthed. On the basis of these explanations most of the present and past Labour Cabinets would be subject to arrest and indeed incarceration for their cavalier contempt of Parliamentary rules and privilege with the use of "leaks" and "briefings" to release government policy and intentions.
This is a shameful day for the police and justice.

[Fraser]

Just the kind of New Labour stalinist tactics that are by now shocking but not truly surprising. Am I not taken aback that the police have been ordered (aye they have) to arrest an opposition MP and intimidate him for nine hours? No, not really. That's how low the scum in charge today, Brown, Balls, Alexander, Mandleson, Campbell, really are. They respect nothing and no one but their own power. Brown's moral compass always points East - to the land of the Gulag.

[Dispatches from the Lamborne Room]

I am a Councillor in an outer London Borough.

The local police have a speed radar gun and at an Area Committee were asked to give an update on it's use at the next meeting.

At the following meeting the information was not forthcoming. One of the councillors was critical of this. A few days later, members of the Committee were called in by the police and ticked off for critising the police in public.

[olly onions]

Tim your attempt to calm down the Brown=Mugabe brigade isn't working. I'm afraid you've too many nutters on your side to be credible.

[Peter Gooderham]

And see also:

http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/

[rugfish]

Posted by: Jake | November 28, 2008 at 13:17

Yes I was being metaphorical Jake.
As you say, Crowmwell forcibly removed power from the monarchy.

I see no people power anywhere and Brown shows as little regard for parliament is Cromwell did. In fact before Cromwell was upset by parliament he showed more respect for that place than Brown and at least had some bottle.

Maybe Brown is the negative side of Crowmwell then in his disposal of the democracy which many like Cromwell hold high in this land whether we be British or English.

[Julian L Hawksworth]

I am as disgusted as many others, as far as the recent arrest of Damian Green is concerned. Indeed, why arrest a decent politician? Surely, a few simple questions would have been enough? Instead, he appears to have been treated like a terrorist. Pretty disgraceful!

A "police state" beckons, perhaps?

[rugfish]

"Not since Charles 1 tried to seize the 5 members has an MP been arrested for opposing the government.
This is the european way of dealing with dissent , see Nazi germany , Franco's Spain , Vichy France ,Stalin's Russia, fascist Italy and fascist Portugal.
We English are going to have to fight once again for our freedom of speech and liberty against an over mighty state".

Posted by: nigel syson | November 28, 2008 at 13:18

I agree, it IS the European way.
There is plenty of evidence of this in the treatment of MEP's by the Euro-parliamentary police squads which are there to subvert free speech at Strasbourg.

[rugfish]

The Tories have video footage of the police raid on Green's office
Peter Hoskin 2:03pm

The Times' Sam Coates reveals another twist in the Damian Green story. He writes over at Red Box:

"They wont confirm it officially, but it's there, I'm told. Any footage of the police in an MPs' office is likely to put yet more pressure on the Speaker and Seargant at Arms to justify why he allowed them in first place."

http://www.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/3049496/the-tories-have-video-footage-of-the-police-raid-on-greens-office.thtml

[Michael McGowan]

Resident leftie: "I believe the police when they say that Downing Street was informed after the event." Well, to quote Mandy Rice-Davies, you would say that, wouldn't you? I had to check it wasn't April 1st when I read your post.

[Ivor Cornish]

The arrest of a democratically elected M.P. is yet a further infringement of our rights.
M.P.'s of all parties should be concerned at the actions of the police in this matter, and they should call for an emergency debate in the House.

This week I was notified of a forthcoming convention, I see that David Davis, and Iain Dale are among the many speakers.
I was thinking of going to this before the Damien Green episode arose. I am now convinced of the need to attend a convention where there will be a debate by eminent lawyers, M.P.'s and others on the erosion of our civil liberties. A concerted campaign across party lines is vital.

This is the site for the convention:-

http://www.modernliberty.net/

[Franklie Cheep]

Why did the Speaker/Serjeant-at-Arms allow the police to search Damian Green's office in The House in the first place? I find it incredible that HM the Queen will deliver a Speech next Thursday about "my government's" intentions before the fundamental issues raised by Green's arrest & the search of his office in Parliament are addressed beforehand.

Parliament is 'the house of the people'; MPs of all parties are in office, not in power. This really has gone much too far and if, as seems likely, MPs will not rein in the Executive, the people surely will. We need a GE now and we need honest & accountable manifestos.

Abuse of privilege has been a 'clear & present danger' since 2000. 3,500 new laws since 1997 represents 318 new laws per year - almost one a day. Why did none of HM 'Loyal Opposition' nip it in the bud? The task now is so much harder and the price so much greater.

