Richard Dearlove Helped Blair Kill Millions. The Security Services are a Danger to Our State and Society 490


When Sir Richard Dearlove was Head of MI6, the Blairites adored him as he approved the lying Dossier on Iraqi WMD which led to wars, invasion, the death of millions and the destabilisation which continues to wreck the entire Middle East. Now, as he writes to Tory constituency chairman advocating the hardest of hard Brexits, had they any capacity for self-reflection the Blairites would probably be thinking it was after all not such a great move of Tony to appoint the hardest of hard right nutters to head our overseas intelligence service.

In my last post, I noted how evidence against me was actually manufactured when I opposed the policy of torture and extraordinary rendition. I have explained ad nauseam that, having been in a senior position in the FCO at the time, I know that Blair’s dossier on Weapons of Mass Destruction was a tissue of deliberate lies, and not just an honest mistake; furthermore it is impossible to read the Chilcot report without coming to that conclusion.

The UK has security services which operate dishonestly and illegally. Interestingly, I cannot say that they are currently out of the control of the UK government; the evidence is rather they are willing to engage in every dirty and dishonest trick at the behest of corrupt politicians like Blair.

Dearlove regularly features in the media shilling for maximum Cold War. His letter yesterday on the dangers of intelligence and security co-operation with the EU, as undermining NATO and the UK/US/Five Eyes intelligence arrangements, is simply barking mad. There is no evidence of this whatsoever. He makes no attempt to describe the mechanism by which the dire consequences he predicts will follow. Amusingly enough, although those consequences are dire to Dearlove, to me they are extremely desirable. If I thought that May’s withdrawal agreement would undermine NATO and the CIA, I would be out on the streets campaigning for it.

But there is a very serious point. There is something very wrong indeed with the UK security services, which are most certainly not a force for freedom or justice. That MI6 can be headed by as extreme a figure as Dearlove, underlines the threat that the security services pose to any progressive movement in politics.

If Scotland becomes independent, it must not mirror the repressive UK security services. Furthermore it must be very chary indeed of employing anybody currently working for the UK security services. If Jeremy Corbyn comes to power in Westminster, he will never achieve any of his objectives in restoring a basic level of social justice and equality to society in England and Wales, without revolutionary change in major institutions including the security services.

My own view on Brexit is that the best deal for England and Wales would be EEA and customs union, essentially the Norway option. It seems that the Labour leadership have essentially got that right, but are making a complete pig’s ear of articulating it, presumably because of their desire not to antagonise their anti-immigrant voters.

Scotland demonstrably has a strong and strengthening pro-EU majority and this is the logical time for Scotland to move to Independence, with the assurance of strong international support. I trust the Scottish government is finally going to move decisively in that direction inside the next month.


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490 thoughts on “Richard Dearlove Helped Blair Kill Millions. The Security Services are a Danger to Our State and Society

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  • John2o2o

    “If Scotland becomes independent, it must not mirror the repressive UK security services.”

    I would hope so Craig, but I think it will be hard for Scotland to rid itself of the contagion. They don’t exactly ask permission do they?

  • Deb O'Nair

    “My own view on Brexit is that the best deal for England and Wales would be EEA and customs union, essentially the Norway option.”

    This is a non-starter as it would require the UK becoming a member of the EFTA, a move which Norway has explicitly stated that it will vote against, citing the UK’s propensity at ‘trouble making’ as the reason.

  • Goose

    The military/security state is in a constant struggle with democracy almost like oil and water. The only true way to get the security state under full control is through better democracy, specifically proportional representation. We and the US have two-party systems , how many people do you really need to lean on/ control when all power is vested in the leaderships of those two parties? Two – not difficult.

    True multi-party coalition democracies under proportional representation offer a far stronger bulwark against empire building security people and force transparency.

    • Loony

      You is doing it oh so wrong.

      Proportional representation looks fine in theory – but in practice it just produces the results desired by the military/security state.

      Trump and Brexit proves that there is another way – a winning way. Even if they fail then they still win. Trump is President of the most powerful country in the world – he has already defeated the worlds most powerful media. The British have stood, and continue to stand.You want another referendum? Go for it. The British will crush you, the majority to leave the EU will grow greater.

      Sure you can crush the British, don’t have a referendum, fiddle the question, scream racist…it does not matter. The British have stood, their example will shine like a star. If the British are crushed someone somewhere will see the signal and act upon it,

      The people are winning. We have told you that we will pay any price, bear any burden, and this voice is brave and it wants to be free. Only the weak, the traitorous and the stupid will defy the demand to be free.

        • Loony

          No, not as long as I have an audience of morons unable to understand anything outside of their own twisted version of reality and morality.

          You can ignore me, but it is a racing certainty that come the morrow the French police will not enjoy the same luxury afforded to you. You and your ilk have run out of road. You can either listen to those like me, or you can be strung up by revolutionary Europeans. I don’t care either way.

          • J

            Why would anyone listen to you? You imply so much, and it’s equally clear you wish your audience to infer much more, but what do you actually say? What do you want? The former always resolves down to confused word salad pointing vaguely toward status quo, the latter question is easier to answer, business as usual. Anything in the way of that is a problem for you. You’re afraid of change to a degree which suggests you are heavily invested in the status quo. You associate yourself with ‘revolutionary’ force if it’s an anti Muslim or generally anti immigrant tide, but not if it’s directed against the systematic social and economic subjugation which is the compost of anti immigrant sentiment for those like you.

            You’re a fraud. I’m amazed you have the brass balls to come back here as if you haven’t been exposed several times already.

            Adios, but not au revoir.

          • giyane

            Loony

            How can I be limited by your blinkers? I don’t think those horrible noisy rotating wheels are going to destroy our civilisation. I think they are going to put back those good ethics into our society that Thatcher’s materialism has removed. If you’re so terrified of the benefits of the wheel to the horse, maybe you’re also attracted to the carrots that materialism has dangled in front of us.

