Friday, February 09, 2007
What Did the Home Office Brief on Birmingham Terror Arrests?
I missed the first twenty minutes of Question Time last night and after reading a few of the comments in the last thread I have just downloaded it and WATCHED it. I'd recommend others do so too. Ken Clarke has accused Home Office Special Advisers of briefing the press immediately following the Birmingham terror arrests. He essentially said that they were the ones behind the 'beheading of soldiers' stories. I have no idea what basis there is for these allegations apart from 'form', but if it turns out that there is any substance to them there may be very serious repurcussions indeed. I gather the Sundays are sniffing round the story. It rather fits in with the allegation I made HERE, doesn't it?
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31 comments:
The beheading thing was a perfect headline to distract from Blair's woes, so a Home Office invention is very likely. Reid seems to be Secretary of State for Distraction. He did the same with his absurd plan to split the Home Office in two, against designed to distract from the cash for peerages cover-up story. Funny old world politics, but you wouldn't want to paint it.
I think the police had an operation going on watching these people and it was blown by the HO ,hence 48hrs before talking to them ,smoke and mirrors anybody
The country looks more and more like 1984/Brazil with every passing day.
I seem to remember asking you on the day where the source of this story was from. I had the gut feeling it was from a disreputable one !
Why would there be serious repercussions? Why shouldn't Home Office SpAds brief the press?
Or is the allegation that they were lying to the press?
Glasshouse, the fact that youa ctually ask those two questions says more than I ever could about the New Labour attitude to spin.
It is not the job of Home Office SPADs to brief the press during an ongoing anti-terror operation. The Police are the ones who know what is going on on the ground.
I have no idea whether they were lying or not. It wouldn't be the first time, would it?
Iain, it does have serious implications. I wrote this
http://aconservatives.blogspot.com/2007/02/cash-for-peerages-terror-cover-up.html
several days ago. West Midlands police are not happy.
Iain - why is it not the job of SpAds to brief. Aren't at least some of them "Official Spokespersons"?
If the SpAds Clarke was talking about were Spokespersons, then this would seem to be "Home Office Spokesman briefs press on matter directly related to the Home Office". Why would that be a shock?
Always dangerous to make 2 + 2 = 22, but the convenience of such a leak to make the case for, if not 90 day detention, certainly increasing it from 28 days, means the journalists should be phoning up their contacts.
Right up until the Sunday papers go to bed.
Certainly Reid has recently used every opportunity to harness the power of the media, with his 'DIY' analogy..
This is one occasion when a journalist revealing his/her source might just possibly be a good story in itself.
But the cops have always leaked, sometimes for a 'small remittance' on the side. Maybe the Home Office guys just want to get in on the act.
It's a living...
Iain, Sky news was inundated with emails from viewers sceptical about the timing of the raids. Tim Marshall had to issue a comment about the Home Office being unable to direct the police in this way, his argument that if they could they would have prevented Tony and his cronies being interviewed as well.
It is not the actual day to day running of operations in any department but the "media spin" put on it by the government press office which is very suspect and as sky & QT viewers are showing, this government has lost all trust which should be worrying the hell out of them.
Biggest crime of NuLabour will be the way that they destroyed the public's trust in its government to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth in times of war and heightened national homeland security.
Labour will lose the next election not because of the "economy stupid" but because of "LIES, DAMNING LIES AND AN OBSESSION WITH A STATISTICAL EUTOPIA".
"Iain - why is it not the job of SpAds to brief. Aren't at least some of them Official Spokespersons?"
"If the SpAds Clarke was talking about were Spokespersons, then this would seem to be "Home Office Spokesman briefs press on matter directly related to the Home Office". Why would that be a shock?"
Bloody Hell what is wrong with you?
Can you not see the problem with the Home Office reporting details such as the "Beheading" aspect of this alleged crime to create media hype and distract from Blair's problems?
Can you not see the problem with the HO briefing the press with details WHICH WILL prejudice this case if it ever goes to court, all for party political reasons?
If not then you should not be allowed to vote!!
Personally I suspect that they only charged these five bods so as not to look stupid, and in about six months they will be released without charge. If you think I'm being conspiratorial, look into what happened to the alleged 'liquid bomb' plane 'terror' gang...
This is a disgrace if true. Rather than addressing extremists in our midst, Labour appears to be cultivating them.
"Can you not see the problem with the Home Office reporting details such as the "Beheading" aspect of this alleged crime to create media hype and distract from Blair's problems?
Can you not see the problem with the HO briefing the press with details WHICH WILL prejudice this case if it ever goes to court, all for party political reasons?"
Yes, that's right - there is NO terrorist threat. Everyone who was arrested is certainly 100% innocent. There was no plot. There were to be no beheadings. The ONLY reason for the arrest could be to distract the media from Blairs problems.
What on Earth is wrong with you people? Its got to the point where you jump on any terror arrest as "distracting from Blair". You're all insane.
