The views of one of the best economists in the UK in the last 100 years, the late Denis Healey, former Chancellor of the Exchequer in Labour governments 1970-1979 are as relevant today as they were in the past.
He was asked if he supported the cause of those who wished Scotland to become an independent nation once again given that the Scots were overly financially subsidized by England and the oil & gas resources were the property of the UK.
His answer was surprisingly blunt but not widely reported. He said:
“I think England would suffer enormously if the income from Scottish oil and gas and renewable energy stopped but if the Scots want independence they should have it and England would just need to adjust.
Asked if he expected an independent Scotland would survive, economically. he said:
“Yes, I would think so… and they have the oil, gas and renewable energy”.
Asked about his thoughts about claims that Scotland was being subsidized by England he reminded the questioner that Joel Barnett, (he of the Barnett formula), was his deputy at the Treasury at the time the share of the national income pot Scotland should receive was decided.
He added:
” Scotland pays more than its fair share and these myths are simply perpetuated to cloud the issue by those that are opposed to independence.”
On Scotland keeping the pound, he said:
“I don’t see why Westminster could say the Scots couldn’t share it. Scotland would gain from the arrangement but so would the rest of the UK”.
This is wrong and Scots need to open their eyes, ears and hearts to the threat of an imposition on Scotland of a totalitarian regime similar in nature to that imposed on Scotland from 1745-1820.
Opening narrative
A political system in which the electorate is tolerant of the ill-advised and at times illegal activities of politicians believing them to be immune to shame is certainly not a good one.
Despite these warnings the political systems of Westminster and Holyrood promote and reward electorate abuse and unsocial behaviour by politicians abhorrent to the bulk of society.
A look back at a small number of political shenanigans in the UK between 1930-to date provides substance to the assertion that exposure and punishment is unequally apportioned to individuals.
If your “face fits” and the government controlled press “likes you” any indiscretion will be forgiven and forgotten and the House of Lords is a guaranteed shoo-in.
2001: Scotland’s First Minister McConnell confessed to cheating on his wife.
Only hours before he emerged as Labour’s sole candidate after failing to win a single nomination from any member of the Scottish Executive Cabinet for the First Minister’s post vacated by Henry McLeish in the wake of the Officegate scandal McConnell confessed to being a love cheat, betraying his wife and lying about the affair.
McConnell’s mistress was a Labour Party backroom official Maureen Smith, who was also married at the time. The affair took place when he was general secretary of the Scottish Labour Party and she was his Press officer.
His wife, Bridget McLuckie, confirmed his treachery and said: “Jack betrayed my trust.”
McConnell had the hard neck he is renowned for when he went on to say: “I hope that you people will allow my family to some privacy.”
And the end Note: McConnell and McLuckie have since been elevated to the House of Lords. I kid you not.
Adding comment to Bridget McLuckie.
Roman Catholic Bridget was prviodly married to Procol Harum lead guitarist Richard Brown. They had two children a daughter, Hannah, and a son, Mark. In 1987 she filed for divorce from Brown and went on to marry “son of the manse” Protestant and politician McConnell. By agreement before the marriage they committed to not having any children in view of difficulties that might arise.
Bridget’s career from the time she linked up with McConnel was stellar guided by good fortune and her husbands close links to the “Monklands Mafia”.
Read the undernoted articles. They will confirm and add tot concerns of Labour Party abuse of the Scottish electorate from 1997 to 2007.
2016: Two Married Scottish National Party MP’s bonked the same woman
Stewart Hosie, 53 and Angus MacNeil, 45, are both said to have had affairs with Serena Cowdy, 36 a Westminister journalist. Deputy party leader Hosie announced on Sunday that he was separating from wife MSP, Shona Robison, 45.
Journalist, Miss Cowdy is a keen observer of political gossip, intrigue and in-fighting.
But now she is at the centre of her very own bust-up after having affairs with two married MPs from the same party.
The long suffering Mrs MacNeil had stayed with her husband after a previous incident when he was caught with two teenage girls in a hotel room in 2007 while she, then pregnant, was in hospital.
Miss Cowdy is said to have told friends that she saw SNP MPs as romantic revolutionaries, describing them as ‘the “Mujahideen of British politicians”.
A source said: “This love triangle is a disgrace for Scottish politics – and gives weight to the rumours that some of the sudden mass of SNP MPs in London have been going on a big jolly. “These two have behaved with all the decorum of a coach party in a Carry On film arriving at a pub.
Tommy Sheridan
2007: Right at the at the start of devolution a young and charismatic politician emerged and imposed himself on the Scottish political scene only to be destroyed by Unionist politicians who feared him
He led the the Scottish electorate protests against the community charge (or ‘poll tax’) which Thatcher’s Tory government introduced in Scotland to replace the existing system of household rates and successfully campaigned against warrant sales, which publicly sold a householder’s possessions to pay tax arrears. In his first attendance at Holyrood he got the law changed. His campaigning saw Tommy jailed for six months, but while in Edinburgh’s Saughton Prison, he was elected to Glasgow City Council representing the Pollok ward.
He founded the Scottish Socialist Party in 1999 and became its leader and was elected as a member of the Scottish Parliament in the same year, representing Glasgow.
A passionate conviction-politician he is demonised by some but praised by many more. In his time at Holyrood he gave away half of his MSP salary, preferring to live on the wage of an ordinary working person. His party gained electoral success in 2003, when it returned six MSP’s to the Scottish parliament, including himself.
Concerned his party was becoming a one man band he stepped down from the leadership role providing opportunities for others in the Party to come to the fore. This proved to be the undoing of himself and ultimately his Party whose members could not agree common policies and the resultant in-fighting ended its brief but eventful existence in Scottish politics.
Outside parliament Tommy won £200k in damages from Rupert Murdoch’s sleazy organisation after the now defunct and disgraced News of the World newspaper printed unfounded allegations about the MSP’s sex life.
Only weeks after a police investigation was launched following complaints from the same press source that Tommy had lied to the jury over a minor point of law and in a follow up action he was jailed for a year.
In the year of his incarceration and the years that followed he did not receive one penny of his successful claim against Murdoch and without income he, his wife and child were dependent on their family for support. An unnecessary hardship imposed on innocent parties.
On his release from prison Tommy rightly went after Murdoch for his money but the media baron was not finished with him and asked the high court to overturn the verdict of the jury who had found in Tommy’s favour.
After a lengthy deliberation the appeal court rejected the Murdoch application and awarded Tommy the full judgement of £200k, but in a bizarre judgement it refused to award Tommy interest on the £200k that had been withheld from him at the time he was in jail.
Tommy appealed to the “Court of Session” that the “Appeal Court” had erred in its judgement. His argument won the day and the “Court of Session” awarded Tommy interest totalling £176k. The judgement of the “Court of Session” was that Tommy had won his case against Murdoch press bullies and the imposition of a custodial sentence on Tommy for a misdemeanour in law in no way influenced the jury against Murdoch. But Tommy was forced to wait nearly 8 years before Murdoch paid him a penny.
Why was Tommy jailed? The answer is simple. Tommy was a “pain in the butt” to the established political system and needed to be removed from it regardless of right. But unelected “invisable establishment controllers” had won the day. Tommy was finished as a politician, destroyed by unfounded, unsubstantiated innuendo about his private life.
And what of the future? It is within the grasp of Scots to set aside any negative views of Tommy cruelly created in their minds by those who wish to take Scots down the WOKE road. He needs to be rehabiltated as a leading politician heading “Alba-Under-One-Banner” in its marches for freedom from the clutches of Westminster and Sturgeon’s WOKE nutters.
1929-1964: Politicians Heterosexual, Homosexual and their control of the nations political agenda
1920-1960: Robert “Bob” Boothby was a Tory Party member and BBC commentator on public affairs. He first entered parliament in 1924, at a time when politicians’ private lives and private infidelities almost never made the headlines.
During his more than 30 years in parliament, Boothby had a protracted affair with Dorothy Macmillan, the wife of his Conservative colleague Harold Macmillan, beginning in the 1930s and continuing through Macmillan’s succession to Prime Minister in 1956.
Bisexual Boothby also had a gay affair with notorious East End gangster Ronnie Kray, who together with his identical twin Reggie, dominated London’s underworld for twenty years.
The illicit relationship was hushed up by tabloid press for nearly 20 years, even the belated release of the news and MI5 investigation did not derail his career Baron Boothby, continued to sit in the House of Lords until his death in 1986.
Boothby’s underworld associations kept their mouths shut and Ronnie Kray, who knew all of the sordid details of their activities was, even after completing his sentence,was denied a release from prison. The presence in the community of an old and senile man was considered a threat to society. Ronnie died in solitary confinement, in prison. Now there’s a biography I would like to read an unexpurgated version.
