Minister admits he misled Parliament

An Evening Standard investigation has forced a Government minister to admit he gave misleading information to Parliament.

Home Office minister John Denham has now apologised for giving incorrect information to MP Peter Bottomley about a Metropolitan Police inquiry into Superintendant Ali Dizaei.

Mr Denham has confirmed that detectives who placed phone taps on the officer - suspended after a string of allegations - transcribed legally privileged conversations he had with a solicitor and passed the transcripts to the team investigating him.

Mr Dizaei was the legal advisor to the National Black Police Association (NBPA) and was assisting a number of officers taking their forces to court alleging racial discrimination. The conversations he had while representing them enjoy legal protection and should have remained secret. Strengths and weaknesses in cases would have been discussed.

Two months ago, we reported that Parliament was misled when Mr Denham - in a written answer to Peter Bottomley MP - said no conversations relating to Mr Dizaei's post as legal advisor had been transcribed.

He now says the investigating team did receive transcripts but did not make use of the privileged information.

But Ruwan Uduwerage-Perera, general secretary of the National Black Police Association, said today: "Considering Mr Denham has been mislead in the past by the Met, why should we believe that legally privileged information was not passed on to those defending cases brought by black and Asian officers?"