          • Capt Bluntschli

            Loony, the more you rankle them, the more they try to make it personal, the weaker the force we are dealing with.

        • Garth Carthy

          No, unfortunately he doesn’t.
          It seems to me, anyone with a pseudonym like ‘Loony’ is a mere attention seeker.

      • Makropulos

        “Only the weak, the traitorous and the stupid will defy the demand to be free.”

        Now that has a nice Nuremberg ring about it.

    • ray

      Usually would agree but if we had PR here we would have a permanent Tory/Lib alliance. At least a two party system means that now and again the Labour party gets to win. However if Scotland left the UK it would be a Tory majority for ever.

      • Mighty Drunken

        “Usually would agree but if we had PR here we would have a permanent Tory/Lib alliance”.
        I don’t think that would be true. You can’t take the votes from a first past the post system and apply them to PR because in FPTP you often have to vote strategically. In any sensible system you vote for the people you want. Many more people might vote Green if they thought their candidate had a chance. As they don’t they vote elsewhere.

      • Cynicus

        ” if we had PR here we would have a permanent Tory/Lib alliance”
        ======
        That is rubbish. In 2010 the Liberals hoped to be in coalition = but with Labour. It was FPTP that delivered the only possible 2 party coalition of Lib=Tory.

        • nevermind

          Yes after a weeks of speed dating they called it a coalition, sat down to devour the LibDems, who then proceeded to abstain from the referendum bill, when they could have resigned their’ date’ and caused another election on the issue of Brexit instead.
          But they failed to understand what the impliction of a leave vote would arise.

          They are in the doldrums for a good reason and should stay there.

          • Mr Shigemitsu

            The Tories won the 2015 GE on 7th May with a small majority, but it meant that they no longer needed to be in coalition with the LibDems.

            The first reading of the Referendum Bill was on the 28th May 2015, after the LibDems had departed from govt, and indeed had, deservedly, only 8 MPs left in the House.

            The majority for the Referendum Bill vote on 9 June ’15 was massive – it would have made absolutely no difference had the LibDems opposed it – and they certainly had no power to bring down Cameron’s govt, post the 2015 GE.

            However, one of the benefits of the referendum result was seeing the back of Osborne and Cameron (the man who wanted to become PM because he” thought he’d be rather good at it”).

            Another is seeing the Tory Party’s claim to be the competent and “natural party of government” become a matter of ridicule.

            Anyway, May’s cunning plan to call another GE in 2017 has fortunately resulted in the nation avoiding the “coalition of chaos” that she warned about in the campaign…

            Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

          • nevermind

            the Lib Dems were eager for perks and power, they couldn’t give a hoot about the referendum bill.

            Why did they not resign their speed date? especially since they are anow trumpeting that they were always against it.
            Self serving cowards.

        • Jo Dominich a

          Cynicus, great name first of all!! I seem to remember, and I might well be wrong, but the Lib Dems joined with the Tories because the eminently sensible Gordon Brown, then Prime Minister, refused to enter a coalition with them? Gordon obviously saw a traitorous party and took the right decision!!

      • lysias

        FPTP naturally gravitates to a two-party system. If the biggest party becomes too dominant, people will move to the second party to increase their career chances.

      • Susan Smith

        It’s up to England to change, as Wales votes Labour. Even with Scotland the UK, has been condemned to a Tory government most of the time ( 27 out of the last 39 years) even though Scotland voted Labour ( around 40- 50 of 71 seats 1979 – 1992 , 41 out of 59 in 2005 and 2010,) or SNP ( 56 out of 59 in 2015 ) the UK still got Conservative. In 2017 SNP lost 20 seats, but 13 of them went to the Tories, allowing Theresa May to scrape home if propped up by the DUP. In that case, the UK might have been better off without us.

  • Goose

    cont…

    The mighty US constitution didn’t stop CIA abuses in the ’60 – 70s… and look at what Snowden revealed more recently…, ultimately, the party political and oversight is where what’s acceptable is tested, the MSM press being now virtually impotent by choice or design idk? If the two parties connive with each other to keep secret and cover-up each other’s past and present wrongs. The population are like mushrooms; kept in the dark and fed something unpleasant, shut out of the process and no amount of protest or Snowdens, Asanges, Katharine Guns , can make any difference whatsoever.

    • David

      Good point, but the brave individuals that you mentioned, and the other ones who also felt compelled to act, have made a difference.

      There are ‘only’ around a million deeply classified workers in the 5EYES, compared to 457 million non security state populace.

      Spooks are ~ 0.22% of our population

      • Goose

        Have they made a difference?

        They’ve made security tighter and inconvenienced their old colleagues, apparently as politicians become more worried about leaks. But not much has changed in terms of transparency and implementing expert oversight.

        Then there is the price they’ve paid, certainly in Assange’s case and definitely Snowden’s. It seems too high for any individual. The All have had films made about them, ‘Official Secrets’ about Katharine Gun’s Iraq war build -up UN spying leak is the latest one and out soon.

        • David

          Yes, the whistle “not in my name” blowers, Snowden, Gun, Assange, Ponting, et al have succeeded in a very big way. The public was informed. This was a right, was proved in court where tested.

          The fact that the spooks have tightened security is great, [obviously because of the endemic ongoing insider threat, “not in my name” still resonates], the extra security and suspicion of their own workers might allow a security system that doesn’t leak. The directors of our Securitate however might be evaluating some of their wackier, more illegal, more difficult to explain jaunts to the public, embedding the required multiple levels of protection/obfuscation to attempt to defeat the NIMN insider ‘oppo’ and they certainly have toned some down.

          Here’s a ‘blown’ spook haunt attempting to explain their ongoing 24/7 infowar subversion of society – with a cosy domestic setting, wine, pipe & slippers.

          https://off-guardian.org/2019/01/08/dads-armys-cover-blown/

          The ‘price’ that the NIMN leakers have paid is zen peace of mind, being held as heroes by some, and remembering that the spook directors are NOT above the law
          … integrity initiative, institute of Statecraft is getting rather close to the checks and balances inherent in our society https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/14/south-korean-spy-chief-election-meddling [long jail sentences]

  • Peter

    “… had they any capacity for self-reflection the Blairites would probably be thinking it was after all not such a great move of Tony to appoint the hardest of hard right nutters to head our overseas intelligence service.”

