Britain’S Parliament Opens With Uproar Over Police Raid
The annual ceremony at which Queen Elizabeth formally opens Parliament was overshadowed on Wednesday by an uproar in the House of Commons over a police raid last week in which Scotland Yard’s elite counterterrorism squad raided an opposition member’s parliamentary office to gain evidence for a possible criminal case against the member of Parliament and a civil service whistleblower.
The queen’s journey in an ermine-trimmed gown and gilded carriage to the Palace of Westminster became almost a sideshow as a packed Commons chamber, meeting after the ceremony, erupted into angry dispute over the raid last Thursday. It was the Commons’ first opportunity to respond, in formal session, to what many members have described as the most threatening assault on Britain’s parliamentary sovereignty in memory.
Ms. Pay, the first woman to hold the job, sat stern-faced as Mr. Martin said he regretted that she had signed a police consent form for the raid on Mr. Green’s Commons office without consulting the Clerk of the Commons, who oversees Commons staff for Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin also took aim at Scotland Yard, saying that Robert Quick, an assistant police commissioner who leads the counterterrorism squad, had failed to tell Ms. Pay that the police had no warrant for the Commons raid, and that Ms. Pay had a right to refuse.
In a further bid to stem the rising tide of protest, Mr. Martin said he intended to name a committee of seven senior members of the Commons to draw up a report on the raid and its repercussions. Separate inquiries have already been announced by Scotland Yard and by a standing Commons committee that deals with members’ privileges.
But the Commons exchanges suggested that Mr. Martin, along with Ms. Pay, may be far from safe in their jobs. Michael Howard, a former Conservative leader, described the raid and Mr. Green’s arrest as deplorable, and entirely without precedent in modern parliamentary annals. To shouts of support from the Conservative as well as Labor benches, he said the raid amounted to an “attack on the ability of one of its members to do the job he was sent here to do, namely to represent his constituents and hold the government to account.”
Tags: commons committee, consent form, conservative leader, counterterrorism, criminal case, ermine, first woman, formal session, member of parliament, michael howard, opposition member, palace of westminster, parliamentary office, parliamentary sovereignty, police commissioner, police raid, queen elizabeth, rising tide, scotland yard