[Sally Roberts]

"Things must be really bad, to produce a comment like that of Sally Roberts @ 08.08, as Sally is someone who always sees the best in everyone, and likes to give them the benefit of the doubt! That is not sarcasm, by the way!"

Thank you Patsy - and no I didn't take that as sarcasm! You are right - things are really bad...really bad indeed! I am deeply angry about what has happened. I am even more angered by comments by Mark Hudson and Resident Leftie who clearly would both have felt at home in Germany of the 1930s! Apologies, Editor if that remark breaches the bounds of acceptability but I am afraid the gloves are off. Surely people can see what is happening to this country? We have very little time to save it. Personally I would like the Queen to command a dissolution of Parliament and a General Election. Someone has already mentioned the possibility of our Dear Leader deciding in the near future that the next General Election must be cancelled "due to security considerations" - paranoid? I think not.

[Englader]

A lot of people will be surprised to see that the police have time to arrest Damian Green but not to prevent very serious crimes from taking place such as have been in the news recently.

[Norm Brainer]

Personally I would like the Queen to command a dissolution of Parliament and a General Election.

Ditto - I've been wanting that for ages though but I'm pretty sure that even looking at this objectively it would be reasonable of her to do so.

Someone has already mentioned the possibility of our Dear Leader deciding in the near future that the next General Election must be cancelled "due to security considerations" - paranoid? I think not.

This is also something which I've been expecting to happen but have thought that it never would - but it does appear that 'never' is happening quite often nowadays.

Maybe those on the left who are similar to those in government that place no value on Britain, parliament and her traditions which is why they don't understand what the fuss is about.

It was just this week that the C4 drama "the devil's whore" showed the dramatic time when the speaker stood in the way of the king to protect parliament - do labour & labourites just think that was a nice play and nothing to do with us today?

Labour have no soul.

[Heresiarch]

The question is, not is the Brown government's attitude directly parallel with what happens in Zimbabwe - clearly it isn't - but, rather, what would Robert Mugabe be like had he come to power in modern, democratic Britain rather than southern Africa. Or, to put it another way, imagine an African Gordon Brown. Would he have secret prisons and rigged elections? Of course.

[ACT]

And still the barking mad - and morally obscene - comparisons of British policemen to agents of totalitarian dictatorship continue apace. But the facts are very, very boring, aren't they?

* Ministers didn't know. What the wiseacres asserted last night - 'the Met must have had "political cover" before they proceeded' - was in fact, as at least one of us argued, the complete reverse of the truth. That the police acted as they did was all the proof anyone with open eyes needed that ministers hadn't been involved.

* The Police officers who arrested Green weren't acting in any capacity related to counter-terrorism laws.

So the central, Tory, questions remain: can leakers leak what they want, when they want, to whom they want? And, are MPs (or journalists) above the laws MPs themselves pass? Thank God the answer is no.

However, here's some things we don't, yet, know the answers to:

* Why did Boris know?

* How is the freedom from political direction of the Met consistent with the Mayor of London, be it Boris, or Ken, or anyone else, knowing such details?

* Did Boris attempt to infringe the operational independence of the Met when he 'advised' them not to proceed with this arrest (bear in mind, as assuredly senior officers of the Met now have to, Boris has just sacked the Commissioner on explicitly political grounds)?

* And most importantly - and one I think we'll be coming back to . . . - who did Boris tell? Did Boris use his privileged access to sensitive, ongoing policing matters for a political purpose?

And won't it be fun finding out the answers to those questions? Because if there's one thing thing we can be sure, it's that Boris treats serious matters sensitively, and does things by the book.

[Obnoxio The Clown]

We must not trivialise real evil.

Well, Tim, this was real evil. This regime, at its core, is malign and unpleasant. This is not the mark of healthy government. These people do not mean us well.

It is no longer possible for people to delude themselves about the fact that we are heading into some very undemocratic, unpleasant territory here.

[CJT]

Brown is not Mugabe - YET. But he's working on it! Client state; profligate spending; economic dislocation caused by foreigners never by himself; abuse of anti-terror laws; now arrest of political opponent. Biodun above was right. We must learn from Africa's mistakes, not repeat them.

Smith should resign and so should her boss.

[Malcolm Dunn]

Another extraordinarily foolish post ACT. They're becoming a habit aren't they?