    I sometimes find it hard not to conclude that Blair was groomed from above before he became leader, perhaps before he even joined the Labour Party, with or without his knowledge, to make sure that the establishment had someone at the top of the Labour Party that they could rely on/control.

    “… essentially the Norway option. It seems that the Labour leadership have essentially got that right, but are making a complete pig’s ear of articulating it, presumably because of their desire not to antagonise their anti-immigrant voters.

    The “Norway option” is madness as it jettisons the advantages of Brexit at the same time as jettisoning the advantages of being in the EU It is the worst of all worlds and as such would amount to a national humiliation.

    It’s almost certainly not what Corbyn would wish for. Do you think he is anti-immigrant in his views?

    • giyane

      Peter

      Corbyn has clearly stated that he sees the struggle for Brexit as between the workers, including business creators, employees etc on the one side and those very idle very rich hedgefund managers and bankers who want Brexit to allow them to speculate and gamble on a bigger, global, and more risky scale. The ” advantages of this gambling will not advantage us.

      May is doing much too little , much too late, to stop the revolt against her wobble / withdrawal bill. So the question arises what to do after May goes , on account of her total incompetence. Either the EU must be challenged about its refusal to negotiate a trade deal before the withdrawal bill is signed, blind, on trust, or, a labour win will tell the racists that they have no mandate whatsoever to dictate to the rest of us and tell the EU to oeuf oeuf.

      Something tells me it’ll be hard for the EU to have to swallow British democracy one day and trust Scottish democracy the next.

    • lysias

      And John Smith died a suspicious death. Robert Harris’s roman a clef about Blair, “The Ghost”, reflects Harris’s long association with Blair.

      • Jo1

        “John Smith died a suspicious death.”

        Smith certainly died young, he was 55, but he had a heart attack at home. Why do you say it was suspicious?

      • Charles Bostock

        John Smith did not die a suspicious death. For your information, there is no minimum age for people to have a heart attack.

        No Stalin’s dearth, that might have been a different matter – one of the theories extant is that he was smothered.

  • Goose

    On the subject of “torture and extraordinary rendition”.

    Wasn’t there cross-party demands for a full judicial investigation? It was a huge story because of the sheer numbers involved. The govt missed its own self-imposed response deadline months and months ago, and now with Brexit hogging the headlines, the subject has disappeared altogether?

    In TV interviews at the time, last year, both Blair and Straw have stated they will swear under oath they never authorised torture. Yet the documents had their signatures? You’d think that contradictory evidence/accounts, would be important to reconcile for all politicians?

    • giyane

      Goose

      The torture rendition issue is stuck IMHO on the fact that torturing Muslims to gain information might seem to some people to be a painful necessity, while torturing-renditioning them to make them more violent and sadistic for the benefit of Israel, might appear to be almost fascist. For all those who deny Israel’s fascist apartheid, it’s preferable to leave the unfortunate stain of torture rendition on the name of the UK in place, whereas admitting that our government supports islamophobic fascist zealots who have wrecked Muslim lives for 30 years is just too difficult.

  • Alf Baird

    I only wish the SNP Scotgov leadership had recruited you as a senior advisor Mr. Murray. They should do so now. I previously suggested they create ‘shadow ministries’ for reserved powers, one of which you could have headed up. The SNP need to show greater intent and better prepare the way to an independent Scotland.

    • PERMINDEX

      I actually know someone who was on the interview panel when Craig applied to stand as an MP for them. I also know that the SNP leadership despise Craig. Just as much as I despise them actually. He had no chance with them from the get-go.

      I’m amused at just how much of Craig’s readership are failing to grasp what he is repeatedly trying to tell you about the SNP. You’re still asleep even after the recent relevations over Alex, who used to be my MP for many years long before most of you had even heard of him. Amazing, truly amazing. And if you don’t wake up soon and clear the trash out you can kiss your chance of independence goodbye. I’d start with Murrell. The fact that he’s still in that most key of positions years after Nicola took over is rather telling in itself.

      [“disappointed that Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill has so far rejected her calls to outlaw the monitoring of MSPs’ phone calls”; MacAskill helped coverup Lockerbie, and also brought you the abomination called Police Scotland. Mueller did so for the FBI state-side, and from what I’ve heard may be about to be indicted for his part in the 9/11 coverup.]

      https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/files-prove-that-mi5-spied-on-snp-1-1423283

    • Willie

      As the current Alex Salmond smear is exposing the Westminster government has its shadow civil servants.

      With all the bias and malice of the state dirty tricks brigade Lesley Evans is. Scottish Office appointment. Being found out playing dirty tricks she should be sacked.

      But yes Alf, shadow ministries for reserved powers is a good idea and indeed, in the case of South Africa, many of the ANC in exile trained in universities around the world to hone up on the skills needed for day when the oppressive apartheid regime was overthrown.

  • FranzB

    CM – “Scotland demonstrably has a strong and strengthening pro-EU majority and this is the logical time for Scotland to move to Independence, ..”

    With reference to your point about Dearlove and the Campbell / Scarlett dossier, it’s worth noting that France and Germany refused to join Bush’s Coalition of the Willing. The Green foreign minister Joschka Fischer (no pacifist he) had a stand up row at a conference with Rumsfeld where he asked – where’s the evidence?

    I don’t see how Scotland can move on independence until the Brexit hurlyburly’s done. But after that the SNP should begin to set up for independence. Call a conference to get a draft constitution. Agree the head of state will be elected (indirectly I’d say). Agree that Scotland will have its own currency. Get its ducks in a row re the EU, Nato, the commonwealth, the UN, the UK, the border with England, fishing, agriculture, land reform. Get a competition up for designs for the Scottish passport, stamps. i.e. every aspect of life in post independence Scotland should be fleshed out. An end to pusillanimity.

