I have discovered unpublished criteria used to compile Gus O’Donnell’s official “report” into the Fox/Werritty affair. I was told this yesterday by the office of the Permanent Under Secretary in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Werritty’s meetings with foreign or British officials abroad were included. Meetings which occurred in the UK were only included if Fox and Werritty were both present.
Meetings which Werritty held with UK government officials in the UK were excluded where Fox was not present.
It is frankly incredible that a report, ostensibly into whether Werritty had undue influence and access, would deliberately omit the facts of how much influence and access Werritty actually had.
The Matthew Gould meetings may be only the tip of the iceberg. What meetings did Werritty have with other senior FCO officials, with MI6 officials and with MOD officials?
Werritty’s access really was quite astonishing. As the Werritty/Gould email correspondence I published yesterday showed, he was able to get the Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary to meet him one and one, without even giving an explanation of what he wanted. 99.9999% of taxpayers could not get a private meeting with the FCO’s Principal Private Secretary even with an explanation of why they wanted it.
I have been trying to think how to get over to you how difficult this is. Let me try it this way – Richard Branson could probably get such a meeting without explanation, Richard Dawkins probably could not. The vast majority of retired Ambassadors could not get such a meeting. The vast majority of paid lobbyists and think tank employees could not casually get such a meeting without explanation. I could not get such a meeting.
Yet officially Werritty was nothing but a paid lobbyist, the sole employee of an obscure neo-con think tank. But he could get that level of access under both New Labour and the Tories. How and why?
“Richard Dawkins probably could not”
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But isn’t that just because Dawkins doesn’t believe in GoD?
Branson could definitely get a meeting. His Virgin Green Fund is one of British Water’s partners in their new joint enterprise with Israel on their MATIMOP water project. British Water did not issue a press release. They left that to the Israelis. http://www.embassyofisrael.co.uk/news/in-the-media/british-water-and-israeli-rd-centre-matimop-sign-landmark-water-agreement/
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Virgin Green Fund, a private equity outfit, specializes in de-salination in the Caribbean and in water dispensing systems in the US. The companies are Seven Seas Water and Quench. {http://www.virgingreenfund.com/companies/list}
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A reminder of the situation for the Palestinians. {http://www.amnesty.org.uk/uploads/documents/doc_19771.pdf}
TROUBLED WATERS – PALESTINIANS DENIED FAIR ACCESS TO WATER
ISRAEL-OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Vronsky, lol, very good.
I agree with Daniel :))
Who was Werritty – if he’s no longer in that role, has he been replaced? Is there a new-Werritty out there?
Verily, Werritty, and there’s no doubt, had an awful lot, of clout.
Verity, what’s it’s connection to Werritty? Not very much it seems. And Gus ‘trust me’ McDonald, isn’t his role one of palming-off verisimilitude as the thruth about the whole affair? And the ‘liberal’ press, where are they in all this obvious disembling? Why, their all off; selling yet another neo-con, neo-imperialist war, (to topple another despot, and establish, complete, western control over the greatest source of wealth and power on the planet, the Middle East’s oil reserves), as an example of ‘humanitarian compassion’ and our dislike of tyranny.
One’s tempted, even in these PC times, to conclude that Werritty was being used as a convenient go-between, messenger, back-channel, or back-passage, between various people and groups, who needed someone reliable to fall back on when normal routes were blocked off.
There always have been, and probably always will be, ‘rent-boys’ willing to make themselves indespensible and useful to powerful men, for a ‘consideration.’
My guess is a conspiracy to keep from Parliament, the media, and the British public, that an influentical cabal in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, were involved in the secret planning for war against Iran. And in this context Werritty was a vital link, flexible, ready to bend over backwards to help; and a wonderful back-passage for Fox I would imagine.
In more than one respect, As You Like It (III, 4, 25) is, I feel, of relevance:
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‘Yes, I think he is not a pick-purse nor a horse-stealer but for his verity in love I do think him as concave as a cover’d goblet.’
What an astonishing access this man had, apart from the PPS, he had access to the highest echelons in Israel,Iran, and wherever he went with his chummy Fox.
This should feel like unravellin’ a jumper by now Craig, Werritty might become a very popular guy now, wanted by all.
where is the little blighter.
Now to the ambassadors boardgame with spies intrigue, time wasting cards, its called ‘where is werritty’, a sure way to accompany a whiskey with friends on a cold winter evening.:)
I had to smile as well. But seriously, has Israels Matimop R&D got access to british water plants, Mary?
Could they have anywhere more sensitve access than that? Don’t trust anybody with water, fluridation is merely waste disposal and its not good for our bodies, never mind the teeth.
Hi Craig, I’ve been reading all this with interest – fantastic work everyone. The question is, where are you going with this…? Is there anyway to get some momentum behind this info and force another look from the government….?
I think the Israel / Iran link is hugely important.