Tory Party Minster, John Profumo was British Secretary of State for War when he began an affair with a 19-year-old, call girl, Christine Keeler. The two were introduced at an exclusive party at Lord Astor’s Cliveden estate, adding aristocratic debauchery to the story. At the time of their relationship, Keeler was also involved with Soviet naval attaché and suspected spy, Yevgeny “Eugene” Ivanov.
Rumours of the relationship and its potential security implications spread rapidly but under pressure Profumo lied about the affair. The police became involved and Keeler testified to the relationship, leading to Profumo’s resignation. His wife Valerie stood by him, and a “chastened and redemptive” Profumo became an anonymous volunteer with the poor. After his death, declassified M15 documents from the 1930s revealed Profumo had also had an affair with a Nazi spy.
1967: The true story of the first British politician to stand trial for conspiracy to murder
Jeremy Thorpe: Thorpe was a stylish and charismatic homosexual, Liberal party leader who being married and “firmly in the closet” desperately tried to hide an affair with Norman Scott, a stable hand he met while visiting a friend in 1961. When Scott refused to stop contacting Thorpe after the married MP ended their long term relationship, Thorpe allegedly paid to have his former lover killed. The October 1975 attempt on Scott failed, although his beloved Great Dane Rinka was shot.
Scott publicly accused Thorpe, who was forced to resign as leader of his party in May 1976. But the resignation did not end the scandal, which dragged on in the press and ultimately in the courts, with Thorpe becoming the first sitting MP to stand trial for murder in May 1979. While Thorpe was ultimately acquitted, the scandal ended his political career.
1974: A Faked Death
John Stonehouse: Stonehouse was a Labour cabinet minister who fell into financial trouble and came under investigation by the Department of Trade and Industry. Rather than face prosecution, he allegedly deposited his clothes on a beach in Miami, Florida to leave the impression that he had drowned.
As Miami police investigated his apparent demise, Stonehouse and his secretary fled to Australia to start a new life under assumed names. The pair lasted only a month before being discovered by chance. They were eventually deported to England where Stonehouse would stand trial in 1976 for fraud, theft and forgery.
Remarkably, Stonehouse refused to relinquish his parliamentary seat after his “resurrection” and sat in parliament until conducting his own defence. He was convicted, served time in prison, and eventually wed his secretary.
1993: John Major-We need to rid our politics of sleaze and get “Back to basic family values”
Bogged down by allegations of political sleaze Prime Minister, John Major demanded that the Tory Party change its image. Margaret Thatcher, as the “Iron Lady,” had her admirers but many in the electorate others saw the Tories as the “nasty party.” and when John Major took over the Party leadership in 1990, he set out to change the party’s image.
In a 1993 speech, he famously declared that the country should go ‘back to basics’, returning to core values of “neighbourliness, decency, courtesy”. The slogan came to be a source of ridicule for the government over the next few years as ministers were caught in a quick succession of sex and money scandals that harkened back to the bad old days.
Chancellor Norman Lamont was revealed to have a sex therapist living in his rented-out London flat. David Mellor resigned as a minister after sordid revelations of an extra-marital affair with actress Antonia de Sancha. Transport minister Steven Norris was reportedly having simultaneous affairs with three women who did not know about each other. Conservative MP Stephen Milligan was tragically found dead on his kitchen table as a result of auto-erotic asphyxiation. Major himself denied an affair with Downing Street caterer Clare Latimer but years later, it was revealed he’d had a four-year affair with fellow conservative MP Edwina Currie. In addition to press revelations of sexual improprieties, The financial misconduct of certain ministers came to light. when two MPs were accused of of being paid thousands of pounds to ask questions in Parliament on behalf of Harrod’s owner Mohammed Al-Fayed: Tim Smith resigned as Northern Ireland minister and later admitted to accepting the money; Conservative MP Neil Hamilton lost his libel suit against Al-Fayed when the court was satisfied the Harrod’s owner had, indeed, made his case. Conservative Cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken conducted improper commercial relations with Saudi businessmen and was later jailed for perjury after lying under oath. A far cry from the “decency” which Major had promised the British people!
1998: Three times and you’re out – Not if you are a Labour politician
Peter Mandelson British Labour Party politician. “Decency” is a word few people ever associated with Tony Blair’s long-time confident and New Labour mastermind, the political Svengali who orchestrated the 1997 election campaign resulting in Labour’s landslide victory.
Blair rewarded Mandelson by making him a Minister with Portfolio, or senior cabinet advisor, before moving him to the Department for Trade and Industry. He didn’t last long being forced to resign his post after only five months when it was revealed he had accepted (and failed to declare) a very large interest-free loan from a fellow ministerial colleague.
But “rubber ball” (Mandy) was back in government under a year later when Blair appointed him Minister for Northern Ireland. This time he lasted a year before being accused of inappropriately helping an Indian billionaire secure a British passport and he was forced to resign yet again.
Undeterred Blair nominated (Mandy) for a lucrative position with the European Commission, where he served four years as a trade commissioner. At the end of his tenure with the EC Blair brought him back to Westminster in 2008 and promoted him to the House of Lords from which he returned to the Labour government government for a third time as Gordon Brown’s Business Secretary.
2009 Fraudulent Expenses claims
In addition to their official salaries, MP’s are entitled to reimbursement for expenses associated with their parliamentary careers, including the costs of maintaining two homes—one in London and one in their constituency. These parliamentary “perks” were secreted away from taxpayers’ prying eyes, but in 2009, stories of widespread abuses led journalists to launch a Freedom of Information Request to obtain access to MP and Ministers’ expenses.
Two months before an official disclosure, The records were leaked. Offenses included MPs falsely designating a second home in order to claim more expenses; submitting extra expenses for renovations, refurnishing homes, purchase of toothbrushes, eyliner and other frivolous luxuries; and evading or avoiding tax.
One conservative MP was discovered to have claimed nearly £2000 for a new duck house. Several ministers and “Glasgow Mike”, the Speaker of the House of Commons had to resign from their posts and five MPs were sent to jail as a result of fraudulent claims. While less egregious than attempted murder or affairs with gangsters and feigned death, these “everyday” revelations of graft and dishonesty proved ultimately more damning to public confidence in ministers and in British politics more generally. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/specialfeatures/politicians-behaving-badly
Current Prime Minister Boris Johnson has strayed from his marriages many times. Before he wed current wife Carrie Symonds, he was married to his second wife Marina Wheeler for over 25 years. During that marriage, he had at least one confirmed extramarital affair as he had a love child with property developer Helen Macintyre who gave birth to their daughter, Stephanie, in 2009.
There are rumours of other affairs, most recently American businesswoman Jennifer Arcuri who claimed they had a four-year affair and even shared a selfie of herself in Boris and his then wife Marina’s marital home. An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation into his dealings with Jennifer confirmed the pair had had an “intimate relationship”.
Matt Hancock: The Tory MP and Health minster was photographed passionately kissing his married closest aide Gina Coladangelo sparking rumours of an amid rumours of an extramarital affair. Admitting the indiscretion he was subsequently forced to resign from his minister post.
Piers Merchant: The Tory politician and MP was forced to resign following a sex scandal. In 1997, photos were published showing him participating in a “sex romp” with a nightclub hostess and researcher aged just 17. He was forced to step down as an MP that year only to resurface in 2004 as a candidate for UKIP in the 2004 European Parliament election. His loyal wife stayed with him but admitted he’d been a “bloody fool”.
John Prescott: He was quite a ladies man as well as being a big fan of Jaguar cars. Married to Pauline Tilston from 1961 he engaged in a 2 year long affair with his diary secretary Tracey Temple.
David Blunkett: Lord Blunkett ( a former MP) was exposed as having an affair and love child with a married woman. his years long affair with Kimberly Quinn was exposed in 2004. DNA tests later revealed he had fathered had fathered her first and older child.
Keith Vaz: Disgraced Labour MP Keith Vaz was forced to quit his senior ministerial role role after he was accused of “hiring male prostitutes” and allegedly “offering them cocaine”. Refused to resign as an MP and hung on to the death before losing his seat in the next General Election.
David Mellor: Tory MP David Mellor was exposed as having an affair with actress Antonia de Sancha in 1992. Prime Minister John Major supported him at the time, but Mellor was subsequently forced to resign after accepting a month-long holiday to Marbella from socialite Mona Bauwens.
John Major: Prime Minister infamous for his “back to basics” pleas to the nation had a four-year affair, from 1984-1988 with his former Tory colleague and Minster Edwina Currie. The affair apparently lasted from 1984-1988 while they were both married to other people. Currie later wrote that they were deeply in love ended their relationship because it had become too “politically dangerous”.