    • BrianFujisan

      FranzB

      well said. there is a Lot going on behind the Scenes..
      we are already activated in inverclyde Too

      Alf Baird
      January 11, 2019 at 23:35

      Great Point too cheers

      Yes Craig should be in a Proper Place in an Independant Scotland.

    • J

      “it’s worth noting that France and Germany refused to join Bush’s Coalition of the Willing.”

      But they joined with Obama and Trump in bombing Syria.

      • BrianFujisan

        J

        And Libya..And Yemen… Gaza

        And In the Last few Hours attempting to bomb Damascus AGAIN .. The Fucking U.N needs to get a Grip on Israel..Baiting the Russians.. WWIII
        .

      • nevermind

        So which Luftwaffe squadron carried out the Bombing in Syria?
        Afaik they only gave communication help and they said so,
        Contrast that with the liars here who staunchly deny that The UK is bombing Syria and or have boots on the ground, deny that UK soldiers got killed.

  • giyane

    ” My own view on Brexit is that the best deal for England and Wales would be EEA and customs union, essentially the Norway option. It seems that the Labour leadership have essentially got that right, ”

    I agree. Trouble is I voted to Leave to get rid of war criminal Cameron and I got May, so if I choose Norway Brexit to get rid of May will I get something even worse? It seems that Trump has been told to keep Daesh on ice just in case Iraq or Saudi Arabia need further threatening to comply with a resurgence of thinking that they might own their own countries. Could it be the removal of Mrs May might lead to the likes of Dearlove bringing back the spectre of UKIP to threaten us?

    I am unhappy about the prospect of going to a carefully engineered divide and rule project tomorrow, the London demonstration where not only the police and the Goddards racist yobs but also the anti-austerity demonstrators will all be wearing gilet jaunes. Why didn’t Macron have the pure evil of British Intelligence to think of that? Come back MacRon, all is forgiven, we will forge a new EU republic between Scotland and France to replace Queen Elizabeth in the name of the beheaded Queen of Scots.

    • Jo Dominich a

      Thanks Dungroanin’ it is soul destroying reading; I cannot see any organisation which is capable of challenging this in the UK at the moment – the MSM are officially a propaganda machine now for the Tory Party. Step up any bold, independent investigative journalists!

    • Sharp Ears

      The FDA was the First Division Civil Servants etc.

      ‘In 2002, we affiliated with the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Staff Association, while Managers in Partnership (MiP), an FDA-Unison joint venture representing senior managers in the NHS, was launched in June 2005. In September 2008 agreement was reached with the Security Service (MI5) for the FDA to provide professional industrial relations support to staff.

      Our professional development project, FDA Learn, was launched in 2008 to help members meet their professional and personal development targets. The project works closely with employers, universities and external partners, and aims to provide the very best opportunities for members working in public service.’

      https://www.fda.org.uk/home/AbouttheFDA/our-history.aspx

      • Jo1

        Yep SE, know who they are but extraordinary all the same that this guy has attacked Salmond like this.
        He’s also attempted to water down the verdict too, just like Evans did. He’s mentioned the allegations against Salmond. This is all out with his remit unless he’s representing Evans, which he isn’t. He’s merely commenting on a case and the FDA has released the statement to the whole bloody media!

        • bj

          Penman also called out Salmond’s “narrative” of victimhood in The Times.

          He likes the victimhood of Leslie Evans better.
          What a gnome.

          • Jo1

            BJ
            I think it’s a bit more serious and sinister.

            The FDA prepared an actual press release attacking Salmond. The organisation would not have been involved in this investigation or had access to the detail so it’s not in a position to comment. (If it does have information, where did it obtain this?) What is it doing indulging in a public spat with a former FM of Scotland?

            If anything it proves that this truly is politically motivated, but even so, it is unprofessional in the extreme for the FDA to intervene and even trash the verdict of the judge on Evans’ handling of the case.

            The FDA should uphold the absolute necessity for a fair investigation process. It represents senior members in the Civil Service who will be involved in overseeing and conducting formal investigations. No senior figure who has been found to have conducted an investigation which was described in the terms used by this judge should be defended by them. And yet, the FDA hasn’t just defended Evans, who, as far as we know, isn’t subject to disciplinary proceedings herself, it has very publicly attacked the prominent politician whose challenge of her methods led to this damning ruling of those methods by a judge. Has Evans herself involved the FDA?

            The FDA also points out that Salmond may still face charges! Again, an extraordinary comment given the court which ruled on Evans’investigation focused only on the process of that. Clearly the FDA feels able to comment on the police investigation too using it to imply a great deal. It goes on to accuse Salmond of “targeting” Evans, of practising “victimhood”. Again, astonishing claims considering the ruling just announced on Evans’ methods. The FDA expresses sympathy for the complainants but fails to acknowledge that the case was only brought due to Evans’ failure to ensure fairness in the investigation, something which affects not just the accusers but, equally, the accused.

            Wouldn’t it be marvelous if we had a remotely honest media in Scotland and the wider UK so that someone could go digging to find out why on earth the FDA has chosen to start issuing formal press releases about this case to all in sundry? Particularly when it seeks to undermine a court ruling, smear a former FM and even attempt to comment on and influence an ongoing police investigation.

    • Mr Shigemitsu

      @ Shatnersrug,

      I think its high time Craig was fully “on message” with MMT – there have been more than on or two occasions when I have winced as I’ve read certain references in his blogs to “taxpayers’ money”!

      If he’s open-minded enough to accept it, which I would like to believe he is, it would be extremely helpful, not only with particular regard to understanding and advocating functional finance in post-Scottish Indy macroeconomics, but as the correct prism through which to authoritatively oppose needless, politically-motivated, austerity throughout the UK in general – and how to remedy it, whilst avoiding the false belief that “money grows on rich people”.

