FLAWLESS PR AND THE LABOUR PARTY SYCOPHANTS


I watched the appearance of the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ yesterday in front of the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee, [ISC]. To say that the questioning at times was soft would be an understatement. The tone of the proceedings can be summed up as:

 We all thank you  for the wonderful job you do of keeping us safe, and applaud the wonderful selfless and public spirited people who work for you. Do you think recent newspaper revelations have damaged the security of this country?

I exaggerate little. The really interesting questions were simply never asked. For example no one thought to explore something along the lines, you say you harvest the whole haystack so they you may bag the needle, what sort of things in the stack are you looking for that might lead you to the needle?

As a PR exercise though it was flawless and I am amazed that hitherto they have been so reluctant to hold such an event. The head of MI5 Andrew Parker appeared positively cuddly. I also believe that all were sincere and passionate, as when Andrew Parker spoke of his determination to protect Britain’s “way of life.” My only fear being that such passion and sense of righteous duty has the capacity to blind.

One thing that the event confirmed in me was that Labour politicians are simply not to be trusted to objectively provide oversight of spooks and eavesdroppers, and not for the reasons held my Daily Telegraph leader writers. Labour parliamentarians always bend over backwards to reassure that they are no soft lefties and demonstrate that they are more zealous than the spies themselves. Labour politicians are always the first to ‘go native.’

Thus yesterday on Radio 5 Live Kim Howells, once a left wing Labour MP and former head of the ISC stated that he simply didn’t want to know what the spooks were up to. Their job was to keep us safe and he trusted them. Whilst the truly awful Labour MP Hazel Blears, a woman perpetually in the state of being pleased with herself, was the most sycophantic member of the committee. Whilst Jack Straw’s record as Home Secretary in holding the security services to account was truly abysmal. He did not even request to see his own MI5 file.

Give me an old fashioned ‘an Englishman’s home is his castle’ Tory any day than converts from the Labour party. All the best questions, if not quite penetrating at least not sounding as if they had been written by the GCHQ press office, came from the right of the spectrum, Mark Field, Ming Campbell and Lord Butler.
Mark Field MP
Given the threat we face from Islamism and crooked regimes like Putin’s in Russia[1] or theocratic Iran, I am not blind to the need for some kind of intelligence gathering, a portion of which will need to be secret. That said it is essential in an open and democratic society that such services be held properly accountable. We have surely learnt enough from the Spy-catcher case, the spying on CND and other peaceful civil society groups and now the Snowden revelations, that spooks must always be kept under the closest scrutiny. From yesterdays performance I suspect we still have a long way to go.


[1] Both regimes think nothing of sending hit squads abroad to murder political opponents. Being granted British citizenship being no protection, as Alexander Litvinenko found out. Were I ever to ask a question of the spooks it would be what steps  it took to protect political exiles.


Having visited this page I would be grateful for your feedback, either tick one of the boxes below or make a comment via the comments button.

Popular posts from this blog

NESRINE MALIK AND THE UNSUNG VIRTUES OF HYPOCRISY

Image
As I write this a 27 year old woman, Mariam Ibrahim, has just had a baby in a Sudanese prison, ‘the condition of the mother and baby is not known as Ibrahim's lawyer and her husband, a US citizen, had been denied access to her. Omdurman women's prison has a basic clinic, where the child is thought to have been born. Ibrahim has been shackled since being imprisoned.’ [1]   Mariam also has an 18 month old child who is also being held in prison with her. The ‘crime’ for which she is imprisoned is apostasy, for which she has received the death sentence. She has also been sentenced to 100 lashes, for the additional crime of having sex with her Christian husband. Although she has been a lifelong Christian her father was a Muslim, Sudanese sharia law forbids women to marry outside the Muslim faith, men needless to say can do as they please in these matters. Mariam Ibrahim and her husband.  Nineteen countries punish their citizens for apostasy, and in 12 of those countries
Read more

INTERVIEW WITH TOM VAGUE

Image
Tom Vague At the top end of All Saints Road there is a refuge, an enclave in which a local Bohemian culture retains a foothold, this is the Book & kitchen , a café/bookshop with adjoining terrace. Here the bustle of the nearby market gives way to conversation, conversation in the presence of images of the recent, and not so recent, past. The past of an area that has contributed so much to the life and culture of the city. I was there to meet local historian Mr Tom Vague a man intimately familiar with so much of this history. What Tom doesn’t know about the recent history of the area probably is not worth knowing. With Tom’s energy and effort Colville Community Forum, supported by City Living Local Life, recently held a gathering at The Book and Kitchen to celebrate this rich history. February 16 6-9 Pm, with Film Screening and Readings Exhibition February 16-26 2016. Featuring 30 Classic Westway Photographs and Posters. This represents one of a number of initiatives of t
Read more

LONDON BELONGS TO ME PART ONE

Image
. I. I have lived in London now just over thirty years, having moved here on 4 th July 1983 . I don’t know how long you normally have to wait to claim squatter’s rights but thirty years seems a good enough period to me. The glory of London is its parks and open spaces, you are rarely ever far away from a London park, common or heath. I am within fifteen minutes walk of Kensington Gardens or Holland Park , much closer to several smaller areas with grass and flowers and benches on which to sit, all maintained by Kensington and Chelsea council who also still believe in the value of trees. Those who would see what they call ‘the state’ shrink rarely mention such items in their calculations. What does it cost to maintain a tree? Too much by far for the likes of those right wing think tanks whom and I fear the phrase is soon likely to break under the strain under which it is now being placed, know the price of everything and the value of nothing. Holland Park is one of t
Read more