"mayday warning" for democracy

5.45.51pm GMT Fri 28th Nov 2008

"I use leaked information in the public interest" Norman Baker MP

The Lib Dems have called Conservative shadow immigration minister Damian Green's arrest a "mayday warning" for democracy amid cross-party anger over the move. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg told the BBC that he was "really shocked" by Mr Green's arrest. This is something you might expect from a tin-pot dictatorship, not in a modern democracy," he said. Given the culture of "extraordinary secrecy" in Whitehall, it was getting harder to hold the government to account and opposition MPs had a constitutional duty to keep "ministers on their toes", he added.

And Norman Baker, a Lib Dem MP who has won awards for asking questions that have embarrassed governments, said on BBC's Radio 4's PM programme that he frequently used leaked information in order to ask these questions and the Standards Board has rejected complaints against him as he was acting in the public interest. He said Gordon Brown himself did exactly the same when he was in opposition and members of the public were right to believe that they had some protection when they passed information to a Member of Parliament. Mr Baker added that the police's action against Damian Green may well be a contempt of Parliament.