|
|
|
| NEWS > 17 November 2006 |
Other related articles:
Parliament Square protester wi
An anti-war protester who has maintained a permanent vigil outside the Houses of Parliament for more than five and a half years today won a legal battle to continue his demonstration.
Brian Haw, 57, whose protest has been in place since June 2001, was cleared of breaching the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act when appearing at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court today.
Police had swooped on his prominent Parliament Square demonstration on May 23 last year and seized dozens of placards which officers claimed were bigger than three metres in heigh... Read more
|
 Article sourced from
|
|
Scotsman - United Kingdom
17 November 2006
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
|
|
Police issue inquiry warning t
THE police chief investigating allegations that Labour rewarded financial backers with honours and peerages last night sent a stark warning to Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, revealing that he has gathered significant and valuable material during his inquiry.
John Yates, an assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, also hit back at accusations that his team has been leaking details of the investigation to the media, insisting that major developments are yet to be revealed to the public.
The Metropolitan Police is looking into claims from the Scottish National Party and several private citizens that Labour broke the law by trying to give seats in the House of Lords to several men who loaned the party more than £14 million before the last general election.
Those loans were a secret known to a handful of senior Labour figures as part of a fundraising effort personally authorised by Mr Blair. The secrecy of the loans may also breach laws on party financing.
Yesterday's blunt message from Mr Yates reveals growing tension between the police and senior Labour figures over the investigation. Trying to soothe those tensions, Mr Yates yesterday met Hazel Blears, the Labour chairman, to discuss an affair that has become a continuing embarrassment for the Prime Minister.
Mr Yates's revelations came in a letter to MPs on the House of Commons public administration committee. They had launched their own cash for peerages investigation earlier this year, but agreed to suspend it while Mr Yates conducted his criminal inquiry, on the condition that the police chief kept them informed about his work.
In his letter, Mr Yates took the opportunity to answer growing political criticism of his work, and especially suggestions made in anonymous briefings by Labour that the police have been feeding media speculation.
In recent weeks, fragments of Downing Street e-mails apparently relating to the award of peerages that have been reviewed by the police leaked into the public domain. Last week, it was disclosed in a newspaper report that the police had contacted every member of Labour's 2005 election Cabinet about the affair.
Privately, some government sources blame the police for the leaks, and have claimed that the publicity around the investigation could prejudice any criminal trial.
But it would be "perverse" for the police to be leaking information, Mr Yates wrote, because that could indeed undermine any attempted prosecution.
"I have, however, conducted a further review of our own operational security," he added. "I am confident that this remains very tight. This is endorsed by the fact that the major developments in this inquiry are not in the public domain."
Mr Yates revealed that his inquiry team has now conducted 90 interviews, 35 of them with people connected with the Labour Party. Twenty-nine involved Conservatives, four were with Liberal Democrats and 22 with non-party figures.
"Considerable progress continues to be made," Mr Yates said, reporting "the acquisition of significant and valuable material in relation to the development of the inquiry."
He did not reveal what that material is, but confirmed that he hopes to pass a file on his work to the Crown Prosecution Service by January.
Several of Mr Blair's Downing Street staff have been interviewed so far, and Mr Blair is now all but certain to be interviewed, probably as the last interview of the investigation.
Angus MacNeil, the SNP MP who helped trigger the police inquiry into the allegations, last night said Mr Yates's letter showed how seriously officers are taking their work, and blamed Labour sources for any leaks from the investigation.
"I believe John Yates's assurances that Scotland Yard's team is watertight," he said.
No question time for PM
DOWNING Street last night said that Tony Blair had not been interviewed by police and that no approach had been made by Scotland Yard.
However, the police investigation is slowly making its way up the Labour hierarchy, fuelling speculation that the Prime Minister will be interviewed in due course.
Several former and current ministers are among those who have already been interviewed by officers.
Lord Levy, Labour's unofficial fundraising chief, is one of three people arrested since April in connection with the probe.
Ian McCartney, the former party chair, and the former science minister Lord Sainsbury - who resigned last week - have been questioned, but not under caution.
The former health secretary Alan Milburn, a close ally of Mr Blair and one of the architects of the 2005 general election campaign, announced last week that he had been questioned as a witness.
Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, has also confirmed that police have asked to interview her.
|
| |
 EiP Comments:
|
|---|
|
| |
* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
 |
Ethics in Policing, based in the UK, provide information and advice about the following:
Policing Research | Police News articles | Police Corruption | International Policing | Police Web Sites | Police Forum | Policing Ethics | Police Journals | Police Publications |
|
| |
|