Cheers,
Dave.
Writerman. The Mail again I am afraid to say. But at least they are carrying it. Gould is not mentioned. See the one comment.
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As the Fox/Werritty saga rumbles on in the background, standards watchdog mauls Prime Minister
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By Daniel Martin, Whitehall Correspondent
Last updated at 4:28 PM on 31st January 2012
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David Cameron was urged to bring in his independent adviser to investigate following the Liam Fox and Adam Werrity saga
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Three months on from Liam Fox’s resignation as defence secretary, the debate rumbles on about the Prime Minister’s role in the affair.
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When reports first surfaced about the former Defence Secretary’s relationship with lobbyist and close friend Adam Werritty, David Cameron was urged to bring in his independent adviser on ministerial interests to investigate. In fact, people asked, what was the point on having an independent adviser on ministerial interests if he was never asked to independently advise on ministerial interests?
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/…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2094427/Standards-watchdog-mauls-PM.html
O/T Another £50 billion worth of tissue paper is printed off by the Bank of England.
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9 February 2012 Last updated at 12:51
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Bank of England injects another £50bn into UK
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UK Economy
Bank lending ‘to shrink’ in 2012
Service sector sees strong growth
UK manufacturing activity expands
UK economic activity shrinks 0.2%
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The Bank of England has agreed to extend its quantitative easing (QE) programme by £50bn to give a further boost to the UK economy.
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When completed, it will bring the total amount of QE stimulus to £325bn.
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The Bank started its QE programme, through which it buys mainly government-issued bonds from banks freeing up cash for lending, in 2009.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16963116
Do we have an idea of the sort of technicality that could justify the retaining of information on meetings between Werritty and people other than Fox?
More in general, Craig Murray says “My source says that co-ordinating with Israel and the US on diplomatic preparation for an attack on Iran was the subject of all these meetings”; to what would that amount, concretely?
I have the feeling that France has taken a sharply atlantist turn these last years, and many of the policies that the United Kingdom adopts are also enacted there in one form or another. I was actually a bit surprised that the attacks on the British embassy in Tehran did not also target the French embassy. As there is no real equivalent to Murray or to Werritty in France (Yves Roucaute is having a bit more press than he probably would wish to have right now, but over a trivial matter), studying British politics provides an unique insight.
Garth and Conan raises an important point: How many other unauthorized folks have been inserted improperly into government (UK’s, USA’s, EU’s, etc.) presumably at the request of some very wealthy oligarch (such as, in the USA, the AIPAC folks and the CEOs and lobbyists for the BIG-OIL, BIG-BANKS, BIG-ARMS, and other “BIGs”).
Assuming that anyone in government wanted to have a way to know of such insertions (or to prevent them), are there any mechanisms in place to discover and in-real-time FLAG such insertions?
Could Qaddafi or another such (maybe a Russian or Chinese) have inserted a Werritty-like intruder into government? Does anyone care?
Luke Coffey?
“Liam Fox & Adam Werritty, but no mention of Luke Coffey, CIA agent with access all areas pass at the MOD”
http://hotterthanapileofcurry.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/liam-fox-adam-werrity-but-no-mention-of-luke-coffey-cia-agent-with-access-all-areas-pass-at-the-mod/
What struck me as the ‘loudest’ alarm in the email exchange was that Gould replied within 3 minutes.
What does that say about who/what/etc Werrity was?
When Fox resigned, Guido Fawkes wrote, ‘Sources confirm he has gone and it was his connections to private spook outfit G3 that pushed him over the edge’.
http://www.g3.eu/
@pabelmont: what I find even more fascinating, is that Werritty is in his early thirties. Besides the impressive achievement it is to attain such an influence at such an early age, this means that the man will be in the picture for quite some time. Consider that the Cheney, Perle, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz etc. had their baptism by fire during the Reagan administration and were back with a vengeance in the 2000s. I am already apprehensive at the idea that the Gonzales or Feith could make a comeback, so Heaven knows what people like Werritty might have in store for the future.
Nuzothie ‘I have the feeling that France has taken a sharply atlantist turn these last years, and many of the policies that the United Kingdom adopts are also enacted there in one form or another.’
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Might that be because Sarkozy’s half brother Olivier lives in New York? He is MD of financial services at no less than the nest of vipers known as the Carlyle Group.
http://www.carlyle.com/team/item10347.html
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As you can on his Wikipedia page, he has been heavily involved in the machinations of the banking system in the US. Now divorced and the house has been sold for $8 million since this was written.
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{http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8181324/Nicolas-Sarkozys-brother-Olivier-is-threatened-with-divorce-lawyer-known-as-The-Pitbull.html}
I can see why they want to wipe Iran off, report after report from IMF shows that economically Iran is improving (latest one ranked Iran 17th in the world, ahead of Australia, Argentine, Poland). The western power cannot tolerate and acknowledge that. The government of Iran is not servile, therefore they have to bring one which will dance to their tunes… Hypocrite bastards.