Paddy Ashdown: MP and leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1988 to 1999 he was exposed as having a five-month affair with his secretary Patricia Howard. Tabloids cruelly nicknamed him “Paddy Pantsdown”. He was subsequently promoted to the Lords and remained married to his forgiving wife, Jane Courtenay.
Each of the links will take you to places of education in the UK (England was not excluded from the abuse) A number of the so-called teachers have since been locked up on child molestation and other more serious charges. England abandoned the Stonewall campaign a number of years ago but education bodies still insist on teaching children the Stonewall curriculum.
Scotland, at Swinney’s insistence continues to impose the Stonewall curriculum on Scottish children from 3 to 16. It is well past the Rubicon and the damage to our society will be serious and longlasting.
Andrew Pierce of the Scottish Daily Mail penned an article on McSweeney and I am posting it unchanged from the original since it succinctly summarises the activities of the man himself and a brief peek at the early career of his wife.
9 Jul 2024: At Home
Welcome to the home of Morgan McSweeney – a £750,000 sandstone mansion, set in glorious Lanarkshire countryside, it even comes with stable blocks. Now the second most powerful man in the country – the pictures wouldn’t look out of place in Country Life magazine. An ostentatious chandelier, a three-oven Aga in the flagstone-floor kitchen, while the stylish study features floor-to-ceiling custom bookcases.
At Work
Tony Blair employed the thuggish Alastair Campbell as his chief spin doctor, while Peter (now Lord) Mandelson revelled in his nickname ‘The Prince of Darkness’.
Yet McSweeney, Starmer’s new ‘head of political strategy’, stands to be more influential than either of his Downing Street predecessors. As one senior party figure puts it: ‘No unelected figure in postwar Labour history wields as much power as Morgan McSweeney.’
The redhead Irishman, who was the brains behind Starmer’s triumphant election victory, also helped to install Starmer as leader and purge the party of the far-Left. Ruthless and calculating, McSweeney now has significant control over messaging and policy.
Though he rarely credits him publicly, Starmer has McSweeney to thank more than anyone for making it to Downing Street. Yet even many Labour MPs have probably never met McSweeney, who at party conferences shuns the bars and spends most of his time in the leader’s hotel suite.
The anonymity suits the workaholic McSweeney, who was invariably at his desk at Labour’s South London HQ by 6.30am. He will not show any signs of slowing down now that Labour is in government. And from his new desk in No 10 he will be closely observing exactly who visits Starmer.
When key aides lined Downing Street to welcome the incoming Prime Minister, McSweeney was already inside. Starmer made a beeline for his adviser – who was suited and booted rather than casually dressed in his customary jeans – and made sure his was one of the first hands he shook.
McSweeney’s word is law. One top party figure tells me: ‘Every minister defers to him. He is Keir Starmer’s friend, confidant and enforcer. There is no higher praise at HQ than: “Morgan loves it.”’
YET perhaps not from all quarters. Relations between McSweeney and Sue Gray, the former ‘impartial’ civil servant whose excoriating Partygate report triggered the ultimate downfall of Labour’s nemesis Boris Johnson, are said to be prickly. Gray is now the Prime Minister’s chief of staff — another vital Downing Street role.
One source says: ‘Keir needs Morgan by his side. Morgan’s desk will be outside the No 10 study, and he will be in and out of Keir’s office more than Sue. But look out for the fireworks.’
Morgan the Irishman From Cork
So who is Morgan McSweeney — and what does he plan to do with the power he now wields?
The 47-year-old was brought up in Macroom in County Cork, and still speaks with a soft Irish lilt. His grandfather, Michael, won a medal from the IRA for his service during the 1916 war of independence from Britain.
His father, Tom, was an accountant and his mother, Carmel, worked in an office. Yet politics runs in the family: cousin Clare Mungovan was a special adviser to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
In the summer of 1994, when Tony Blair became Labour leader, McSweeney, then 17, left Cork for a new life in London.
Blair knew he had to modernise the Labour Party, which had lost four successive elections, and McSweeney watched with interest.
He was a restless spirit, dropping out of the London School of Economics and working for a time on building sites. After time in the U.S., he came back to London to study politics and marketing at Middlesex University in 1998.
He then joined the Labour Party in 2001 – the year of the second Blair landslide – and played a key role organising for marginal seats in 2005’s election, which delivered a third successive Labour victory.
He then hitched his colours to Steve Reed, a Labour councillor in Lambeth, South London, who was trying to wrest control of the authority from the hard-Left.
Under ‘Red Ted’ Knight, Lambeth was infamous, beset by mismanagement, corruption and a historical child-abuse scandal. McSweeney – who I’m told was ‘solid, not spectacular’ at the time – threw himself into the battle.
Imogen Walker
In Lambeth he met his future wife, Imogen Walker, who became deputy leader of the reformed council.
McSweeney moving on and up in the Labour Party
After Lambeth, McSweeney went to Barking and Dagenham in East London to help vanquish the hard-Right BNP, which had won a dozen seats on the local council.
Jon Cruddas, now Dagenham MP, tells me: ‘He has the psychology of an organiser, and he’s quite brilliant at it. These political skills have been chiselled out over years, so he’s no blow-in to anything.’
A Labour source says: ‘He saw himself as a modern-day Witchfinder General. Except it wasn’t witches in the ducking chair but extremists from the Left or Right.’
Within a few years, the BNP had lost every one of its council seats.
Closing in on Power within the Party
McSweeney then turned his eyes to the national stage, running the 2015 leadership campaign of Liz Kendall, a moderate. Kendall came last with a paltry 4.5 per cent of the vote – as Corbyn romped home.
Aghast at the result, McSweeney established and became director of a new group, “Labour Together”, whose goal was to drag the party back into the centre. Early recruits included Rachel Reeves, now Chancellor, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting. They -unlike Starmer, who referred to Corbyn as his ‘friend’- had both refused to join Corbyn’s shadow front-bench, and were seeking an alternative leader.
As “Labour Together’s” influence grew, McSweeney was becoming the respected backroom player he had always aspired to be.
After the 2019 election, when Labour under Corbyn suffered its worst defeat since 1935, Starmer asked McSweeney to run his leadership campaign. They had at least one thing in common: they were both passionate Remainers.
Starmer ran on an extravagantly Corbynite ticket, pledging to scrap university tuition fees, defend free movement across Europe and hammer the rich with punitive taxes.
The hard-Left policy document did the trick to satisfy the Corbynistas and Starmer won decisively in the first ballot. All ten pledges were later abandoned – on the orders of McSweeney.
He has since ensured the Party’s rules were altered to make it harder for Leftwingers like Corbyn to win again.
‘He has been purging Lefties to ensure that after Starmer goes, a centrist takes over,’ said another Labour figure who is not a fan of McSweeney. ‘If he’s successful he will be trying to write himself into the succession plans.’
He’s even curbed the influence of Tony Blair, whose grandly named “Institute” provided staff and policy papers for the Labour frontbench.
A senior Labour source said: “Morgan thinks Blair has had his time. While Blair can call Starmer whenever he likes, it’s McSweeney whose advice he ultimately takes. Morgan thinks Blair’s ideas are from a different era — that he’s yesterday’s man.”
Another senior figure said: “If it goes wrong for Starmer, he will find out how ruthless McSweeney is. Just as Boris found with [ex-adviser] Dominic Cummings.”
One Labour parliamentary candidate said: “Starmer won the leadership on a lie because every single policy commitment he made has been junked by McSweeney. Will they do the same thing with the promises made in the election campaign? If they do, the voters will be much less forgiving.”
McSweeney – Another Labour Snake in the grass with his hand in the till
STOCKWELL LABOUR COUNCILLOR the Useless IMOGEN WALKER should have seen the STOCKWELL light by now but no chance – NO WOMEN’S PUBLIC TOILETS PROVISION in STOCKWELL exists and nor does it exist in CLAPHAM HIGH STREET. What an utter crap LOCAL COUNCILLOR – credit where its due namely that her only consistency is her total uselessness. Hope she does better in Hamilton!!!
Imogen Walker
New to Scottish politics she was parachuted into the Hamilton & Clyde constituency team by the Labour Party controllers in London and in last week’s election, she won the safe Labour seat of Hamilton and Clyde Valley, by more than 9,000 votes. She is expected to be fast-tracked for ministerial promotion.
A few day’s later
Hamilton and Clyde’s new MP has been appointed as a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the Chancellor.
Sharing the news of her role at Westminster on social media, she added that she had, had an “incredible” first few weeks at the House of Commons following her election earlier in the month.
