The seriousness of the leaks that led to the arrest of Damian Green were exaggerated, according to the home affairs select committee. They also question whether the police would have got invovled and caused the almighty stink they did with their ham-fisted approach had they not been misled by Home Office civil servants.

Damian Green was doing his job – which is, as a shadow minister, to hold the government to account. He released documents which were patently in the public interest to be known, and certainly weren’t vital to anything other than maintaining the fiction that this government is any good. His leaks were:

• The November 2007 revelation that the home secretary knew the Security Industry Authority had granted licences to 5,000 illegal workers, but decided not to publicise it.
• The February 2008 news that an illegal immigrant had been employed as a cleaner in the House of Commons.
• A whips’ list of potential Labour rebels in the vote on plans to increase the pre-charge terror detention limit to 42 days.
• A letter from the home secretary warning that a recession could lead to a rise in crime.

Nothing exactly of importance to national security, but definitely something in the public interest to be out in the open!

In December, newspapers were claiming that the CPS had decided to charge or not to charge Green. But today we will know – and if this story is an indication, the charges of “aiding and abetting misconduct in public office” will be dropped.

UPDATE: And he’s not going to be charged. Because the entire investigation was based on fale premises, and no arrest should have been made in the first place.