According to DebkaFile ( English language Israeli open source military intelligence based in Jerusalem) Brits and Qatari are already in Homs,
http://www.debka.com/article/21718/
“operations units are operating with rebel forces under cover in the Syrian city of Homs just 162 kilometers from Damascus, according to DEBKAfile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources. The foreign troops are not engaged in direct combat with the Syrian forces bombarding different parts of Syria’s third largest city of 1.2 million. They are tactical advisers, manage rebel communications lines and relay their requests for arms, ammo, fighters and logistical aid to outside suppliers, mostly in Turkey.
This site is the first to report the presence of foreign military forces in any of the Syrian uprising’s embattled areas.
Our sources report the two foreign contingents have set up four centers of operation – in the northern Homs district of Khaldiya, Bab Amro in the east, and Bab Derib and Rastan in the north. Each district is home to about a quarter of a million people.
More details as they unfold will be available in the coming DEBKA-Net-Weekly issue out Friday.”
With the £325bn in QE spent, we could have paid off everyones mortgages and got the economy moving again!
@Mary: not quite the cause, of course, but the sort of details that are both result from something and contribute to it, in a self-reinforcing cycle.
As I see it, French elites are torn between the temptation to tie the fate of the country to the USA, much like England does, and the Gaullist path of the proud and self-sufficient former world power turned into a regional player (Gaullists are usually wary of the UK because it is politically dominated by England, which has firmly chosen the Atlantist path).
Chirac had a bit of the Gaullist spirit in him, which notably allowed him to resist the drumbeats to Iraq, but he overplayed the European card (sadly, many French fall in the trap of seeing Europe as a tool to demultiply the strength of France, like some sort of diplomatically-gained Napoleonic empire). Sarkozy has bitterly criticised that, which he said could cause lasting damages to France-US relations. Hence the feud with Villepin, also.
Craig’s exploits look very racy in French on Nuzothie’s blog!
https://nuzothie.wordpress.com/2012/02/08/craigh-murray/
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No ‘h’ on the end of ‘Craig’ by the way Nuzothie if you do not mind me saying.
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I was thinking earlier that Werritty reminds me of a young version of Lord Digby Jones.
@Mary: darn, I keep being tempted to do that mistake, correct myself, and I put it in the very title. Thanks for the spell-check!
@Nuid: G3 appear in Private Eye today, in relation to another of their employees, an MI6 man called Geoffrey Tantum who, as Gulf Consulting Services, was meeting with Alan Duncan, the minister at DfID. DfID refuse to publish details. Tantum and Duncan were both in Le Cercle, and old favourite of the Project for the Exposure of Hidden Institutions.
Sarkozy was always known to be pro-American. He made a point of it in his victory speech.
Writerman seems to be falling into some disreputable homophobia to make his point. Apart from that, he is probably right. Werrity was some kind of unofficial go-between between all the interested parties in the Israel/Iran/UK nexus. It is probably a bit weird that this seemingly unqualified hack found himself in this prominent position but that is as far as the scandal seems to go. I mean, wouldn’t it be more surprising if secret discussions about this real problem weren’t going on? So what is the real scandal here: the fact that a man called Werrity was involved, or the fact that secret back-channel diplomacy is taking place as some states worry about the potential acquisition of NUCLEAR weapons by the nut cases in Tehran?
“One’s tempted, even in these PC times, to conclude that Werritty was being used as a convenient go-between, messenger, back-channel, or back-passage, between various people and groups, who needed someone reliable to fall back on when normal routes were blocked off.
There always have been, and probably always will be, ‘rent-boys’ willing to make themselves indespensible and useful to powerful men, for a ‘consideration.’
My guess is a conspiracy to keep from Parliament, the media, and the British public, that an influentical cabal in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Israel, were involved in the secret planning for war against Iran. And in this context Werritty was a vital link, flexible, ready to bend over backwards to help; and a wonderful back-passage for Fox I would imagine.”
Thanks Stephen.
All of this stuff is like an unmade jigsaw to me. I hope Craig manages to put some more of it together.
I wonder if there might not be an indirect link to Conservative party funders for whom an actively anti-Iranian policy is desirable for political and/or commercial reasons.
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In this combustible political chemistry, Werrity has functioned as a catalyst, whose presence enables the chemical reactions to take place, without being a significant component of the new compound produced.
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Calling the purpose of these collusive sub-rosa meetings “planning for war against Iran” may be too narrow. I’d see it as working for an anti-Iranian strategy designed to achieve the objective of weakening the present Iranian leaders both externally and internally. However, the means employed probably contain a range of options besides war or the threat of war: sanctions, abuse of the Security Council and other UN institutions, subversion, sabotage – with different countries providing different skills and resources.