With the new government now taking shape, on ” X” last week she posted: “I’m delighted to have been appointed as parliamentary private secretary to Rachel Reeves who has begun work rebuilding our economy. I’m so proud to be part of that effort and looking forward to getting started alongside the brilliant [Hitchin MP] Alistair Strathern.”
The official parliament website describes the PPS role as an appointment of a backbench MP by a minister “to be his or her assistant, selected as the “eyes and ears” of the minister in the House of Commons” and which helps “gain experience of working in government”.
Born in Southwark, London on 2 September 1962. His parents were Labour Party supporters and named him after the party’s first parliamentary leader, Keir Hardie. Raised in Oxted, Surrey he attended Reigate Independent Grammar School, then graduated from Leeds University with a BA(Law) in 1985 remaining in education he gained a postgraduate BA (Civil Liberty) from Oxford University in 1986.
He became a barrister in 1987 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel (QC) on 9 April 2002. From 2003–08, he was the human rights adviser to the Policing Board in Northern Ireland before taking up a similar role with the Foreign Office.
Education and politics 1962-2008:
He excelled at school and at university achieving excellent grades and qualifications in law and civil liberties In the years before university, his political leaning was similar to that of Jeremy Corbyn. His views mellowed at university and he identified more with the political ideology of Gordon Brown.
Marriage family and religion:
He married Victoria J Alexander in 2007. They have 2 children and live in Camden North London. Victoria is Jewish and has family in Tel-Aviv, Israel. the couple’s children are being raised in the Jewish faith.
Speaking to the Jewish Chronicle about his family he said “As you probably know my wife’s family is Jewish. On her father’s side there are bar mitzvahs, synagogues there are all the traditions. On Friday’s my wife’s family gather at our Camden home for supper. It is about just being with the family.
He told the Jewish News: “I absolutely support the right of Israel to exist as a homeland. My only concern is that Zionism can mean slightly different things to different people, and to some extent it has been weaponized. I wouldn’t read too much into that. I said it loud and clear and meant it that I support Zionism without qualification.” He also told the Jewish Chronicle: “If the definition of ‘Zionist’ is someone who believes in the state of Israel, in that sense I’m a Zionist.”
afternote: Starmer is reputedly very protective of his wife and family and has withheld information from the public, other than the scant details already in circulation.
Starmer led ‘witch-hunt’ against Iraq veterans
Keir Starmer opened the door to hundreds of innocent British troops being pursued for war crimes. And he did so pro-bono.
Legal documents show he led a landmark 2007 case that reshaped the law governing British troops in war zones.
Working alongside him were Richard Hermer, now the attorney general and Starmer’s closest ally, and Phil Shiner, a solicitor who was later convicted of fraud and dishonesty.
That case ultimately forced the Ministry of Defence to order fresh inquiries into hundred’s of deaths in Iraq. And it triggered years of criminal investigations into soldiers who were wrongly accused.
‘I Was Gutted’ — The Soldier Wrongly Pursued by Keir Starmer’s Legal Case
In the 2007 case, Sgt Catterall was investigated for murder over the shooting of an Iraqi teacher who was armed with an AK-47. Starmer and Lord Hermer personally urged the courts to order a fresh inquiry but he had already been cleared of murder twice. Despite this Catterall was then wrongly pursued for a further 13 years.
A judge eventually ruled that he had acted in self-defence and that allegations against him were based in part on falsified evidence, intended to pin the blame on British troops.
In a filmed interview, Sgt Catterall said “We serve by the rules of engagement. He said don’t shoot, we don’t shoot. Shoot, we shoot. Two men with weapons just in front of you. Bang! You shoot them.” Asked how he felt when he found out that Keir Starmer was involved in bringing a case against him he said: “I was gutted because he was getting troops done. He was literally going for troops that were doing they’re f—— job.”
2008-2013: Poacher turns Gamekeeper
He was appointed Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in 2008 and held these roles until 2013. Abandoning his work as a private practitioner for a high profile career in the employ of the State was risky and surprised many since his exposure to criminal law and personnel management was limited and taking charge of over 8000 employees was a daunting task even for an experienced professional.
The CPS under the previous DPP had started allocating advocacy work in-house and Starmer fast-tracked the process determined to enforce the policy regardless of criticism and/or opposition, claiming the benefits of financial savings and consistent prosecutions to be paramount.
The DPP and the CPS under his leadership merged and transformed into a state-run investigation and prosecution agency, similar to the FBI.
The Chairman of the Bar was unconvinced the changes were in the public interest and expressed concerns that the transfer of the bulk of prosecution work to employees of the State could compromise the independence of process provided by self-employed counsel. In his inaugural speech he said:
“the ever-expanding monolith of the state prosecutor may have detrimental consequences for the independence of the prosecuting service or at least the perceptions of its independence.”
This early warning of the potential excesses of a state-run command and control, centralising, leader, is to be found in the conduct of the FBI and J Edgar Hoover:
“For years the FBI was widely suspected of using questionable or illegal methods to gain information. Its counterintelligence programme penetrated suspect organizations and used state resources to disrupt and discredit them. After Hoover’s death, a congressional committee investigated and documented the FBI’s surveillance of groups and individuals, many of whom had done no more than exercise their First Amendment rights to criticize the government. The committee concluded that the FBI had often abused its powers, spying illegally on U.S. citizens persecuting those who opposed the will of the State.”
The widespread abuse of the public by British police infiltration of environmental and anti-capitalist protest groups
In 2011, the trial of an environmental activist accused of plotting to break into Ratcliffe power station collapsed after it emerged that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had withheld vital evidence. The evidence was comprised of a number of recordings an undercover spy-cop named Kennedy, had made of planning meetings.
20 people previously prosecuted from the same evidence had their convictions overturned and a further 29 people convicted of blocking a train carrying coal to Drax power station also had their convictions quashed due to Kennedy’s involvement.
Starmer who was present in court the day the case was thrown out later said that the spy cop’s actions were not systematic. But they were. In 2015, it was reported that 83 people could have been wrongfully convicted after evidence of spy-cop involvement had been withheld. And details of exactly how systematic it was are still surfacing.
The campaign group “Opposing Police Surveillance” claimed “If the 150 or so officers under investigation have similar tallies (as Kennedy), it means about 7,000 wrongful convictions are being left to stand. It may well be that “spy cops” are responsible for the biggest nobbling of the judicial system in English history.
The scandal wasn’t just the police. Released papers showed the Crown Prosecution Service had been deeply involved. They knew about the plan before the arrests and they worked with the police to withhold evidence from the defence and the courts.
Starmer as DPP promoted the report and agreed to be interviewed on television by Jeremy Paxton. Clearly untrained for media appearances’s his rapid eye movement under questioning was clearly evident when he lied.
Paxman opened by asking if Starmer could be sure there were no other cases of spy cops being in prosecuted groups of activists apart from Kennedy. Starmer did the blinking thing and said that the public had to accept the discredited conclusions of the report. This was not an answer to the question, so Paxman asked again…It made for excruciating viewing.
Starmer went on to say “if anyone suspects a co-defendant might have been a spy cop, tell me.” But identifying an undercover cop is akin to getting burgled, finding a fingerprint and the police saying “come to us if you know whose print it is”. It is a proven fact that police officers deceived the courts and orchestrated wrongful convictions for decades, and they did it with the active collusion of the Crown Prosecution Service.
As head of the CPS, Starmer knew this but, rather than try to expose it, he covered it up, saying it was only rogue officer Kennedy who had been involved even though the public knew this to be false.
As DPP, Starmer also worked with Nick Paul, the CPS National Coordinator for Domestic Extremism, even though that term had no legal definition and thus no meaning in law. As the Undercover Research Group reported, Paul was in a powerful position of control from the start, overruling senior police as he steered the case.
Which raised unanswered questions about his role in other cases. He had already helped create another miscarriage of justice the previous year, securing the wrongful convictions for the ‘Drax 29’ group of climate activists. The CPS refused to reveal which other cases he had handled. And this raised questions about Starmer’s suitability for Labour’s top job, particularly for anyone who was ever photographed or filmed attending a protest and could be loosely labelled a domestic extremist.
Police working “deep” undercover were encouraged to establish long-term sexual relationships with female suspects and their supporters.
Mae Benedict, mother of a young child who was spied on said “This is about my people, our people, us. It’s hard to explain to generations below us the immense damage that these bastards did to us, not just as activists, as a community, but on a personal level, and much more so for those closest to them.
