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The Prosser Perspective.... a weekly column from Dover and Deal MP Gwyn Prosser

4 December 2008

Yesterday, (Wednesday) was Queen’s Speech Day and the official opening of the 2008 / 2009 session of Parliament.

It’s normally a day of high pageant and ceremony and follows well rehearsed procedures which haven’t changed much for hundreds of years but this years opening of Parliament might be remembered for different reasons.

At the time of writing this column on Tuesday evening there’s much speculation that the opposition parties may stage a demonstration or force an unprecedented debate on the floor of the House on Wednesday. They are planning these moves as a means of demonstrating their concerns about the arrest of Ashford MP, Damien Green last week on suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and other linked offences.

I’ve always found Damien to be a decent sort of bloke. My first face to face contact with him was the day after the 1997 General Election on the studio couch of Meridian Television.

We were both newly elected MPs and we’d been invited to discuss the prospects for the Kent now that half it’s Parliamentary seats had fallen to Labour. I formed the view that he was a member of the civilised wing of the Conservative Party and that view has been born out by the careful way he’s dealt with immigration and asylum issues in recent years.

With this background, I must admit to being shocked to hear reports about the manner of his arrest and my first reaction was that of many others who felt the Metropolitan Police seemed to have acted in a heavy handed way. Members of Parliament must not be seen to be above the law of course but I am worried about the whole issue of confidentiality.

When a constituent asks their MP for help it’s common for them to bare their souls in the most revealing and trusting manner because we have always been able to assure them that everything we are told and everything stored in the case records are held in total confidence. It’s going to be difficult to maintain this position of trust with the possibility that PC Plod might impound their files and confiscate our computers.

Of course we are all at severe disadvantage in that we don’t know all the facts but that said, the nature of the arrest and the subsequent searching of his office files does seem to be disproportionate to say the least.

However, I believe the reaction of some members of the public has also been disproportionate, and the silly comments suggesting Britain is becoming a police state and worse still that the Prime Minister is no better that Mugabe disserve our contempt. And to a lesser degree, some Tory shadow ministers are also reacting in a disproportionate manner.

We will have to wait and see what the true nature and depth of Damien’s alleged misconduct turns out to be – but in the meantime it’s best that we all exercise a sense of proportion.