      He could certainly dip his toe in with Richard Murphy (though I would suggest Stephanie Kelton for beginners – US, but the currency status is the same), or dive straight into the deep end with Bill Mitchell and Warren Mosler!

      #LearnMMT

  • Sharp Ears

    A different sort of gilet jaune.

    Yellow jacket woman’ revealed to be a former Crown Court judge as daughter says she was ‘epic on Question Time’
    https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/yellow-jacket-woman-revealed-to-be-a-former-crown-court-judge-a4036721.html

    ‘After Question Time’s airing, Ms Good was praised for “offering more progress and more insight” than the Prime Minister has in 31 months.

    She said: “Two things. Firstly, could we get over feeling sorry for Theresa May? She is the woman who for many, many years has led the hostile environment for migrants in this country – which resulted in the Windrush generation, it’s a disgrace.

    “’She’s the person who created her very specific red lines on immigration in the ECJ which have created the negotiation mess that we’re in. She triggered Article 50 when she had no plan.’

    Advise wearing yellow when attending QT. Then Mentorn’s Mr Gentchev can spot you easily.

    • Sharp Ears

      She must have known Priti Patel and now Penny Mordaunt at DfID. She is still a Specialist Adviser to the DfID Committee.

      ‘Expertise in good governance in international development. My experience includes aid scrutiny as a founder Commissioner with the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, the independent body which scrutinises whether UK aid is well spent, is maximising impact and achieving value for money; as a Specialist Adviser to the select committee on international development in the House of Commons; as Global Governance Advisor to CAMFED supporting girls through school and into safe livelihoods in Sub Saharan Africa; as a trustee of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and of Conciliation Resources. I was previously a senior litigation and investigations lawyer with the international law firm, Linklaters LLP’. (Linked In)

      Was she planted on QT, and chosen to speak, to get rid of May?

      • Sharp Ears

        Of course I am not. My point is that the QT programme is producing too much political interference. Thanks

        It is divisive and is adding to the undercurrent of disillusionment in the system. It does not provide any answers and it has always been thought that there are plants in the audience.

          • Capt Bluntschli

            KR John used to have the same problem. John doesn’t live here anymore, but when he visits, these days, he mages to post before the ‘Kind regards’ get’s in…. 😉

        • Ian

          Political interference? What on earth are you talking about? It might not be the greatest of programmes, but you find conspiracies everywhere. You sound like you would prefer some kind of state sanctioned TV. Any ‘disillusionment’ or divisiveness is not coming from there. Arguably it provides a service in exposing the feeble excuses and horrifying ineptitude of politicians and the system we have. Your jaundiced view of the world affects everything you watch.

          • giyane

            One person’s jaundice is another person’s gilet jaune. Are you habbabkuk? Why do you sea-lion a good person who defends human rights?
            Synonyms & Antonyms for austere
            Synonyms :authoritarian, flinty, hard, harsh, heavy-handed, ramrod, rigid, rigorous, severe, stern, strict, tough
            Antonyms: clement, forbearing, gentle, indulgent, lax, lenient, tolerant

          • David

            @ian:
            you find conspiracies everywhere

            Actually this is literally the truth, that agency led infiltrations (which they have self-labelled ‘conspiracies’) are everywhere

            I could write a very long list of the canonical evidence for this that has come out over the years, this would then no longer be a quick comment but become a publication! I’d need an isbn number 😉

            Just some names to help remind you of the discovered conspiracies “John Stalker” “Julien Coupat” “Mark Kennedy” “Jean Trakinat” etc.

          • Node

            It might not be the greatest of programmes, but you find conspiracies everywhere.

            Do you believe that the purpose of Question Time is to air public opinion rather than to manipulate it? Really?

          • nevermind

            changing Dimbledor for Bruce has done nothing to stem the tide of Labour bashing on QT, the questions by the public are known beforehand and the panel usually looks at them beforehand discarding the worst of them. To get a question of magnitude heard means to ask an innocent question first and hope it gets heard.
            This does not mean that your question will get heard by the public, the one hour delay is being used to tweek the whole pre recorded program and your question might get filtered out altogether.
            Everything about QT is planned and planted. All parties get invites to send members and sometimes they pack the ranks with activists who perpetuate the current hate bashing of Corbyn.

          • Capt Bluntschli

            Ian, now we know why actual comments from the Sharpie who literally *lives here*, as opposed to just inane links are few and far between. And then there are the other usual feeble-minded who will come to the rescue 😀

  • Jack

    They do what they do. Throughout time. Till now. The same. How could it be different? What can the people do. What is their role as supposed citizens of this power? Etc.

  • Ross Kennedy

    Here’s hoping but I’m starting to feel snp are too hung up on playing by waste monster rules

  • Sharp Ears

    The actor who played the lead in that remarkable film. I. Daniel Blake, is playing one of the Fisherman’s Friends, the singing group from Port Isaac, in a new film.

    Fisherman’s Friends: behind feelgood film of Cornwall’s folk stars lies a tragedy
    Uplifting movie tells how the Cornish singing group hit the big time – but not of the terrible blow that came after
    https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/18/fishermans-friends-tragedy-behind-feelgood-film

  • Sharp Ears

    Russia has charged British citizen Paul Whelan with espionage following his arrest in Moscow.
    Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed at a briefing in the capital that the 48-year-old would face trial, and dismissed suggestions he could be used in a prisoner swap for a Russian held in the US
    https://news.sky.com/story/paul-whelan-arrest-russia-confirms-briton-has-been-charged-with-espionage-11605206

    Hunt warns the Russians. ‘Be very afraid’.

    A weird one if all of this is true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Whelan_(security_director)

    • Garth Carthy

      According to the Wikipedia page, Whelan sounds like he has the perfect qualifications for working as a UK/US spy.

      • John A

        I find the idea of a guy who was dishonorably discharged from the US army for larceny related offences, could then get a job as head of security at a private company absurd. Plus, why 4 nationalities?

