LATEST: Home Office 'mole' breaks cover to 'set the record straight' over Tory MP leaks



Jack Straw 'very surprised' about police raids on Tory MP home and office



Tories cast doubt on Home Secretary's claim that she wasn't told of MP's arrest

Even Cabinet colleagues are 'appalled' over how fiasco has been handled

Now there's fury at police accusation that shadow minister 'groomed' mole

The civil servant arrested over the alleged Home Office leaks to a Tory MP today broke his cover for the first time to make a public statement.



Speaking via his lawyer, junior civil servant Christopher Galley said he had passed documents to Damian Green in the belief that it would be used 'in a responsible manner in the public interest'.



Speaking on behalf of Mr Galley, Neil O'May, of Bindmans law firm, said: 'We are here to give a statement to you in light of the various rumours that have been circulating.

'There has been much speculation and rumour circulating in the last few days following the arrest of Mr Damien Green.'



He said he was 'here to put the record straight'.

Mr O'May said his client was unable to speak as he is still under active police investigation and due to return to police in January.

The Home Office 'mole' Christopher Galley (left) sits alongside his lawyer at a press conference today

But he added: 'If ever there was a case of 'don't shoot the messenger', this is surely it."

He denied that Mr Galley had been knowingly used by police after his arrest in an attempt to entrap Mr Green.

Meanwhile, the political storm over the arrest of Mr Green's arrest intensified today after police vowed to push ahead with their inquiry, raising the possibility of further arrests.



Senior officers held urgent talks at Scotland Yard this morning to discuss the case in the wake of the barrage of criticism from politicians of all parties over the MP's arrest.



Police chiefs were said to have been surprised by the scale of the criticism - particularly that levelled against deputy commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson who oversaw the investigation.



But insiders said they were was no question of abandoning the inquiry. Detectives were today examining documents and material from computers and would be holding talks with the Crown Prosecution Service about where to go next.



Justice Secretary Jack Straw and Home Secretary Jacqui Smith arrive for the weekly Cabinet meeting last week

One insider said: "We are not going to pull the plug on this. We are looking at the evidence and if the evidence is there we will see where it takes us."

Privately, Scotland Yard officers defended their actions saying the decision to arrest the MP was made after careful consideration.



One said: "They looked at all the options and based on the need to gather evidence it was felt that the only safe option was to carry out an arrest. It was about securing the best evidence. "



Earlier the government was thrown into more turmoil when Jack Straw said he was 'very surprised' by the nature of the police raids.



He said: 'Everybody who has been made aware of these unfolding events of course is surprised by the nature of the raid, and I certainly understand the concern of my parliamentary colleagues.'

The comments by such a senior member of the Government are likely to increase the pressure on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.



Mr Straw, a former Home Secretary and former leader of the House of Commons, indicated that any future review into the raid on Mr Green's parliamentary office was a matter for the House of Commons, but added: 'I am pretty certain... that it will be because of the extent of the concern.'

Tory MP Damian Green was arrested for leaking sensitive Home Office information to the media

The Justice Secretary's comments come amid reports that angry MPs may disrupt the state opening of Parliament on Wednesday.



Mr Green was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office, but not charged.



The contrasting positions of Harriet Harman and the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith were correct as there were a number of constitutional principles involved, Mr Straw said.

And he defended Ms Smith's refusal to apologise, claiming there would be a 'huge furore' if she did, as it would suggest she was prejudging a police investigation.

It was important that politicians did not 'interfere with the natural course of an investigation', he added.

He said competing constitutional principles were in play - the right of MPs being free to carry out 'legitimate business' on behalf of their constituents, the independence of the police to investigate and the importance of protecting secrecy and confidentiality 'where it is necessary' in Government.

Mr Straw told the Today programme: 'If the Home Secretary, any Home Secretary, had offered an apology there would then be a huge furore about the fact the Home Secretary was prejudging the actions and activities of the police without an investigation.'



He added: 'The Home Secretary is very concerned about this. Of course she understands the significance of a senior Member of Parliament having his offices raided and how unusual this is.



