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Met chief condemns former officers over Damian Green claims Met chief condemns former officers over Damian Green claims
(about 4 hours later)
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, has said she condemns former officers’ public comments about allegations that pornographic material was found on a House of Commons computer belonging to the first secretary of state, Damian Green, in 2008. Former officers who have spoken publicly about allegations that pornographic material was found on a computer belonging to the first secretary of state, Damian Green, could face prosecution, the head of Britain’s biggest force has said.
Dick insisted that officers’ duty of confidentiality continued after they left their posts. Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, said officers’ duty of confidentiality continued after they left their posts. The alleged footage, said to be “extreme”, was gathered after a police raid on parliament in 2008.
Green, who is the subject of a Cabinet Office inquiry, has strongly denied that he downloaded or watched pornography on the computer. Green, Theresa May’s close ally, who is the subject of a Cabinet Office inquiry, has strongly denied that he downloaded or watched pornography on the computer.
Dick told the BBC that she condemned the public comments made by ex-officers regarding the 2008 investigation. She said: “It is my view that what they have done, based on my understanding of what they are saying, what they have done, is wrong. And I condemn it.” The de facto deputy prime minister, who is fighting for his political position amid Tory calls for his removal, will privately welcome Dick’s intervention.
Dick told LBC: “Police officers have a duty of confidentiality. We come into contact with personal information very regularly, sometimes extremely sensitive. The allegations were first made last month by the former Met police assistant commissioner Bob Quick, who led a 2008 inquiry into Home Office leaks, which involved Green’s Commons office being searched.
“This is a daily occurrence for any officer. We all know that we have a duty to protect that information and to keep it confidential. In my view, that duty endures. On Friday a retired Met detective, Neil Lewis, claimed that “thousands” of thumbnail images of legal pornography had been found.
“It endures after you leave the service, so I believe that what this officer, and indeed other retired officers, appears to have done is wrong and my professional standards department will be reviewing what has happened in relation to how information has been handled and if any offences are disclosed we will investigate them.” Dick told LBC that she condemned the public comments made by ex-officers regarding the 2008 investigation.
Asked if prosecutions could occur in such circumstances, Dick said: “Undoubtedly, if offences have been disclosed and that can be proved, it would be a matter for the Crown Prosecution Service, but there could be a prosecution. “It is my view that what they have done, based on my understanding of what they are saying, what they have done is wrong. And I condemn it,” she said.
“I’ve said before I don’t want to give a running commentary on this matter. It’s clearly sensitive, it’s controversial and there is a Cabinet Office inquiry running in parallel, as you know, but today, I think it is appropriate that I say that what they appear to have done seems to me to be quite wrong.” “Police officers have a duty of confidentiality. We come into contact with personal information very regularly, sometimes extremely sensitive. In my view, that duty endures. It endures after you leave the service, so I believe that what this officer, and indeed other retired officers, appears to have done is wrong and my professional standards department will be reviewing what has happened in relation to how information has been handled and if any offences are disclosed we will investigate them.”
Allies of the first secretary of state have expressed concern about comments made by two former Metropolitan police officers regarding an investigation into government leaks when Green was an opposition home affairs spokesman nearly a decade ago. Asked whether prosecutions could occur in such circumstances, Dick said: “Undoubtedly, if offences have been disclosed and that can be proved.”
Former detective Neil Lewis told the BBC last week he was shocked at the volume of pornographic material found on Green’s Commons computer and had “no doubt whatsoever” it had been amassed by the Tory MP. The former officers spoke out after the Cabinet Office launched an investigation into accusations of inappropriate behaviour by Green towards a journalist, Kate Maltby, which the MP has described as “completely false”.
The allegation echoed claims made by former assistant commissioner Bob Quick, who went public last month with his account of the material discovered during a police raid on Green’s parliamentary office. Allies of the first secretary of state have expressed concern about the comments made by Quick and Lewis regarding an investigation into government leaks when Green was an opposition home affairs spokesman.
Lewis told the BBC last week he was shocked at the volume of pornographic material found on Green’s Commons computer and had “no doubt whatsoever” it had been amassed by the Tory MP.
The former Conservative minister David Mellorsaid on Good Morning Britain on Monday that he believed Green should resign over the allegations.
He said: “Damian Green should have said: ‘I will resign to clear my name,’ and he would have had lots of sympathy. Damian Green is the sort of guy who under Mrs Thatcher would have been the minister of state for latrines and would have lived in total obscurity. Instead of which he becomes deputy prime minister, he rises without trace. He would not be missed for a millisecond if he left government. It would be better if he did.”
Crispin Blunt, the Tory MP for Reigate, hit back: “Damian Green, who I’ve been with for 20 years in parliament, is an outstanding parliamentarian. He’s got the utmost integrity and probity. Just because he hasn’t had a rocket high media profile doesn’t mean he wasn’t being a highly effective minister and shadow minister over the course of the last 20 years.
“It’s a big problem for Theresa May and it’s a big problem for the government because it’s a really good appointment. He’s a steady pair of hands there.”