Damian Green - the retreat starts

Jackboot Smith has "welcomed" the decision of the Met to call in another chief constable to review the handling of the Damian Green case. The Met are also to consult the DPP about the next steps.

After yesterday's news conference on behalf of Chris Galley, there is no prospect that the CPS will let the Met charge Damian Green even if they still want to. The chances of a conviction would be vanishingly small, while the CPS look for at least 50% probability of a guilty verdict. Jackboot will be hoping the CPS would rule that a prosecution would not be in the public interest.

If Galley is prosecuted, his solicitor has said he would claim the action was morally right, that the information should have been in the public domain, and that the police action was disproportionate. All embarrassing points for Jackboot.

So the police investigations are deceased. Dead.

Senior Met policemen's careers will be ruined, and deservedly so. (What was Sir Ian Blair doing appointing such numpties? Was there really no one better? Oh dear.)

Peter Hoskin hails as important a piece today by Rachel Sylvester. Her article is important only for missing the point. Her gee whizz examples of wasteful Freedom of Information requests could and should be dispensed with in a few minutes and are the trivial price you pay for democracy.

Rather than supping at the establishment's table, she would have been better exercised asking why it was acceptable for the Home Office to keep secret the information that Mr Galley leaked.

You bet FOI is inconvenient. The Galley/Green case shows just how important it is.