This will never, ever be forgiven or forgotten. Starmer was head of an organisation that supported and enabled political policing. And even if he didn’t have an oversight of what was happening with spy cops, he was happy to be part of the system. Starmer’s work as the DPP is a classic case of poacher turned gamekeeper. (The Canary)
On 7 July 2005, 52 people were killed and more than 700 people wounded in coordinated suicide bombings across London’s transport system, the deadliest terrorist incident on British soil since the Lockerbie bombing in 1988. Two weeks later, the capital was targeted again, but the explosives failed to detonate. Police found a lead for the suspects in the unexploded bag – an address in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill.
Menezes, who had been working as an electrician in London since 2002 and lived on Scotia Road, was wrongly identified as (Hussain Osman) one of the suspects, Police followed Menezes to Stockwell station and onto a train, where they pinned him down and shot him seven times in the head and once in the shoulder.
Scotland Yard was fined £175,000 for breaching health and safety laws, but the CPS said there was less than a 50% chance of convicting any individual officers, based on insufficient evidence that an offence had been committed.
The inquest jury decided that Jean had not been killed lawfully, that many terrible mistakes had been made and they did not accept police officers’ accounts of the incident.
The jury returned an open verdict after the coroner said it was not possible to conclude with certainty, that Menezes had been unlawfully killed. More here: (https://netpol.org/2017/02/23/cressida-dick/)
On review, the CPS agreed that there had been inconsistencies in the officers’ evidence to the inquest jury, but offered the excuse that there were inconsistencies in other witness accounts.
The reviewing lawyer said: “I concluded that in the confusion of what occurred on the day, a jury could not be sure that any officer had deliberately given a false account of events.”
The officer in charge of the operation and gave the order to use extreme force was Cressida Dick. Later appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/topic/cressida-dick?)
In the first few months following his appointment Starmer, in a High Court appeal lodged by the family upheld the decision not to prosecute the officers who had executed de Menezes. Stating that there was not enough evidence that would make him reconsider the earlier decision not to prosecute more senior officers for negligence. Full story here: (https://gizmonaut.net/blog/uk/menezes_health_and_safety.html)
The Unlawful Killing of Ian Tomlinson
On 1 April 2009, in the midst of a huge protest against the G20 summit in London, newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, was violently assaulted by Metropolitan police officer, Simon Harwood causing severe internal bleeding and his death. The incident was captured on video, and there were multiple witnesses.
Intent on justifying the assault the police lied, claiming protesters had thrown missiles at them when they were applying first aid to Tomlinson. They also instructed journalists not to talk to Tomlinson’s relatives and withheld information from his family. The so-called ‘Independent’ Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) repeatedly failed to handle the case correctly.
The police selected pathologist Freddy Patel to perform a post-mortem examination and asked him to “rule out any assault or crush injuries associated with public order”. Patel incorrectly concluded that Tomlinson had died from a heart attack a finding crucial in preventing any conviction of Harwood. But two further examinations suggested Tomlinson had actually died of an abdominal haemorrhage caused by blunt force trauma to his back. Patel was struck off a few years later following a GMC investigation of 29 allegations of incompetence. Too late for Tomlinson.
In July 2010, Starmer announced the decision not to prosecute police officer Harwood in relation to the death of Ian Tomlinson leading to accusations by Tomlinson’s family of a police cover-up. After a subsequent inquest found that Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed, he announced that Harwood would be prosecuted for manslaughter. The officer was acquitted in July 2012 by a jury, but dismissed from the police for gross misconduct. Afternote: Three weeks after the announcement of the not guilty verdict the press released this information which had not been provided to the jury:
“PC Simon Harwood had a disciplinary record littered with complaints of aggressive behaviour and misconduct and once admitted being sent into “red mist mode”, In August 2001, a note was entered on his record to say that he would not be disciplined but he would be compulsorily retired on medical grounds because of ongoing problems purportedly arising from a 1998 car accident. Three days after leaving the service he was reemployed by the Metropolitan Police Force as a member of its civilian staff. In April 2003 Harwood, (despite his record) successfully applied to join the Surrey Police Force as an officer. In January 2004 yet another allegation of aggressive behaviour was made against him, this time by one of his own colleagues.” So much for British justice.
2011 Rioting and Starmer’s“lock ’em up” policy
During the 2011 riots, he intervened and introduced a policy prioritizing the rapid prosecution and long term incarceration of rioters, which he justified saying that the policy had been instrumental in bringing “the situation under control.”
Later that year following the revelations of police infiltration of environmental and anti-capitalist protest groups, he was forced to order a review of the convictions and invited protestors convicted of aggravated trespass to appeal their sentences. But he declined to authorise a wider inquiry.
The DPP/CPS and Jimmy Saville – The belated review of the police investigation and CPS indecision
In 2007 and 2008, Surrey Police investigated three complaints that Saville had “engaged in sexual behaviour with young girls”. During the same period, Sussex Police investigated a similar complaint involving a young woman.
Saville was interviewed under caution by police in October 2009 and denied wrongdoing. He was not arrested. No prosecution was brought in relation to any of the four complaints, on the grounds that none of the victims was “prepared to support any police action”, for example testifying in court.
Saville died in October 2011. After his death, it emerged that he sexually abused hundreds of children and women at locations including hospitals, schools and the BBC.
In January 2013, when news of his abuse was revealed, an investigation into whether the CPS had been right not to charge Saville in 2009 was published by Alison Levitt QC. who reported that she had “reservations” about the prosecutor’s decision not to press charges.
She said: “On the face of it, the allegations made were both serious and credible; the prosecutor should have recognised this and sought to “build” a prosecution.” She said the police treated the victims and the accounts they gave “with a degree of caution which was neither justified nor required”. Three of the victims told her that had they had received more information from the police at the time of the investigation and particularly if each had been told she was not the only woman who had complained they would “probably have been prepared to give evidence.”
Ms Levitt said that, in the case of two of the allegations, there would have been a “realistic prospect of conviction” if the women had given evidence. “Having spoken to the victims I have been driven to conclude that had the police and prosecutors taken a different approach a prosecution might have been possible,” she wrote. Ms Levitt was critical of the approach taken by both the CPS’ reviewing lawyer and the police in failing to build a prosecution against Saville in 2009.
2011: Operation Elveden – The Witch Hunt
Starmer authorised a legal witch hunt by the Metropolitan Police and Crown Prosecution Service’s against journalists of the Sun newspaper, using as an excuse, an almost unheard of 13th-century law “misconduct in a public office”.
The hunt (Operation Elveden) included dawn raids and searches on suspects’ homes. He attempted to shift the blame onto his successors when the botched £30 million probes fell apart.
Despite acknowledging that not a single one of the 24 Sun journalists arrested were convicted, he would not say sorry. Yet he was in charge when the five-year process was launched. Senior MPs from across the political divide called for an investigation into the catastrophe and changes in the law so that the abuse of the public by the state would not be repeated. (The Sun)
2013: Benefit cheaters in his sights
Starmer introduced new sentencing guidelines threatening individuals found to be guilty of improperly claiming welfare benefits with up to ten years in prison. His critics levelled against him, the claim that he was the most contemptible of Labour archetypes, “the class traitor.”
Nov 2010: Jack Straw Labour MP for Blackburn alerted the UK to the sexual abuse of young white girls by Pakistani men
A gang of men were convicted of systematically grooming and sexually abusing teenage girls in Derbyshire. Many of the victims were given alcohol or drugs before being forced to have sex in cars, rented houses or hotels across the Midlands. One girl described a sexual assault involving at least eight men. The nine men were convicted during three separate trials at Leicester Crown Court.
Straw said increasing numbers of Pakistani Muslim men view white girls as “easy meat” for sex abuse and highlighted it was endemic in Blackburn and in many other areas with significant Muslim populations across England.
Aug 2014: Pakistani Grooming gangs reportedly raped near a million underage non-Muslim girls and the CPS failed their pleas for justice
Jack Straw’s warning was ignored by the DPP and the CPS. Four years and 1 million more rapes later the UK public was outraged and angered by party political attempts to shift the blame away from the State onto the victims.
Reports suggested that there were around 1,400 raped Yorkshire children, (a conservative estimate) given there were multiple rapes on each child.
Adding in the Pakistani Muslim grooming operating in Oxford, Bradford, Rochdale, Newcastle and other cities in England takes the count of rapes committed by Pakistani Muslim men against white children into the millions.
The judge in the Oxford case said the brutal rapists demeaned their victims because they did not share the men’s “religion and culture”.
Nor is it a “small number” of Muslims. It is an endemic problem in Muslim-dominated towns and cities.
The UK public needs to see justice. That means more than “historic abuse” “no blame game” “no party politics” “look to the future” and all the other rubbish politicians wheel out. We don’t need “the police”, “the council”, “the CPS”. We need names and prosecutions.
Police officers who abetted the rape of children need to go to jail. And another thing who will be responsible for prosecuting members of the CPS for their misconduct?
