Acting Met police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson (who has applied for Sir Ian Blair’s old job as commissioner, as has bungling Damian Green leak affair chief investigator Bob Quick) has asked British Transport Police chief constable Ian Johnston to inquire into the handling of the investigation.
Johnston, 63, took over at the transport police in 2001 after a long career at the Met, latterly as assistant commissioner. He currently enjoys a salary of £200,000 at BTT plus his full Met pension, making him Britain’s best paid copper.
Is he really likely to conclude that Stephenson and Quick are a pair of bunglers, anxious only to please their masters and future selection board members at the home office?
Well let’s give him a bit of help. The smoking gun in this case is what exactly the Met said to serjeant at arms Jill Pay (a former civil servant) when they sought permission to search Green’s offices at the House of Commons.
The rozzers, leaking away like mad, apparently said they had the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions for their action. The DPP, again off the record, says they didn’t. So did they lie to persuade the supine Ms Pay and under-fire Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin to wave them through?
There are numerous other issues too, of course, including remaining doubts about exactly what home secretary Jacqui Smith knew about it.
Home Office sources are saying now that they were contacted by the police just five minutes before Green was arrested but couldn’t get hold of Jacqui because she was in a meeting in Brussels.
But what if she knew what was going to happen anyway, and when she might receive the call, and carefully made sure she wasn’t able to answer the phone?
The whole thing stinks. In the meantime don’t expect any stunning revelations from chief constable Johnston.