If the Tories get in, I hope they wont be afraid to act on intelligence for fear of being accused of a coverup.
Jesus!
It's not a new story. The Guardian was onto this last week.
On another note - very sad to see Ian Richardson has died. What a fantastic actor.
MAC
Yes, that's right - there is NO terrorist threat. Everyone who was arrested is certainly 100% innocent. There was no plot. There were to be no beheadings. The ONLY reason for the arrest could be to distract the media from Blairs problems.
The arrests aren't the issue. The issue is that the news managers were giving all the details to the press AS THE ARRESTS WERE HAPPENING. Not only might this prejudice the trial (if any), it would have allowed anyone else involved to disappear before the police got to their house!
It would be like No. 10 telling Ruth Turner in advance that she was going to be arrested at home at 6.30am. Would she have been there? Would the missing documents have been there?
Glasshouse. You have hit the nail on the head.
I don't agree at all with what you've posted, but now you will understand what this government has turned us all into.
Untill 1997 I could not have bothered with polotics but since then I have become very worried about my country and what goes on behind closed doors.
The tactic worked - because you're now talking about - or rather you're now talking about the illegality.
You might want to pop over the Daily Mail and pick up a few dozen stories about John Reid leaving the public to fend off the dangerous criminals.
On the other hand I hear the Guardian have run out of New Labour good news stories and have now resorted to naval gazing.
Ed,
Firstly, for a lot of people on this thread screaming and wailing about "distracting from Blair", the arrests clearly are the issue.
Secondly, dont you think people have a right to know who has been arrested and why? If the arrests had gone ahead without statements, the guys' neighbours would have been straight on the phone to the press anyway - why shouldn't the home office move to explain why these people have been arrested, rather than leaving idiots all the free air time to speculate about "Police States" and persecution.
Just speculation by Ken Clarke though - could easily have been the police PR spin people at work, they too have a track record in recent years of shooting from the hip. However, I suspect everyone is right and this is a classic NL media exercize - I thought as much from the moment I heard the "beheading" story. Even if it is true, it should not have been made public yet but should await trial, as it's a gift to extremist propaganda.
A classic moment was when SH accused the Labour party of "betraying its libertarian priciples."
Since when did socialism have any libertarian priciples whatsoever to betray?
It would be nice if so called liberal politicians had at least an small idear what a libertarian is before they use the term at all.
If they did they would not be as suprised by the events of the last ten years as they try to seem.
'Yes, that's right - there is NO terrorist threat. Everyone who was arrested is certainly 100% innocent. There was no plot. There were to be no beheadings. The ONLY reason for the arrest could be to distract the media from Blairs problems.'
If these are really terrorists then why is somebody in Whitehall briefing so much that it may damage the chances of a prosecution? Can you suggest another reason other than to divert attention?
"garypowell said...
A classic moment was when SH accused the Labour party of "betraying its libertarian priciples."
Since when did socialism have any libertarian priciples whatsoever to betray?
It would be nice if so called liberal politicians had at least an small idear what a libertarian is before they use the term at all.
If they did they would not be as suprised by the events of the last ten years as they try to seem."
The irony being that the gary doesn't seem to know what socialism or the Labour Party are.
So this may be why some unfortunates were arrested and then released without charge. The investigation may not have been allowed to develop fully, thanks to a premature briefing.
If true, this will have a number of outcomes:
1. More anger will have been generated amongst the Muslim community, leading to lessened co-operation and further radicalisation.
2. Some suspects may not have been picked up or identified, if the investigation was brought to a close prematurely.
3. The cops will keep future operations under wraps from Home Office interference, lessening oversight and accountability.
Nice one John!
I can't believe how utterly insane some people here are.
Maybe the police should have swooped in, arrested these men and left and the government should have given no information why...yep, that sounds like the sort of thing to calm tension.
government should have given no information
Or alternatively, the Police could have released the relevant information in their own time without being pre-empted by the spin machine.
Whatever is right or wrong, this story shows how little a lot of people trust the current administration. Time for a change?
Iain, do you REALLY think this is all a conspiracy by the home office to "boost ratings"?
You are in danger of becoming a Craig Murray fan- which is a bit scary!
Ok, so you want to have a go at Labour every chance you get- regardless of whatever the truth is- can we at least wait for the case to be presented in Court?!
I suppose the countless other islamo-fascist nut jobs that have already been convicted, yes, that is all part of the John Reid "police state" plot too?!
The thing is Iain, do you really think terrorist plots with vapourise with David Cameron in office? I don't.
Having heard the programme, you can't let this slip by. However cautious the Cameron Project may be, if there is an ounce of truth in this it needs to be persued. A tactical decision to ignore it may backfire later. It's balls/bravery the electorate is looking for - which the 'C. Project' is so far lacking.
I am listening to QT now:- you guys want to have your cake and eat it.
On the one hand, the "muslim community" goes nuts if not briefed- and on the other, the government is being villified for briefing on what is going on!
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