Keir Starmer, the highly politicised Director of Public Prosecutions, said his CPS did not prosecute because they made assumptions about the credibility of the evidence of victims.
So the DPP and the CPS took on the role of judge and jury and failed the abused children. Why?
It was Labour who did this in Rotherham and Rochdale to win Muslim votes. The police, Labour PCCs, Labour councillors, Labour-leaning prosecutors.
The Rotherham report says a Conservative councillor brought his concerns to the leader but was told not to make it public.
The Head of Children’s Services Joyce Thacker told The Times she would punish the leaker and in 2008 Labour gave her an OBE for her Services to Young People.
Labour’s greedy, sleazy pandering to Muslim votes brought about the introduction of Sharia tribunals. Labour set them up in law.
Postal vote fraud, uncontrolled immigration, Trojan Horse schools, and now this sick hell.
The Pakistani immigrant community has not fully integrated into British life. Instead of spreading out over the country and adopting British values whilst retaining their own religion, they have been encouraged to massively dominate many towns where they impose their culture on others.
Social planning needs to address the undesirability of one community” taking over an English town or city. We have seen that with our mixed Afro-Caribbean heritage Britons, with Jewish-heritage Britons and all classes and races up until now.
Politicians, the Media and the Press are persistent in their use of the expression “The Pakistani Community” providing confirmation of the failed immigration policy of the Labour Party who actively encouraged mass uncontrolled immigration of Pakistani immigrants so that they would be able to gain their votes in future elections.
Reference to “the community” should address all citizens regardless of ethnic origin. (The Sun)
White girls abused by Muslim child-rape gangs should shut their mouths for the good of diversity
Labour Party leader, Sir Keir Starmer promoted MP Naseem ‘Naz’ Shah, who infamously shared a tweet stating “Those abused girls in Rotherham and elsewhere just need to shut their mouths for the good of diversity”.
The British-Pakistani Labour MP for Bradford West liked and shared a tweet in 2017 admonishing white, English girls who spoke out about being raped and sexually enslaved by organised gangs of Muslim paedophiles.
The UK was rocked to its foundations by the never-ending stream of scandals involving predominantly Muslim men targeting white English girls from working-class backgrounds for sexual exploitation.
Most shockingly of all is the fact that authorities and the mainstream media were aware of this for years if not decades but refused to act, even when girls and parents pleaded for help, for fear of being accused of racism by PC fanatics.
The Labour MP for Rotherham, a town where Muslim child-raping gangs were allowed to operate for years with impunity, Sarah Champion, has said that up to 1 million English girls are likely to have fallen victim to Muslim rape gangs as of 2016.
MacKinnon was Head of Human Resources governance for the Scottish Police Authority between 2015 & 2017.
Her prime responsibility was to provide assurance to the Authority that they were a responsible employer and a sustainable organization, achieving this goal through the introduction of efficient personnel policies aiding the professional development of management and staff.
The first years following the formation of the Authority were plagued by complaints of harassment and wrongdoing in the force and the SNP Government ordered an independent audit of the Authority’s human resources and other departments that had been subject to criticism.
A lack of transparency and clarity surrounding the complaints processes.
The length of time taken to deal with complaints and to undertake preliminary assessments in misconduct allegations.
A lack of communication between the Authority and senior officers who were the subjects of complaint.
Communication between the Authority and senior officers was inconsistent. In some instances, subject officers had been invited to address allegations/complaints whilst in others, an invitation had not been extended.
On a number of occasions, the first officers became aware complaints had been made about them was through media coverage.
Responsibility for ordering a preliminary assessment of misconduct allegations rested with a manager who had little or no relevant knowledge or experience and expertise.
Conclusions
The complaint handling procedure in place is neither effective nor efficient and lacks transparency and unclear guidance resulted in organizational confusion as to whether a matter should be dealt with as a “relevant”.
The average time taken to conclude complaints and preliminary misconduct assessments is excessive and disproportionate to the level of inquiry undertaken or required of the Authority.
Decisions of the Authority lacked clarity and transparency and in many cases did not contain sufficient explanation to demonstrate how a decision had been reached.
Notifying senior officers about misconduct allegations and ‘relevant complaints’ made about them was inconsistent. In some instances, senior officers were not notified but in other cases, they were notified but sometimes at the beginning or on occasions at the end of the process.
The subject officer must receive formal notification of a misconduct allegation once it has been determined that an investigation is required and before an investigator has been appointed and before the start of any investigation.
Chairpersons Statement:
Susan Deacon, (SPA chair), said the report identified a “number of important areas” requiring the authority’s attention. And it was essential that the Authority’s systems and practices were robust and worked effectively to maintain public confidence and trust.
Addressing the concerns of senior officers, procedures would be revised requiring more than one “deciding” officer to ensure key decisions were taken ensuring better oversight of the complaints process.
Irish lawyer James Hamilton completed an independent investigation of Nicola Sturgeons observance, or not, of the Ministerial code in the period between November 2017 and August 2018. His confidential report concluded she had breached the code, but not intentionally which satisfied the Holyrood Inquiry who cleared her of any wrongdoing.
A number of people submitted Freedom of Information requests in the years since the Inquiry seeking clarity on a number of issues. Of particular and on-going concern is that the Hamilton report issued for public consumpton was so heavily redacted it made nonsensical reading. Hamilton told Swinney he had wished his conclusions to be made public but they were not distorting the conclusions of the report. He issued a public notice expressing disppointment in the actions of the Scottish Government. The Government has since “stonewalled” every information request forcing the Scottish Information Commissioner to intervene and order it to release the information. It has failed to comply with the order and it is possible the matter will end up in the High Court. Another unnecessary and significant financial charge to Scottish taxpayers. But ” modus operandi” for Swinney.
The Hamilton Investigation was supposed to be completed independent of any input from the Scottish Government except that John Swinney would decide the extent of the remit. Many people, including the Salmon defence team expressed the view that the remit was unduly retrictive and would not get at the truth/ But their concerns were ignored.
Media revelations surfaced alleging that Swinney had tasked James Hynd’s office to provide secretariat support to Mr Hamilton. But Hynd was the Civil Servant who created precedence when he compiled the new novel procedure in November 2017, and the 8 drafts that preceeded it. Hardly an appropriate person in the circumstances that prevailed. Swinney was forced to remove Hynd from any involvment with the Secretariat. Hynd nominated one of his officers, a female to provide the secretariat services. The secretariat comprised one person.
Tha conduct of James Hamilton’s investigation took the form of an informal meeting with people that had agreed to meet with him. Secretariat support was present to record events. Hamilton, who retained notes of discussions for his own referral, (not shared with the secretariat), remained in Ireland throughout. Interviews were conducted entirely through the internet.
Swinney seeks to justify his refusal to release any other information from the Hamilton report on the premise thatt the material could identify complainers in the criminal court case against Salmond – which saw him cleared of sexual assault in 2020 – and this would breach court orders around anonymity for complainers.
Quite how he reached his conclusion is impossible to fathom given the near 3 year gap that elapsed between events well before Lady Dorrian issued her unprecedented “jigsaw” proclamation.
Addressing Swinney’s fear of a “jigsaw” breach, it is of note that the name of the “secretariat” officer has not been released despite numerous requests for this. It is to be hoped that she was not on Lady Dorrian’s list of protected participants. But given the Scotttish Governments past record their is more than an even chance she was.
4 Aug 2024: Victim of former SNP equalities officer and sex offender alleges ‘sickening’ party HQ response to concerns
The allegations come after the former SNP equalities officer was jailed for six years after inflicting “unimaginable trauma” with a string of sexual and physical assaults
Victim of sex offender Cameron Downing raised concerns with the SNP that he held an equalities role in the party after being charged with sex offences, but no action was taken, it has been alleged.
Downing, 24, attacked seven people between 2016 and 2021 and was convicted of ten charges, including sexual and physical assaults, and domestic abuse. Last month he was jailed for six years at the High Court in Edinburgh, prompting calls for answers about how much the SNP knew.
Downing bragged about being “friends” with ex-first minister Nicola Sturgeon, it was reported, and concerns had allegedly been raised with the SNP in 2022 because of images of him holding a placard threatening “terfs”.
The SNP removed his membership in January last year claiming it was “as soon as we became aware of legal action being taken”. However, one of Downing’s victims told the Sunday Mail she raised concerns in 2022.
The newspaper reported Downing was arrested and charged in 2021, but was appointed an equalities officer in the SNP’s London branch and held two other roles in the party’s official LGBT wing, Out for Independence.
The Sunday Mail said one of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wrote to the SNP in October 2022 to raise concerns about the positions Downing was holding and that it was a “disservice” to victims.