[ACT]

Brilliant response on the facts, Malcolm - bravo! And your detailed, forensic arguments are of course right. No one, least of all on the CH threads littered with such assertions, has claimed that: ministers a.) knew about the police action & indeed, b.) instructed them that it should happen. And as for the idea that, smearing lie after smearing lie has issued from 'Roon after 'Roon that Green was arrested 'under anti-terrorism' laws, well, who earth made that one up? Oh wait. ConHome threads have been nothing but the threefold fib: 'Brown knew! He made the police the do it! they used the anti-terrorism laws to it'. Except when they've been full of the vile and disgusting garbage that our government and our police are to be legitimately compared to Adolf Hitler and Robert Mugabe. I can see why you're happier than ever being a 'Roon Malcolm: as for me, I'm surer than ever of the virtues in being a Remembering Thatcherite.

[The Bishop Swine]

resident leftie

You cannot love Labour and allow this abuse of our liberties to continue. I actually used to be a Socalist until I thought through the dogma of centerlisation.
Labour will always go to far and act like little thugs when it suits them. The only state that matters to Labour is the party.
This is an awful undemocratic administration.

[Adam]

If Michael Martin knew of this and permitted the police to gain access to Damian Green's offices, then he should resign as he would have betrayed the trust of MPs and the traditions of the House of Commons.

All parliamentary staff and police officers who permitted the other police officers to enter the building and search Damian Green's offices should be removed from duty or reassigned elsewhere as they clearly do not comprehend their role in protecting parliament.

[Patrick Harris]

If the information he received had been properly brought before the HoC using the proper proceedures he would have been protected from the law by Parliamentary privilege, instead he decided to make a hue and cry about it in the national press - he is the architect of his own downfall.
ExMet.
On the matter of "opposing" in all of the occasions that you quote the law was being broken by the protesters and they were duly dealt with, some more successfully than others, the protesters did not have the right to personally bring their grievence before the HoC - Mr. Green did/has. He made an error of judgement for which he must be investigated.

[Derek Sinclair]

I know many policemen and would describe none of them as 'low IQ bullies'.
Posted by: Malcolm Dunn
---
I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. I too have met many policement - sadly, the quality has been diminished to the point where they have become government public order keepers.

Oppose the government? Expect to be arrested (and perhaps beaten if you are a BNP member).

Get robbed, mugged or burlged? Forget even so much as being able to contact the police. You'll be given a 'crime number' for insurance.

A copper stopped me the other day as I left my car running while parked to help a man who had fallen over. Rather than help the man or make sure he was ok, they stated that they "would be the first people I contacted if my car was stolen." My reply was, of course, that there would be little point, and I'd be better off spending my time cutting my losses than waste it reporting it to the police.

The sad thing is, I meant it. If my car HAD have been stolen, I'd have chalked it up to experience and would not have wasted my time with the police - if I did report it, I'd probably be arrested myself on some jumped-up charge, simply so they could add my DNA to the database.

No, if you can avoid any contact with the police, then it would be prudent to do so.

Could this be why crime figures are supposed low?

[P W Watson]

If anyone is labouring under the delusion that Britain is a democracy, this should kill the idea. Brown is acting as Hitler did when he still had PR. I hate the Tory Party because they are run by socialists but this action by these agents of the State will mean I vote Tory because the alternative is a repeat of Bosnia in the UK.
DEPORT ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NOW

[john vallintine]

I find the mendacity of Nu-Labour disgraceful and depressing. I have not seen anything about the actions or inactions of the Speaker in all these shenanigans.
He must have been consulted or indeed have been the catalyst of the whole sorry affair. He should never have been made Speaker, has sullied that great office since he took it and has wholly failed to act fairly and properly. We need an independent enquiry. What hope is there of that when half the judiciary and most of the police have loyalties to their political masters? Are we disillusioned with politics? Let me just remind your readers of a previous Labour administration who referred to the Tories as "vermin" and added "we are the masters now........"
I am sickened by it all.

[Stuart Hewlett-Clarke]

This is just the begining of what will become a pattern of the misuse of powers by the police; the use of prevention of terrorism laws is outrageous and the police officers who were involved must be fired!

[Stuart Hewlett-Clarke]

ACPO has become a law unto itself! Beware of the "Stalinist Stasi" of the UK. Dare to be different and join a right wing party aka British National Party and you will be added to the "terror watch list", join the Tory Party and be warned - you are a marked man! Utterly dispicable behaviour of both police and government!

[Sally Roberts]

"Beware of the "Stalinist Stasi" of the UK."

I fully expect (and I say this with a totally straight face) that if I continue to express my anger and the Powers that Be regard me as subservive enough they will claim that I am mentally ill (after all I am a 51 year old woman) - perhaps suffering from severe clinical depression giving rise to psychotic episodes...??..Paranoia? How COULD anyone "sane" possibly be criticical of our Dear Leader and his Government which only has the best interests of its People at heart...???