    • Capt Bluntschli

      Yes he has had a rather checkered career.

      Per wiki: Whelan lives in Novi, Michigan.

      Maybe the Americans will rename it as Novichok for his dishonourable heroicism.

      • vermiculite

        Just to confirm that we are talking about the man who gave me a light bulb and the other one we had with him for the last two of Murray’s posts that Messrs Moore and Alfredo are getting closer tae Lunnon whaur she wis a German pheesicist wha shared the same year. I think the answer is a little different but I think Mr Murray will probably dwarf it out to sea and its 9.30am 17th August and September comments will also come out of the Union.

    • Jo Dominich a

      Ah, I note Jeremy Hunt’s (always tempted to substitute the H for a C!) response to Russia is highly threatening, claiming breaches of international law etc in other speeches. Strange really, given our Government’s totally unsubstantiated, malicious, dangerous and sustained assault on the Russian Federation as regards the Skripal Conspiracy in which our Government was in flagrant breach of international and diplomatic law, refused to engage in the internationally agreed process for investigation and completely refused to use the appropriate diplomatic channels to engage in constructive dialogue with the RF. Now, Hunt is claiming Russia is acting illegally. Mmmmmm – what a bunch of two faced, lying F*********rs this Govt is

  • Jill Nicoll

    Thank you for your insights. I find this all very interesting and informative. I just hope to God the people who should be reading it are reading it. I hope you are in contact with the Scottish Govt on a regular basis. It seems your experiences are just what we need to steer a path through this quagmire of dishonesty and corruption.

  • Alasdair Fulton

    Craig, you’ve mentioned the “Norway” option. From what I’ve read, Norway are in no hurry to approve the UK becoming part of the EFTA. Is the Norwayodel not just more unobtainable pie in the sky?

    • Ian

      That was just one politician’s view – understandable though it was, who would want the UK joining an organisation then spending the next 40 years moaning about it and trying to wreck it?

    • nevermind

      Norway is refusing the UK’s entry into EFTA, due to their ‘disruptive nature’.
      After this s..tshow over Brexit who, apart from the chlorinated chicken vendors, will want to do business with us?

      • Capt Bluntschli

        You assume you are the only one with a brain capable of discerning a chlorinated chicken from one without? I wonder what is your basis of such arrogance? It certainly doesn’t show.

      • Jo Dominich a

        Nevermind, the answer is Nobody with an intelligent, progressive Government in the world I think. I can’t imagine any country in the world wanting to do any Trade Deals with Britain. The mess they have made over the economy, Brexit, housing, state benefits etc, their refusal to listen to or accept criticism or make changes and their bombastic, war-ridden language used against the EU in the Brexit negotiations leaves no one in any doubt that the UK, under this Government, still believes Britain runs half the world and adopts accordingly, colonial bully boy tactics. I am sure everyone in the world can see this except of course, our own MSM and the bunch of losers we call the Tory Government.

  • ProfessorPlum

    EEA and a CU is NOT Brexit.

    I have been sympathetic to the Norway option as means of minimising economic damage but if the UK remain with the EEA there is no need for a CU. If Corbyn and May force the UK to become part of the CU there is not ability to strike FTA’s with the ROW. That is not Brexit.

    The trouble is nothing on the table now bar No Deal offers Brexit. That is why the establishment of every hue is specifically saying that wont allow it. That in itself is a subversion of the process and democracy.

    What has happened this week is further evidence of an elite that have nothing but contempt for the people who voted them and trusted them with this process. Brexit has now become a demonstration of the contempt politicians have for democracy the people that take part in it and the very processes that define it. This country is ripe for a revolution.

    • Ian

      funny how everyone’s personal preference magically transforms into ‘what people voted for’ when it comes to brexit. There was no common consent on what brexit meant, or how it would be implemented. No-one was asked. Presuming there is a single answer to it is just arrogant and arrant nonsense. Mogg, Gove, May – you’re all the same,

    • Jo Dominich a

      Professor Plum, rest assured I have my Yellow Vest to hand. Long live the revolution – it needs to be kickstarted!! If the wise, intelligent and popular President Putin would like to lend a hand it would be most welcome!! The Peoples flat is Crimson red…………..Sing along!

  • SA

    One has always got to look at the bigger picture because that can throw a light on the apparent contradictions in more specific cases. So to look at Brexit as a local problem and not as a grand project to realign Britain with the Five Eyes, pitted against Europe Russia and China would be to miss a lot. This is why the PTB are willing to risk possible great economic harm on the short term to achieve this realignment. Of course discussions about whether Brexiters are racist, don’t like immigrants and so on is so much fluff and talking point but what Brexiters on the left are actually doing is fulfilling this grand plan.
    Of course The EU may have been a project supported by the US and started after the Second World War to make sure that Europe is realigned with US in all policies and not to be politically independent from the US. This is one of the main purposes of NATO and binds Europe to US foreign policy. Thus the EU project was flawed from the start because of this strong pull. However supporting Brexit now will really lead to this full blown British realignment both in terms of trade but militarily and politically.
    If those who voted Brexit can see what this really will mean, they would stop supporting Brexit.
    If we look at the roles of the intelligence services, the arm length NGOs: The Atlantic Council, the Integrity initiative in the very coordinated anti Russia and more recent anti-China information campaign it becomes very clear where we are heading. Please join the dots.

      • giyane

        Ian

        Some knots are double-bind satanic knots. Satan’s job is to scare you into forgetting all the good things you have and to despair. It’s a crude lie, because a moments quiet reflection will untangle it.
        Other knots, such as the calligraphic knots in the Book of Kells are a beautiful reminder that although life is complicated, the human breast is able to encompass its complexities.

        Craig has shown us a calligraphic knot, in which he sees structure and logic in the malignancy of the deep state. And SA , as always, is endeavouring to illuminate the deeper complexities of the nasties at the top. I watched a group of craftsmen and women recreate some of William Morris’s brilliance on TV last night. Amazing craftsman/womanship.