The woman, who previously supported the SNP, said it was “disturbing” that questions she was then asked were all about the party. She said Downing introduced her to Ms Sturgeon at an Edinburgh vigil for victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Florida in 2016.
The woman told the paper: “I went to a vigil in St Andrew’s Square. Sturgeon was there and I met her with Cameron. She was on a first name basis with him. Cameron’s actions do not make him suitable to represent anyone, especially a minority that already faces enough criticism.”
In October 2022, she is reported to have emailed SNP HQ and Holyrood equalities committee convener, MSP Karen Adam, after images of Downing with Sturgeon emerged.
The email reportedly read: “I am contacting you in reference to an equalities officer of the London branch. Cameron is involved in a High Court case that involves more than five individuals that he has sexually harassed or assaulted.
It is a disservice to his victims and the LGBTQ+ community to allow him to continue. Multiple images have been posted and, while I do not blame Nicola Sturgeon, it is still very difficult to witness.
“Cameron’s actions do not make him suitable to represent anyone, especially a minority that already faces enough criticism.”
She had already reported to police that Downing had forcibly kissed her, and had bombarded her with used sanitary products before scalding her, according to the paper.
The Sunday Mail said that responding, Ian McCann, SNP corporate governance and compliance manager, allegedly asked: “If – to your knowledge – any of the circumstances around the allegations involved
The woman told the paper it was “sickening”. She added: “It seemed they were more interested in ‘was it SNP adjacent? Did it happen in the SNP?’.
“There didn’t appear to be any concern about me or others. I emailed Karen Adam as I knew she had been in pictures with him. She said there wasn’t really anything she could do. The same with my local MSP.
“The SNP gave him these positions after he’d been arrested. That’s really disturbing. He was working with LGBT people who are vulnerable, after committing sex attacks.
“The SNP hardly said anything about their knowledge of what he was doing or why he was able to get these roles. It’s not right.”
Judge Alison Stirling told Downing he had “shown no remorse or insight”, and had shown “hostility towards women” during sentencing in July.
SNP MSP Fergus Ewing, who previously called for an investigation, said: “The party leaders must now come clean and spell out exactly what happened and why they failed to act upon the offensive social media comments by this man.
“The leadership boast about there being no place for sexism or misogyny and that such behaviour will immediately lead to expulsion. At the same time, they fail to act when this very behaviour is brought to their attention. This is rank hypocrisy.” (Sarah Ward The Scotsman)
2016: Sturgeon on Patrick Grady – Sexual Predator I was aware of concerns but there were no complaints
Grady made unwanted sexual advances to a male teenaged staffer employed by the Party at Westminster by touching and stroking his hair, back and neck.
Ian Blackford, then leader of the SNP group at Westminster instigated a process effectively brushing Grady’s behaviour under the carpet a state of affairs that remained in place until 2022 when the content of a meeting led by Blackford was leaked revealing him urging colleagues to show support for Grady while failing to mention the victim.
Blackford was replaced by Stephen Flynn soon after.
The matter was investigated by House of Commons officials and Grady was forced to make a public apology in the Commons, for his unacceptable behaviour and a private one to the victim and was suspended from parliament for 2 days.
Weeks later the SNP was forced by press and public pressure to deal with the matter but only after the Scottish police opened an investigation into events in London.
Grady was called to account and following his admission to the offences he was first removed from his offical positions within the Party and had his party membership withdrawn.
Nicola Sturgeon then made a brief statement to the press that the process for complaining within the SNP was not fit for purpose and the victim had been badly served by the Party.
Six short months later the Glasgow North MP returned to the Party. Fully reinstated.
Shocked political observers commented: “This decision clearly shows that the SNP has no desire to root out sleaze or punish offenders. It is business as usual for the SNP Westminster club. Grady should have had the whip removed permanently but no matter, at the next election, the people of Glasgow will have the chance to give Grady his marching orders.”
And what of the teenager six years after the event. He feels he was badly let down by people he trusted and was forced to leave employment with the Party in London. His concern is that the outcome of his complaints will reinforce the views of many that abuse of staff employed by the SNP will continue unabated.
Dec 2018: Former SNP councillor, North Lanarkshire District Council wins her defamation case
Julie McAnulty, former SNP councillor won a £40,000 defamation payout after she sued fellow SNP activist Sheena McCulloch who made a malicious allegation of racism against her.
The allegation was first raised by McCulloch in a letter to SNP compliance manager Ian McCann, and copied to chief executive Peter Murrell, and then-National Secretary Patrick Grady.
(This is the same person reported to McCann, 2 years previously, as a sexual predator of teenagers in Westminster).
McNulty denied the allegations and asked McCann for the backing of SNP headquarters to clear her name.
Her plea for assistance was refused forcing her to pursue the matter in the civil court.
Explaining her decision she said: “It should never have got to this stage. The SNP’s internal procedures are more than capable of resolving the matter. But for reasons not explained to me they declined to get involved.”
In his judgement Lord Uist, stated the accusation was part of a campaign against her by an “opposing faction within the local SNP”.
He said it was designed to prevent her being nominated as a candidate for the Scottish Parliament and “possibly to oust her from the party.”
North Lanarkshire Council depute leader, Labour’s Paul Kelly, said: “It is clear that SNP headquarters should immediately conduct a full investigation of the elected members who played their part in this scandal.” There was no investigation.
2017 Jordan Linden accused of sexual misconduct
Jordan Linden, then Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, was accused of sexual misconduct in sending explicit photographs to another SYP member. He denied the claim and a police investigation failed to establish any criminality.
Note: These events are still unresolved many years later . Complainants continue to press for their allegations to be properly investigated and resolved to their satisfaction. What has happened since adds weight to their arguments.
Sep 2019: Ian McCann, Compliance Officer for the SNP was formally advised of allegations of sexual harrassment against Jordan Linden claiming he had made unwelcome sexual advances on he person of another male member of the Party at an after event function in Dundee on 21 September 2019.
Four days later Councillor Linden, who had been lauded before the function by Huma Yousaf as a person who would “make an outstanding MP” withdrew his nomination to become athe Westminster candidate for Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill at the next General Election.
Oct 2019: Concerns were raised with Mr McCann, but not resolved, about why no action appeared to have been taken over the matter. Much later activists told the press that SNP HQ had shown “wilful negligence”, and that “nothing was done.”
Mar 2022: Councillor Linden was elected leader of the SNP opposition group on North Lanarkshire council by his fellow councillors. Not long after the local press picked up on events at Dundee and asked Linden if there was any truth in the matter. He declined to comment but did not deny the allegations.
Sep 2022: Sophia Coyle spoke out after weeks of strife at crisis-hit North Lanarkshire Council, claiming the party is turning a blind eye to harassment she and others have endured.
She alleged another Councillor, tipped by party insiders as a potential leader of the SNP group in Lanarkshire, had been “obstructive, aggressive and abusive” towards her since he became a councillor.
She said: “His behaviour towards me has caused other branch members to complain. It’s not as if I have been the only one. He tried to block me from standing as the branch woman’s officer and, when my dad resigned, he said I should not be involved in Party meetings because of what happened. I’ve no control over my dad, his decision was nothing to do with me. Good members have written in and complained. Over the years I have emailed Ian McCann (SNP Compliance Officer) and I’ve yet to have a response from the guy, let alone a phone call. It’s absolutely shocking and he needs to explain what it is he’s doing about complaints.”
Ian McCann
t: Neil Campbell, Neil Strachan, Ross Webber, John Murphy. Bottom, from left: James Rennie, John Milligan, Craig Boath, Colin Slaven.
Pedophile Who Ran Youth LGBT Charity Released After Serving 16 Years In Prison For Sexually Abusing A Baby By Reduxx Team December 29, 2025
A once-prominent gay rights activist who ran a youth LGBT charity in Scotland has been released from prison after serving 16 years for sexually abusing a baby. James Rennie, 54, was imprisoned for his role in one of Scotland’s largest pedophile rings.
News of Rennie’s release was reported by The Scottish Sun, which said he was spotted in Edinburgh after being freed from HMP Castle Huntly, a prison near Dundee. Prior to his full release, Rennie had been granted prolonged periods of extended release as part of what appeared to be a community reintegration program.
Since being turned loose, Rennie has frequently been seen in the company of one of his convicted accomplices, Neil Strachan, who has also been released from prison after serving 16 years. The pair were reportedly staying at the same offenders’ hostel.
Rennie and Strachan were convicted in 2009 after being exposed as the ringleaders of what was described as Scotland’s “largest pedophile network.” The network, which involved at least eight other men, collectively possessed over 125,000 pieces of child sexual abuse media. The ring was broken up in 2007 after a lengthy operation by Lothian and Borders police.