'It is outside the normal course of events.



'But anybody who is in the position of Home Secretary, I think, has no option but to take the approach that Jacqui Smith has done.'



Cabinet Ministers turned their wrath on Jacqui Smith last night in the storm over the arrest of a Tory MP.

The Home Secretary's refusal to apologise plunged the Government deeper into a constitutional crisis.

Gordon Brown faced growing calls to speak up for the independence of Parliament while Tories kept up the pressure on Ms Smith by effectively accusing her of lying about what she knew in advance of Damian Green's arrest.

There was also outrage that police accused Mr Green of 'grooming' a Whitehall mole - a word seen as highly offensive.

Cabinet Ministers said privately that they had been 'horrified' and 'appalled' by the heavy-handed way Mr Green was held.



One told the Daily Mail: 'It is scarcely believable that we find ourselves defending a police force that behaves in such an extraordinary way'.

Harriet Harman distanced herself from the Home Secretary by calling for a Commons inquiry and admitting she was 'very concerned' about the principles at stake.

Westminster has been in turmoil since Thursday, when Mr Green was arrested after 20 officers from the Metropolitan Police counter-terrorism command staged four simultaneous raids on his homes and offices.

But Miss Smith stubbornly refused to condemn the treatment of David Cameron's migration spokesman, insisting that Ministers' first duty was to 'uphold the independence of police'.

She also denied knowing that the Home Office leak inquiry was targeting a Tory MP.

But she and Mr Brown faced cross-party uproar - and the prospect of a Commons disruption to Wednesday's Queen's Speech - over the Speaker's decision to let police raid Mr Green's parliamentary office.

On another day of anger and confusion at Westminster:

Scotland Yard went into 'meltdown' as senior officers questioned the decision to target Mr Green;

Mr Brown was under scrutiny for his record of flaunting the Civil Service leaks he obtained when he was in Opposition MP;

David Cameron called on the Prime Minister to condemn the police and speak up for Parliament;

Miss Smith was forced to deny authorising wiretaps of Mr Green's phones and emails after the Tories revealed they regularly sweep their offices for listening devices

Police sources said Chris Galley, the junior Home Office civil servant arrested earlier last month on suspicion of leaking to Mr Green, passed him at least 20 documents.

Miss Smith's denial of any advance knowledge was swiftly challenged by Shadow Home Secretary Dominic Grieve, who came close to accusing her of lying.

Mr Grieve said: 'The most important is about what the Home Secretary knew.

'I found her answers extremely unconvincing. I think she knew that there was an MP involved in this investigation and she just decided to sit back on her hands.

'She is the person who is ultimately accountable to Parliament for police failings, if it turns out - which I think it may well do - that these failings were the police barking up the wrong tree in pursuing an MP doing his legitimate job, then I think she has got a great deal to answer for to Parliament.'

Labour MP David Winnick called on Miss Smith to make a statement on Wednesday to explain the police action.

Mr Green was held for nine hours over suspicions that he conspired with Mr Galley to obtain secret documents.

The MP had been quoted in three of the four newspaper stories at the centre of the investigation. Friends of Mr Green, who spent the weekend at home with his wife Alicia and two daughters, said he was 'absolutely shattered by this'.

But one added: 'He is not going to be deterred. He is feeling stronger than ever, and is outraged by the police's attempts to provoke him by using the term "grooming".'

The word was used during the MP's questioning by detectives, apparently in an attempt to provoke him.

Mr Cameron accused Mr Brown of hypocrisy after 'making a career out of Whitehall leaks' himself. He said: 'When it comes to vigorous opposition, if this approach had been in place in the 1990s, then Gordon Brown would have spent most of his time under arrest.'

Miss Harman said she was 'very concerned' over the police action and added: 'We have to be sure that while MPs are not above the law, they are able to get on with their job without unwarranted interference by the law.'

Attack: David Cameron accused Brown of hypocrisy after 'making a career out of Whitehall leaks' himself