The extension of bail for Christopher Galley and Damian Green, is, according to the CPS, to enable them to “resolve issues of Parliamentary privilege”.

It’ll be a pity if this renews the hopeless debate about the entirely lawful search of Green’s office, which many thought, wrongly, breached Parliamentary privilege. What I think the CPS must be considering is whether they can probably use Damian Green’s statements in the House as evidence, or whether that would breach article 9 of the Bill of Rights 1688, which provides

That the Freedome of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parlyament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parlyament

I think the arrest and possible prosecution is a scandal: the full force of the state is being brought to bear on these two men simply because they embarrassed the government. What’s going on is against the public interest. And to keep them hanging like this for month after month simply makes things worse – I wonder if they’ll receive a fair trial within a reasonable time, as the article 6 Convention right requires.

The CPS are right – the use of Hansard as evidence is a problem for them. But shouldn’t the police have thought about this before arresting Green and Galley? And they’ve had two and a half months already – plenty of time, I would have thought, for a number of silks to have advised. The further delay is unjustified, and, to use a very unoriginal phrase, the whole affair stinks.

2009-02-13T19:37:00+00:00Tags: , , , , |