Conviction of fertiliser plotters: statement by Jonathan Evans
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Link: Conviction of fertiliser plotters: statement by Jonathan Evans.
Mr Evans of MI5 is, with respect, missing the point. We don't blame MI5 for failing to prevent the 7/7 bombings in London. No sane person believes that every terrorist action can be prevented. Sane people hold criminals responsible for their crimes, not those doing their best to prevent them.
However we are furious about the lies told at the time. We were told the 7/7 terrorists were unknown to the authorities; that they were - in the jargon - "clean skins." The trial which concluded yesterday revealed that to be untrue.
Who lied, Mr Evans? Was it you, your service or the usual suspects?
Britain's public servants work for the people, not the Government. They are accountable to the Crown, not to Ministers. If the head of MI5 or MI6, or a Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police stands by as a lie is told and neither speaks out nor resigns, then the lie is his too and we are entitled to hold him accountable. We always knew that the nature of politics attracts inadequates, fantasists and charlatans. We had thought, however, that the top echelons of our Civil Service were populated with independent-minded examples of the best and the brightest our nation could offer. Blair has shattered that illusion too. He has tamed them and turned them into accomplices and toadies.
How many disasters of the Blair years could have been avoided if public servants had refused to be party to Government lies; if they had refused to allow their advice to be misrepresented to the public by politicians; if their loyalties could not be purchased so cheaply with baubles and trinkets?
Nigel, if by "that" you mean the idea of Civil Servants refusing to be party to lies, I honestly don't see the difficulty. It's a matter for them and their consciences. They have no legal or institutional obstacles to doing the right thing.
In Sir John Scarlett's shoes, I would have threatened to shop Alistair Campbell, rather than work with him to pervert MI6 research to suit the Government's desire to go to war. I suspect the outcome of the vote in the Commons would have been the same, but trust in Government would not have been destroyed. Thanks to him, Blair and Campbell, this country can now only go to war when it is already too late. The Government is so mistrusted that our enemies would have to be on our streets where the public could see them with their own eyes.
Moderate Muslims, who are our best potential allies in preventing internal terror attacks, are as alienated as the rest of us by the track record of Government, police and security service lies. When the police or security services act in good faith against terrorist suspects, our Muslims are immediately suspicious and unwilling to cooperate. Government mendacity has therefore made us more vulnerable to attack from within and without.
If my bluff was called (and Campbell and Blair are the sort of cowardly bullies who don't call bluffs) and I was constrained by the Official Secrets Act or whatever, I would have resigned "on a matter of principle." Carefully timed, that would have told the public (if intelligent journalists did their job) everything they needed to know about what Campbell and Blair were doing. This is a rare example where no changes in law or administration are required. All that is necessary is for men like Scarlett, Evans and Iain Blair to do what they full well know is right.
As for Dr. David Kelly, I linked to him as an example of the disasters caused by mendacity. Absent more information, I am not able to write more. I don't blog about unsubstantiated suspicions and I am still at the stage where I frankly do not want to believe the worst about that story. How could patriotism survive peoples' worst suspicions being true? If you want to write about it yourself, I am happy to give you guest blogger status to do it here at the Last Ditch.
As for Parliament, I have blogged ad nauseam about the failure of our professional parliamentarians to live up to their glorious amateur antecedents. If you have something novel to say on that subject, then - again - I am happy to give you a platform to say it here.
Posted by: Tom | Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 10:05 AM
We can only vote them out, and ensure that mendacity is no longer a tool of government by campaigning for a constitution, where the executive is in thrall to Parliament, not the other way round.
Posted by: Guthrum | Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 09:31 AM
I think it would be useful for you to expand a little on how that might be made to work. I would not be surprised if you find that difficult.
You might mention the case of Dr David Kelly.
You might write about the case of Clive Ponting, and the changes to the law after that.
You might consider the proper contribution of Parliament on the issue of keeping the executive in check, in general and with regard to honest disclosure (or at least absence of disclosure that is other than honest).
Best regards
Posted by: Nigel Sedgwick | Tuesday, May 01, 2007 at 08:55 AM