"mayday warning" for democracy
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.
28 Nov 2008
