Yates of the Yard (2)
- 30 Jan 09, 08:50 AM
Lest I be misunderstood, let me spell out why I reported that a police investigation "will never happen" unless significant new evidence is produced.
It is not that the police have been told what to do (shellingout and others) or that the government has stitched it up (kaybrass and others) - or that I don't care about these issues (delphius1 and others).
After interviewing a serving prime minister in the investigation into "cash for honours" which got nowhere, and after the arrest of a Tory MP in the Home Office leaks enquiry which looks unlikely to get very far, the police are understandably wary about being dragged into another political row.
What's more, they are aware of the very high legal hurdles they'd have to cross before the Crown Prosecution Service would be prepared to consider prosecution.
Furthermore, they know that peers and MPs, unlike councillors, cannot be prosecuted under bribery laws.
In order to avoid being accused of having made their minds up at the same time as avoiding being sucked into an open-ended enquiry, the Met has agreed to examine the evidence before deciding whether to launch an investigation.
On the basis of what the Sunday Times has published to date, the view of my source was that that investigation "will never happen".
