UK Democracy under threat

The Met Police clamp down on democracy

[Update: First a 'thank you' email from Damian Green overnight and then an admission by the Speaker of the House of Commons that the Met did not have a warrant to search Damian Green's Westminster office. Point in original post below proved.]

This is the moment when officers from the Metropolitan Police raided the Westminster office of MP Damian Green amid a growing political storm in the UK. Tory immigration spokesman Green, 52, was quizzed for nine hours by counter-terrorism officers after being arrested as part of an inquiry into Home Office leaks, provoking fury among Conservatives and other backbench MPs.

Green was arrested last Thursday on suspicion of "conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and aiding and abetting, counselling or procuring misconduct in a public office." Police said they acted after receiving a complaint from The Cabinet Office, the department in charge of the rules governing the conduct of government employees and ministers.

This action - me speaking - is the latest and most blatant example of a system which is rapidly turning democracy and the legal system on its head. The willingness of UK bureaucrats to use 'anti-terrorism' and 'anti money-laundering' legislation for purposes for which they were never intended are now legion. I am experiencing this myself. Pingar LP requires some advice from Baker Tilly, our UK accountants. The 'anti money laundering' process we are having to go through to prove Pingar LP (a New Zealand registered entity) is not a front for Al Quaeda is quite frankly a disgrace. Every offshore entity wishing to deal with the UK is considered as such. What makes this even more absurd is that I have been a client of Baker Tilly for years.

The same logic applied when we opened the Pingar bank account at NatWest in the UK. I had to provide detailed passport evidence duly signed to confirm my identity. I had banked with the same commercial branch for almost ten years signing hundreds of cheques on the way.

I try not to comment too often on things 'political'. It is not the basis of this blog. I can say however that these actions do impact on perceptions of doing business in the UK. Right now, the politicians do not lead. The UK is going back to Cromwellian times when everything was proscriptive. It is not a place to be.

It will be interesting to see these changes when I return next month. There is not a single person I speak to in the UK that does not comment on the passing of traditional British values and the emergence of a new frightening unelected regime.

For regular readers of this blog, you might sense some tension in the words. I retain a strong affection for the UK and the unfolding events both sadden and do incense me. They are plain wrong.