Damian Green - the cost

What the cost has been to Damian Green and his family of the ill-advised and ill- mounted attempt to prosecute him for doing his duty, only Damian himself will know.

What we do know now is the cost of the police investigation. In total it came to £109,000. About 20 counter-terrorism officers were employed to raid his home and offices. These costs are among the £66,000 spent on police overtime. A further £35,000 was spent on obtaining legal advice, (it seems that the police or those who instigated the investigation were very serious in trying to make it stick!) A sum of £6,000 was spent on forensic investigations, examining his mobile phones and computers, and £2,476 on (miscellaneous ) expenses.

Green himself described it as a "colossal waste of taxpayer's money". There may be an even bigger question which relates to the behaviour of the Home Office in claiming that there was an issue of national security when it was merely political embarrassment, to the behaviour of the Speaker and also to the behaviour of the police.

The £109,000 has been quietly released, in the run up to elections with attention diverted there. Perhaps the hope that such expenditure will be missed. It is an example of dreadful waste by the Executive, and the hiope must be that an MP will raise the whole matter in the Commons.