webofevil | (no subject)

My esteemed colleague raises (as she usually does) an interesting point. Sir Paul Stephenson was the officer who oversaw the arrest of Damian Green MP. John Yates was the officer who headed up the cash-for-honours investigation that ended up interviewing the then Prime Minister. “I’m not saying there was any actual conspiracy in Parliament to get rid of them,” she says, “but there were almost certainly opportunities to support them that were not taken. I remember watching John Yates defending the cash-for-honours inquiry to MPs in 2007 and thinking, ‘You’re going down…’”

She also drew my attention to a recent Daily Mail interview with Andy Hayman’s wife, after his outraged denials to the Home Affairs Select Committee that his close relationship with News International had been in any way inappropriate. She says that his behaviour was exactly the same as when she accused him of having an affair, which later turned out to be entirely true:

He behaved in exactly the same way [as he did when he appeared before MPs], issuing a stream of denials … He was indignant and said, “How dare you accuse me of having an affair,” so I didn’t question him further… It was such a convincing performance that I believed him.