The initial report on the Damian Green arrest on the Telegraph website (see clip below from Google news) stated he had “been arrested under the Official Secrets Act”. I based my post yesterday on that report.I have since noticed that the Telegraph have changed their report to take out the reference to the Official Secrets Act. Indeed, Andrew Rawnsley today says:
Mr Green was not detained under the Official Secrets Act. The authorities resorted to a catch-all law about ‘procuring misconduct in public office’, a piece of blunderbuss legislation which dates back to the 18th century.
(This is like being arrested for allowing a duck to fart in public on a Sunday under a 14th century piece of legislation.)
In that case, I am going to turn on a sixpence, do a 180 degree U turn, and say that I take back everything I said in my post yesterday and whole-heartedly condemn the ludicrous and outrageous arrest of Damian Green.
I am going to leave my post from yesterday intact, with a note of correction, as a monument to my stupidity in believing the Telegraph in the first place.