        The PTB make the complexities, with all their secrecy and lies. Our job is to untangle, and elucidate. Their job is to catch us unawares and shelob us with their sticky webs. Why pick on SA or SE for that matter just for doing that?

  • SA

    May’s proposal to leave the EU is so ridiculously flawed that one cannot help that it was designed to be voted down. So Plan 2 would be a crash out Brexit which would suit the 5 eyes perfectly, never mind the cost to ordinary people. Parliament’s role is therefore to be absolutely clear that a crash out deal is not an option but at the same time either work out a sensible deal or a second vote. The reason why it took 2 years to come up with this deal is now obvious, pushing the decision to the buffers so as to leave no time for alternatives.

    • michael norton

      Yes, I also think Theresa May came up with this stupid deal so very few politicians would vote with her.
      The aim all along was Cliff Edge Brexit – complete disalignment with the E.U.
      You may also be correct that Britain is to be refurbished as Airstrip One.

      If May have intended to get a reasonable deal, it would have happened, the E.U. probably never wanted to harm itself.
      In one stroke America will have increased its share of World Trade and decreased the share of World Trade of the E.U.
      No wonder The Donald was for Brexit.

    • Mr Shigemitsu

      @SA,

      “May’s proposal to leave the EU is so ridiculously flawed that one cannot help that it was designed to be voted down. So Plan 2 would be a crash out Brexit…”

      Have you thought that presenting a ridiculously flawed deal could equally have been a ploy to ensure that Brexit simply gets abandoned by Parliament as an impossible and hopeless job, and that Plan 2 (well, Plan 1 really), is a vote, at the very last minute and with apparent hand-wringing reluctance, to withdraw Article 50?

      • michael norton

        That is a possibility but less likely.
        It has been said that the only real Brexit is Cliff Edge Brexit
        any other “deal” links us to the E.U. for a long time and restricts our freedom.

  • Sackerson

    I can certainly understand your dislike of the Secret Services – your account of the attempted fit-up makes them look little short of evil.

    But I am wondering whether you harbour an atavistic Scottish hatred for the “English” (mixed bag that we are, in reality).

    Quite apart from the deeply, structurally undemocratic organisation of the EU, there is the growing economic crisis in the Eurozone. I voted to leave for the former reason, but I can’t think it’s in our interest to remain in the EU when it may shortly be dinning us for everything we’ve got so as to keep their show on the road – and may also embroil us in a stepped-up confrontation in the Ukraine. Why stay for all that waste of blood and treasure?

    Really your post here is about two issues, not one, and like yourself I would love to see proper legal action taken against those in office who have in effect fomented aggressive war and murder. I’m not sure what odds you’d get at Betfair on that happening.

    As to the other matter, it seems the same treacherous Establishment will subvert the result of the Referendum. I hold on to the last gift in Pandora’s box, Hope.

    • SA

      “Quite apart from the deeply, structurally undemocratic organisation of the EU, there is the growing economic crisis in the Eurozone.”

      The structure of the EU may or may not be undemocratic but Britain as a member did nothing to try and change this ‘undemocratic’ nature from within even when it had the power of the veto on some of the fundamental decisions. I think this, as well as many other reasons why people say they voted to leave is another red herring in a real Pandora’s box of red herrings. If we are interested in democratic accountability then we should look inwards and try to fix our flawed democracy. To watch the way that Brexit has been handed over to be decided by the PM, who is unelected by the people, is to see the undemocratic nature of decision making in our system which also has an unelected second chamber and an unelected hereditary head of state.
      As to your second point the economic crisis in the Eurozone is being highlighted but is not the main or only one. You seem to gloss over that the national debt of the US currently somewhere in the region of 15 trillion is only possible through a very biased system of how world economy is administered and not on any economic realities.

      • Peter

        “The structure of the EU may or may not be undemocratic … I think this, as well as many other reasons why people say they voted to leave is another red herring

        It most certainly is not just “another red herring”, especially when added to the unaccountable political and economic forces and direction of the EU.

        The, in my mind criminal, heinous actions of the EU against Greece demonstrated graphically the EU’s disdain for democracy and for anybody who dares to challenge their neoliberal, pro-austerity orthodoxy.

        A Corbyn lead government would, of course, provide just such a challenge and all the signs are that many of the essential policies of a Corbyn government – nationalisation, state intervention – would fall foul, ie be illegal, of EU law and regulation and would be met at the very least with severe penalties, no matter how large a vote from the UK public Corbyn had received.

        For instance The Fourth Railway Package entrenched privatisation of EU railways while future packages are expected to require countries whose railways are not currently privatised to have them become so. Corbyn’s railways policy, not to mention many others of course, would most certainly be met by stern opposition.

        Many would say that membership of the EU and a British Corbyn lead government are incompatible.

        Given the choice of British democracy, yes, with all its (amendable) flaws, over EU diktat I know which one I would choose.

        • SA

          I sort of agree with you but I personally, who is totally supportive of a Corbyn led government, sadly cannot see it happening because even if he gets to become PM there is just so much destructiveness his enemies within the party can cause.
          So yes to revise my position. Brexit would certainly be welcome if Corbyn was PM and able to cary out his policies, but failing that Brexit will be a gift for the Atlanticists.

          • Wikikettle

            I agree SA. Corbyn, the membership and the National Executive, have first to establish Labour, through its policy proceedures in Conference etc..to become Non WMD, remove Blairite MP’s before Jeremy can become PM. I fear however that our friends in the Secret Services, the Military, CIA assets in UK and the rest…will do everything and anything to stop him. The establishment no doubt has plans for a State of Emegency and lists of those it will arrest. The Integrity Initiative has already called for the arrest of people like Galloway…An MP with any kind of dirt, sexual, financial will be subject to blackmail and bribery with promotion to higher office. With the poor quality of those in so called public service, I doubt Jeremy could muster enough honest people to form Government let alone push through radical policy change that we need to reverse years of corruption.

