Reply #1: Crazy as it sounds I think it might be a good thing that a Shadow Minister

[fedsron2us]

has been arrested and had his home and Parliamentary Office ransacked by members of the anti-terrorist branch of the Met. At long last the political class may begin to understand that such legislation an be used to oppress them as well as the little people in the rest of the populace.

As for the operation itself it was a crass act which was completely over the top considering the alleged offense concerned leaked Home Office immigration statistics which are almost certainly widely inaccurate even in their original 'unspun' format. If the senior civil servant who organised this operation did not seek ministerial approval then I am pretty certain he has signed the death warrant for his career since Green is a shadow minister in the official opposition which means his post has almost quasi legal status. If he did get the nod from ministers who are now denying the fact then we can expect UK politics to become 'hot' in the not too distant future. The government is treading on very dangerous ground here since ministers and their PR men routinely leak policies to the press for political advantage and to see what reaction they garner from the media. If Green was ever brought to trial there can be no doubt that his defense would raise this matter in court and it is likely that many journalists would wind up giving evidence in the dock. Some such the BBC's Robert Peston, who regularly get advance details of Treasury information (data which is market sensitive and much more valuable than crappy old immigration numbers), must be sweating this weekend since they may soon find themselves at the heart of this storm. Of course, in reality this matter is never going to get anywhere near the criminal courts since it is really a crude attempt to by the government state to intimidate both internal moles and their external audience.