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    Police 'misled' about Green security risks

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    12th October 2009

    The shadow immigration minister has said that the Metropolitan Police were misled about security risks during an investigation in which he was arrested.

    Damian Green, MP for Ashford, was detained by police in November last year as part of a Home Office leak inquiry, but no charges were brought against him.

    His home and Commons office were searched and he was questioned for nine hours by the Met's specialist operations branch.

    On Monday a report into the investigation by former British Transport Police chief Ian Johnston was made public.

    It concluded that the leak was 'embarrassing' for the government but did not constitute a breach of national security.

    Green said that the report showed the "excuse" of national security was "entirely bogus".

    "The police were misled about the security risks by a senior official in the Cabinet Office, which is itself very disturbing," he said.

    "Then the police themselves used covert recordings to bug my conversations with officers, which is only legal in terrorist arrests.

    "The more we find out about my arrest the more disgraceful it looks".

    He added: "These reports expose serious problems at the heart of the government and in the Metropolitan Police.

    "These need to be addressed urgently so that no one else, whether in public life or not, is treated in the same inept and bullying way."

    The Met has defended its conduct.

    Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who is in charge of specialist operations, said: "The police must have the unfettered right to investigate any matter and be able to act without fear or favour on any investigation when there are reasonable grounds to suspect an offence may have been committed.

    "From the moment we were told that the leaks from the Home Office may have involved matters relating to national security, it was our priority to carry out a thorough investigation."

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