    • giyane

      ” proper legal action ”

      Come on, in the eyes of the powers that be the proper legal action for war-criminals, interest-eaters and spies is for them all to be let off. Who makes the law, them or us? They didn’t like it up ’em when Bercow changed the rules for a moment last week.

    • giyane

      “the same treacherous Establishment will subvert the result of the Referendum”

      The referendum was IMHO an armchair chucked by the guilty conscience of Zionist war-criminal David Cameron in order to slow down justice pursuing him for jointly with Obama destroying the richest nation in the African continent. It is very important that his war crimes in Libya and Ukraine are pursued with the same rigour as Blair. Also worth noting that the deep state employs deep deceit in utilising a confirmed Remainer to instigate a Leave result, and an African black president to wreck the African continent.

      • MJ

        “the deep state employs deep deceit in utilising a confirmed Remainer to instigate a Leave result”

        Or the deep state employs deep deceit in utilising a confirmed Remainer to instigate a Remain result and gets its fingers burned.

      • Sackerson

        I read Cameron’s action as arising out of a blithe faith that only a few “fruitcakes and loons” were dischuffed with the EU, so a referendum would be a good way to shut them up forever.

    • bj

      But I am wondering whether you harbour an atavistic Scottish hatred for the “English”

      Come on, that’s disingenuous, after you’ve first established:

      I can certainly understand your dislike of the Secret Services – your account of the attempted fit-up makes them look little short of evil.

      • Sackerson

        BJ: Not disingenuous, I distinguish between the “English” and the British secret services. I don’t judge the Scots by Sawney Bean!

  • Sarge

    “Dearlove regularly features in the media…”

    Astounding, isn’t it? Nobody who enabled or cheerled the Iraq and Libya catastrophes has lost credibility with the media. In fact these figures remain the first port of call for authoritative opinion on Syria, Russia, Brexit at al. On the other hand, those who pointed out those regime changes were based on lies and predicted they would result in disaster remain as marginalized and demonized as ever. Same applies to media commentary on the financial sector.

    • bj

      May I take the opportunity to repeat my (unanswered) question from page 1 here:

      I wonder when it became ‘accepted’ in the UK for a head of the security services (or members of the armed forces) to publicly express opinion on matters of politics.

  • Tony

    Alastair Campbell: Why was he allowed to influence the content of a dossier? He is not a military analyst, as far as I am aware.

    “But in its final drafting stages Campbell nevertheless sought and secured no fewer than fourteen changes to the wording of the dossier, each one toughening its language” (Correspondence released to the Hutton Inquiry).
    P117, “The End of the Party: The Rise and Fall of New Labour” by Andrew Rawnsley (Viking 2010) hardback edition.

    As for the CIA, we know that it was very much out of control. Some of its personnel were probably involved in the assassination of President Kennedy. Allen Dulles, its former director, was a member of the Warren Commission which claimed, against all evidence, that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. It would surprise me if he acted at all.

    • bj

      Politicians, taking the seat of the military.
      The military, taking the seat of politicians.

      Not always — only now & then, mind you.

        • Capt Bluntschli

          He wasn’t a politician, really? In that case i am a completely faultless person, by the same token (just wanted to get that idiot idiom in).

    • Deb O'Nair

      “Why was he allowed to influence the content of a dossier?”

      Because he was nothing more than an overgrown tabloid journalist with a penchant for writing emotionally loaded political propaganda to influence public opinion, or as they used to call it back in the day ‘spin’. He seeded the dossier with lies that he knew full well would be seized on by his former colleagues in the corporate media.

  • Tom

    Good piece, Craig. Dearlove’s intervention in support of a No Deal Brexit is further empirical evidence, in my opinion, that the American state helped engineer Brexit. The campaign for Brexit and the unseemly rush to board the bandwagon by our politicians were all too reminiscent of Iraq.
    Now the Americans are lobbying behind the scenes via Dearlove, Boris Johnson, Rupert Murdoch and other stooges for a hard Brexit, with the aim of causing disruption in continental Europe and to seize further political and economic power in the UK.
    Personally, I also believe a Norway-type arrangement is probably the best long-term option but unfortunately I suspect this kind of sensible compromise may be a long way off now that the fires of nationalism have been stoked.

    • Wikikettle

      I agree Tom. The US is worried that Germany and France will not do as they are told. As in the Iran Nuclear deal. Nord Stream etc..
      How the US manages to keep NATO together, I dont know. I cant see Turkey staying in for long. That is a huge problem for NATO vis a v Russia. Lavrov reports that in private European diplomats dont see Russia as any kind of threat. Sanctions are actually making Russia self reliant against world finance and trade dominated by US$. I see our Jeremy Hunt has joined our General Gavin in threatening Russia again. These little nobody’s want to have a war with Russia and China !!!!!! On the other hand Russia and China increase their trade with countries like India. We seem to be still ship building – Robert Wyatt. The US blockaded Japan in the 30’s before Pearl Harbour. It thinks it can blockade China and its vital trade routes today !? It thinks it can blockade Iran exporting its oil to China ?! Hubris or what….

  • Goose

    Off topic… noticed how all the MSM have designated this James Goddard character as the ‘leader’ of the UK yellow vests? He’s attracting huge media attention & publicity from the BBC et al, after emerging from nowhere. He seems to be involved in ever more high profile stunts (getting arrested today ) surrounded by cameras. And he seems to be a deeply unpleasant individual.

    How do we account for one individual’s sudden emergence and sheer confidence, boldness. Seems v. fishy indeed. If you were going to halt yellow vest protests in the UK, associating them with such an unpleasant individual would be a great way perhaps?

    • Goose

      cont..

      If there are no leaders of the movement in France , how come all the media are claiming there is a ‘leader’here? Every news outlet is calling him , the main “organiser” and “leader”, quite bizarre.

      One of the main difficulties in countering the Mouvement des gilets jaunes in France, has been that decentralised, largely social media organised nature of it. And lack of any discernible hierarchy or structure.

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