Look up 'totalitarianism' in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Jacqui Smith

I was rather expecting this to be the result anyway but today the Director of Public Prosecutions has said that the case against the Conservative MP Damien Green and the Home Office official, who leaked the information about immigration, has been dropped.

I am pleased with this outcome because I believe that it is the job of the political opposition to release information about the government, if they believe that it shows that the government has failed in its tasks. Of course you have to draw the line at releasing documents that could be a threat to national security like intelligence or military matters, afterall it would have been a disaster if Nazi Germany had documents leaked to them about the D-Day landings.

I also believe that the Home Secretary, who defended the police inquiry, acted in a way which puts a nasty totalitarian taste in my mouth because it really does appear that the Home Secretary ordered the arresting of a opposition politician for just doing his job. Jacqui Smith has said that "in the face of sustained leaks, it had been necessary to prevent further sensitive material being made public. I have always been clear that the investigation was the responsibility of the police. My priority and the Home Office priority in this is to make sure that we maintain the protection of some of the most sensitive information in government. That is what we set out to do at the beginning of this".

Okay, if this was sensitive information it would be a good idea to keep it concealed, but the Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer has said that the leaked documents were not a threat to national security. I can’t see these documents devastating the allied invasion of Normandy. He also said "It did not relate to military, policing or intelligence matters. It did not expose anyone to a risk of injury or death. Nor, in many respects, was it highly confidential. Much of it was known to others outside the civil service. For example, in the security industry or the Labour Party or Parliament".

So I rather expect that Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith will have to comment before long on the statement by the Public Prosecutions Service and to explain why they believe that their actions were correct. Damien Green has also released a statement today saying that the that responsibility "lies with ministers all the way up to the Prime Minister". He went on to say "This illustrates a lot about this Government. The first is that they are deeply embarrassed by the failures of their immigration policy. They were legitimate stories that exposed that our borders were not safe and secure. That is the job of the opposition".

So I am glad that it has been proved that Damien Green was only doing his job and acting in the public interest. However while worst things have happened to other arrested politicians in the past, this whole case has lead me to believe more then any other that this government is a ‘soft totalitarian’ one and I hope that they are out of power before they harden in the beautiful sun we have been having lately.