The police watchdog has sad officers who claimed they had found porn on Damian Green’s computer had violated public trust in the police
Ex-Tory leader Lord Michael Howard led a fierce fightback against former police officers attacking Damian Green today.
The former Home Secretary said retired officers leaking information was ‘very damaging’ to public trust in the police.
Lord Howard was the most senior Tory to speak out on the case as pressure grows on Met Commissioner Cressida Dick to intervene.
On Friday, former detective Neil Lewis disclosed his notes from a controversial 2008 raid on Mr Green’s Commons and claimed that on some days porn was browsed and open on the computer for hours.
The allegations are at the centre of a probe in Mr Green’s conduct that could see him dismissed as Theresa May’s deputy.
Sir Tom Winsor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, spoke out as the de facto Deputy Prime Minister fought to avoid the sack.
Lord Howard told the BBC Sunday Politics: ‘I agree with those very senior figures who condemned the leaking of information by these retired police officers. That is a very seriouis matter indeed.
‘Policing in this country is based on trust between the police and the public. If we have retired officers leaking information of that kind, it will be very damaging to that trust.’
Education Secretary Justine Greening stopped short of a full endorsement of Mr Green in an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr but also raised concern about the police action.
She said there should be a review into the ‘steps the police need to be taking in relation to what would seem to be a breach of police professionalism in breaching privacy’.
Former Tory leader and home secretary Lord Michael Howard also hit out at the events today, telling the BBC’s Sunday Politics it would undermine trust in the police.
Education Secretary Justine Greening stopped short of a full endorsement of Mr Green in an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr but also raised concern about the police action
Ms Dick is being urged to condemn the former detective who resurrected the evidence – which was supposed to have been deleted – for an extraordinary salvo at the ailing Cabinet minister.
The Observer said senior Tories want the Met Commissioner to speak out and bind all ex-officers into confidentiality rules.
The claim that ‘extreme’ material was found on Mr Green’s work computer was first made by Bob Quick, a former Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner, and publicised last month amid claims of Westminster sleaze.
Andrew Mitchell, the former Cabinet minister who was himself embroiled in a scandal involving the police, told the Observer: ‘It is simply not acceptable in a free society that police officers can behave in this way.
‘This is the first real test for Cressida Dick’s leadership. Will she now stand up, as Britain’s most senior police officer, and make clear that this sort of freelancing by rogue officers is completely unacceptable and that she will stamp it out on her watch?’
Former cabinet minister Nicky Morgan said it was ‘time for police officers to look further into how former officers are behaving’.
Senior Tories are said to want Met Commissioner Cressida Dick to speak out against the former detective who criticised Mr Green and bind all ex-officers into confidentiality rules
In a statement last night, Sir Tom warned that officers must not divulge confidential information gathered during investigations.
He said: ‘The obligation of confidentiality, and the duty not to break trust, is an enduring one. It does not end when an officer retires.
‘The public need to know that when information about their private lives comes into the possession of the police, and that information is irrelevant to the work of the police, its confidential nature will be respected in perpetuity.
‘If public confidence in this respect is damaged, and people do not believe they can trust the police, great harm may be done.
‘Such violations may have a chilling effect on the willingness of victims and witnesses to co-operate, and that will be at the expense of public safety and justice. Almost all officers, serving and retired, would deprecate actions which flagrantly violate the trust every citizen should have in the police.’
Sir Tom Winsor, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, has spoken out in defence of Mr Green as the de facto Deputy Prime Minister fought to avoid the sack.
Sir Peter Fahy, a former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said officers had to be careful not to make moral judgements
Sir Peter Fahy, a former chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, added: ‘Police should be extremely careful about making judgments about other people’s morality when it’s not a matter of crime.’
Mr Green maintains that he did not download or look at pornography on his work computer.
Detectives who searched his office were meant to be looking for the source of Whitehall leaks and leading lawyers believe they could not have established how adult images appeared on the computer.
Senior Cabinet Office official Sue Gray is due to deliver a report within days both on the pornography and unrelated claims that Mr Green behaved inappropriately towards a female journalist.
Mr Green’s colleagues, led by Brexit Secretary David Davis, have rallied to his defence, although that support is likely to melt away if it turns out he did not tell the truth about watching pornography.
Former Attorney General Dominic Grieve called the officers’ actions ‘very worrying’ that smacked of a ‘police state’. And ex-Cabinet Minister Andrew Mitchell called on Scotland Yard Commissioner Cressida Dick to denounce the accusers. He said: ‘As Britain’s most senior officer, she must stand up and make it clear that this sort of freelancing by rogue police officers is unacceptable.’
A source close to Mr Green said: ‘Information which comes into the possession of the police must be treated as confidential…. There is no question that if Neil Lewis was a serving officer, he would be subject to misconduct proceedings.’
Standing by her man – the picture that shows PM was always his closest chum
Friends: Theresa Brasier, as she was then known, circled with Damian Green. His future wife Alicia is in front row
If Damian Green is forced to quit the Government, Theresa May will be losing one of her oldest friends, as well as her most loyal Cabinet ally.
They have known each other for more than 40 years and are pictured alongside each other, above, at an Oxford University Edmund Burke Society dinner in 1976. They grew up 25 miles apart in the Home Counties. In the front row, is Alicia Collinson, Mr Green’s girlfriend at the time and now his wife.
At the time, Ms Collinson was the tutorial partner of Theresa Brasier, as she was then known, at St Hugh’s College. Mr Green attended Balliol.