On the day of the Queen's speech (an excellent 4 minute background video here concerning this annual event) in which she outlines her Government's programs (video of this year's speech here) came a horrible revelation from the Speaker of the Commons: the Metropolitan Police raided the Shadow Immigration Minister's office without a warrant, and the Speaker basically just assumed (not unreasonably) that they had a warrant. Regardless... Members' gasps about 1 minute into his statement are telling as to this situation's severity.
It was painful to watch the Speaker of the Commons read his statement; but, I think that Speaker Martin will probably not have to resign. The entire situation seems to be a terrible mess; but, aides and the Metropolitan Police share a great deal of the blame probably most of it. Also, clearly some Tory MPs have grossly politicized this situation.
I am very cynical about elected officials wherever in the world I find them, mainly because almost all elected officials remain first and foremost politicians. I could write of a NYC council member who when running for his office had his family members stalk and threaten a rival campaign's workers. I witnessed firsthand the self-described Christian soldiers of the religious right take over the Republican Party in Iowa in the 1980s with a conviction--a self-righteousness--and efficacy that still are not appreciated by most historians, and raise up literally theocratic candidates into public offices throughout the Hawkeye state (as the religious right did in other states then and since). I've been uncomfortably pulled between opposing Democratic candidates vying for higher office on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and been pressured by Democratic machine politicians. Gore Vidal's play The Best Man is timeless because of its keen message that "the best candidate" is a profoundly relative concept, and too often we as fickle voters conclude that the best option among candidates for an elected office was--is--simply the one who wins...only to quickly change our minds when it suits us.
(N.B., dKos member Lib Dem FoP posted a diary on this topic first, but the story has developed since that time. Kudos to Lib Dem FoP for helping keep the dKos community informed of political events across the pond.)
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Oh, jeez. I just realized I left my concluding thoughts off the diary...which is already "spent," I think. But...here goes:
Yet, the powers of the police and the state can never be allowed to run roughshod over the rights of elected officials and legislative institutions representing, however imperfectly (often criminally imperfectly--e.g., Sen. Ted Stevens), the will of the people in a democracy. (Yet...such officials cannot be considered above the law.) What is more, sometimes, even if often for self-serving reasons, elected officials occasionally serve as "whistle blowers" about abuse in government agencies or legislative bodies themselves. I was a Research Assistant to the Labour Party Spokesman for Trade & Industry, and I can assure you that MPs--especially those in the Opposition--do not have the size of staff, the power, or the prestige of Representatives in the US Congress. To see the police maneuver around and also out-maneuver the Speaker--with malice or not--in order to raid an MP's office is a sad thing.
Nick Robinson further and much more succinctly puts these events in perspective in his blog on the BBC's website. He sums it up better I can in my above blather. In short:
"It is now clear that the police have some very serious questions to answer about the way they behaved. So too the Speaker and his officials. So too ministers who were involved in launching the inquiry."