Clegg boycotts Green committee

Friday, 5 December 2008 5:21 PM

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is to boycott the special committee set up by speaker Michael Martin to look into the arrest of Damian Green.

Both the Lib Dems and the Conservatives are angry about the nature of the committee, which will not start its deliberations until the police investigation is concluded - possibly months from now.

Declaring the committee as "neutered", Mr Clegg said it would not serve the public interest.

There are also concerns at the number of Labour MPs on the committee, with four out of seven of its members being from the governing party.

The committee was established on Wednesday as Mr Martin made a dramatic and emotional statement to the House on his role in the arrest of the Tory immigration spokesman.

The speaker admitted there had been no warrant for the search of Mr Green's parliamentary office, and effectively blamed the serjeant at arms, Jill Pay, for the majority of the mistake made.

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• constitution
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• domestic policy
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• house of commons
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• legal and constitutional
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• party politics