Don't forget that recently BBC2 ran a series "How Mad Are You?" The panel of psychiatrists mis-diagnosed every patient bar one.

[B.Garvie]

It is impossible to believe Brown and Smith stating they 'knew nothing' about the impending arrest of Mr.Green. There has been so much spin eminating from Labour, nobody believes them. Was it only D.C and Boris who knew? Come on, pull the other one.

If Smith knew nothing about the arrest, she is guilty by her own admission of having lost authority over her own department. Equally, if the PM was not informed, which I do not believe, he is equally guilty of having lost a grip on good governance.

They have allowed an act which undermines and prejudices Parliamentary Democracy and the basic tenets of confidentiality between an MP and their constituent.

Brown is an arch example of this practice when in opposition he received information used to embarrass a Tory Government. He was actually on television smirking about it.

It goes to show how hypocritical this dysfunctional Government are,stooping and pressurising the police to prevent an opposition challenge to their authority. It is, after all, the job of the opposition to question and bring 'the executive' to order.

There is no doubt Brown is turning this country into a police state. He will do anything to cling to power.

Lately he seems to have lost a grip on reality. Listen to his speeches. "I speak for the whole World when I say..." and "when I get a new economic order, a global economy started...".He thinks he is the financial saviour of the world's economic system.

Tragically, it is his reckless spending over a decade that has left our country near penury and the worst ill-prepared country on the planet to weather this financial crisis.

D.G's arrest is the latest saga in the downward spiral this country is facing.

[ex met]

Mr Harris you obviously know very little about those demos/actions or you would not be so daft! It was stoked up from behind as so many demos are and by the unions and left wing members of the Labour Party who in many cases were one and the same. Many Labour MPs actually took part in the demos and there is plenty of evidence to show this. Please note the use of the word EVIDENCE. You do recall do you not that MI5 files on MPs wre weeded on the orders of this government when they came to power in order to erradicate all references to their deeds whilst they were in opposition including their membership of such organisations as the british communist party etc.

[The Bishop Swine]

"You don't have to go to Zimbabawe or, as last night, draw parallels with Nazi Germany"

I agree prehaps its time to cool down a little, but words like "grooming" is going over the top. Labour have put in place some very dagerous legislation which should be repealed as soon as possible.

"Civilisation is skin deep. We have to be constantly vigilant." QTF.

[The Bishop Swine]

"Civilisation is skin deep. We have to be constantly vigilant." QFT, Darn dyslexia.

[Sally Roberts]

Bishop Swine - LOL! (that's an easy one for anyone with dyslexia) ;-)

[The Bishop Swine]

Little Ern

"If the Conservative Party cannot get rid of this rabble democratically, I can foresee the day when people take to the streets. You read it here first!"

I have been warning my Mp (Labour sadly) of the dangers of their creeping and creepy state for sometime now. Of course when you stand against ID cards, DNA databases, surveillance cameras and refuse to allow details of your children’s education to be collected or have them weighed, you are labeled as a trouble maker, and a number of times it has been implied that I must have something to hide. I used to warn that although the Current Government was seemingly benign, they were putting in place all of the tools of our future oppression. Now it seems that rather than sleep walking us into a dictatorship, Labours intentions had always been to force a centralized socialist police state on us.
You cannot argue with a Socialist, in the end you have to force them kicking and screaming from power. The Conservative Party has sometimes been portrayed as the nasty party, mainly because it is willing to take hard decisions when they are vital to out national interest. It seems that the real nasty and sinister Party is in fact Labour. There has already been some evidence of vote rigging and I fear that they will pull out all the stops in their attempt to hold onto power. Damian Green has been forced to give a sample of his DNA to the State and also to allow his computers to be searched through, both of these things are extremely intrusive and open to all sorts of abuse. I believe that we need to employ real computer forensic experts to help MP’s and all members secure their systems properly. These people should also be on hand to make full copies of drives before the police take them away. We need to ensure that members know how to delete data properly and completely and also are aware what changes and where changes are made to a pc or mac when things are copied. Better still we should use Unix and Linux only to give us the greatest security possible. Of course we should have our own national OS but that a different matter and is one which I will be lobbying our MP’s about after the next general election.

[Frankland Macdonald Wood]

Orwell and Powell have been proved right in every respect by the events of the past year. 'ZaNewLabour' created the Police State in Britain whilst we did virtually nothing. Political Correctness runs riot and we see the death of truth and restrictions of the freedoms of the 'real' English in society, whilst the driftwood and scum of the world pour in to flood our cities and swamp the overtaxed original and 'real' citizens. This is the start of the Endgame for a British Way of Life.