Strachan’s much younger boyfriend, Colin Slaven, was also amongst those arrested. Slaven had been a minor when Strachan began a “relationship” with him.
Top, from left: Neil Campbell, Neil Strachan, Ross Webber, John Murphy. Bottom, from left: James Rennie, John Milligan, Craig Boath, Colin Slaven. As well as distributing horrific child sexual abuse material, Rennie was also found to have been sexually abusing his godson over a four-year period starting when the child was just 3 months old.
Strachan had also sexually abused an infant boy, attempting to sodomize him while being HIV positive.
During court proceedings it was also uncovered that Rennie had used the e-mail handle “kplover,” standing for “kiddie porn lover,” to communicate with a sick predator in the Netherlands who described how he would like to rape, torture, and murder a child. The trial was labeled the “worst ever” abuse case in Scotland by media.
Rennie and Strachan, both of Edinburgh, were jailed for a minimum of 13 and 16 years respectively, but judges reduced Strachan’s term to 9 years and Rennie’s to 8.5 years upon appeal. The two spent a total of 16 years in the prison estate from their arrest to their reported release.
Among the many shocking aspects of the case was that Rennie had been a respected gay rights activist in Scotland prior to his arrest.
While secretly operating the pedophile network, Rennie managed to become the CEO of LGBT Youth Scotland, a charity which gave him access to children as young as 13. Rennie had been a strong proponent for gay adoption, and, under his leadership, LGBT Youth Scotland lobbied the Government to allow same-sex couples to adopt children.
In 2005, LGBT Youth Scotland received a Phillip Lawrence Award for community safety, and Rennie was welcomed in parliament.
While LGBT Youth Scotland as an organization insisted it had no knowledge of Rennie’s activities, Scotland’s charity regulator never publicly investigated the organization to see if Rennie abused his power to access vulnerable children. At the time of the arrest, LGBT Youth Scotland claimed there was “no evidence” that the young people assisted by their agency were assaulted by Rennie.
In 2022, two survivors came forward to allege they were groomed and sexually abused after joining the charity as youth members. The two young men spoke with Reduxx and claimed there had been a culture of exploitation present during their time as members.
One of the young men, Sam Cowie, revealed that he had been “plied with alcohol free of charge, encouraged to sleep with older men and given money to perform sexual acts” by older male members of the charity when he was just 15.
But the controversies surrounding the charity have continued over the years.
In 2024, a Scottish drag queen who helped co-author an LGBT Youth Scotland guidebook was convicted of distributing child pornography that depicted infants being sexually abused.
Andrew Easton pleaded guilty in court in August of 2024 to communicating online with someone he believed to be a child, downloading indecent images of children, and distributing indecent images of children. The sexual abuse materials, which included images and videos, featured newborn babies, toddlers, and prepubescent children. Easton was caught by one of Scotland’s National Online Child Abuse Prevention (NOCAP) units in a September 2023 sting that identified his IP address. Police then obtained a search warrant and raided Easton’s home.
In a Telegram chat labeled “Extra Excitement,” Easton hoarded 132 images and 1,119 videos with newborn infants and children up to age 10. Police found that Easton also had a chat log with a user claiming to be 13 years old; Easton referred to this user as “baby boy,” and sent him photos of his genitals. He also requested the user call him “daddy.”
Following news of his arrest, journalist Marion Scott revealed that Easton had previously worked with LGBT Youth Scotland.
According to Scott, Easton co-authored the charity’s “coming out guide” for “trans young people” which was distributed to public schools across the country and is still available on the East Ayrshire Council website. The guide, which heavily promotes LGBT Youth Scotland services, “looks at the various stages of the coming out process” in a youth-accessible tone, presenting different scenarios and considerations for minors interested in changing their gender identity.
Following the disturbing revelations, the BBC’s Children in Need charity pulled its funding from LGBT Youth Scotland, citing concerns about the organization’s ongoing controversies.
According to a recent Freedom of Information request, the Scottish Government has admitted to continuing to provide LGBT Youth Scotland with funding through various programs.
This has included £290,871 through the Equality and Human Rights Fund, £55,773 through the Delivering Equally Safe Fund, and £78,750 through the Children, Young People, Families Early Intervention & Adult Learning and Empowering Communities (CYPFEI & ALEC) Fund.
The Lochaber Debacle – Correspondence regarding Mary McAllan ( her daughter is a government Minister) the Director of Economic Development.
Information requested: Correspondence, including emails, letters, text messages, WhatsApp messages and internal memos sent or received or included via ‘cc’ing’ Mary McAllan, Director of Economic Development to or from Deloitte or employees of Deloitte and GFG Alliance or its subsidiaries.
The value of Scottish taxpayers’ guarantee to metal magnate Gupta is £586 million
The F.T. reported the Scottish Government provided a guarantee of £586 million to Sanjeev Gupta’s company GFG Alliance as part of the company’s purchase of the Lochaber smelter.
The figure was made public for the first time after a two-year transparency battle.
The Scottish Government now estimates the net present value of the remaining guaranteed payments at £285.9m.
The revelation comes after ministers were slapped on the wrist for withholding the information from the public, with opposition leaders labelling it a “dodgy deal” and claiming the SNP was “desperate to avoid scrutiny”.
Concerns over the deal were raised after meetings between then-rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing and GFG Alliance figures came to light.
The agreement saw the Scottish Government guarantee 25 years of power purchases by Mr Gupta’s company from another business owned by his father, with the guarantee funding the purchase of the aluminium smelter.
The guarantee allowed Greensill Capital to transform the guarantee into nearly £300m of debt with a credit rating equivalent to UK sovereign bonds to be created, funding the purchase.
The deal with the Scottish Government was provided when the smelter in Lochaber was purchased by GFG Alliance alongside two hydropower plants from Rio Tinto in 2016.
GFG Alliance also promised the construction of an alloy wheels factory near the smelter, which was scrapped last year in favour of a £94m recycled aluminium factory, which could have created 2,000 jobs. Earlier this year the government admitted just 50 additional jobs had been created by the deal.
Gupta’s company hit financial difficulty earlier this year due to the collapse of Greensill Capital, which was partially blamed as Gupta’s company began to default on the more than $5bn (£3.7bn) of debt GFG Alliance had borrowed from Greensill.
The guarantee was reportedly provided, covering annual amounts between £14m and £32m, in return for a fee initially valued at £21.4m, but later written down to zero with a £33m provision due to the potential exposure of the deal.
GFG Alliance said: “The Lochaber aluminium smelter is a profitable operation, and GFG Alliance’s commitment to invest in a new recycling and aluminium billet plant there will secure the future of the operations, create new high-quality employment in the area and provide opportunities for the local supply chain.”
Ministers were also criticised by Scotland’s information watchdog for failing to release the total value of the deal after they claimed their commercial interests would be harmed by its release.
In a decision notice published in mid-October, Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry criticised the use of commercial interest as a defence, saying it was unlikely the release of the information would prejudice the negotiation of future guarantees. He said:
“The ministers do not, in general, operate in a commercial environment and the commissioner does not consider them to be doing so simply because they are providing funding to, or guaranteeing the liabilities of, business.
“They do not undertake such activities as participants in the market with the businesses concerned, in pursuit of profit, but rather to promote the economic and social well-being of the country, or parts of it, in furtherance of the wider public good.”
“Nothing in the submissions offered here persuades the commissioner that the ministers’ interests should be regarded as especially ‘commercial’ here.
“There might be prejudice to the public purse if the guarantee were to be called up, and disclosure might (although the commissioner considers this less likely) prejudice the negotiation of future guarantees, but neither of these considerations suggests an interest that should properly be considered commercial (as opposed to more widely economic, or social).”.
A summary of an August 2017 meeting between First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Mr Ewing, and Mary McAllan, the government’s director of economic development, warned the government had “reached the very limits of what was possible”.
The briefing also noted “the potential to be overexposed to one company – a company that we know is on an aggressive expansion drive elsewhere”.
Lobbying records also show Mr Ewing and representatives from GFG Alliance discussed the possibility of upsizing the projected output of GFG’s never-to-be-built alloy wheel factory from two million wheels a year to three million at a dinner in March 2018.
The Scottish Government provided a guarantee of £586 million to Sanjeev Gupta’s company GFG Alliance as part of the company’s purchase of the Lochaber smelter. The figure was made public for the first time after a two-year transparency battle.
The revelation surfaced after ministers were slapped on the wrist for withholding the information from the public, with opposition leaders labelling it a “dodgy deal” and claiming the SNP was “desperate to avoid scrutiny”.
The agreement saw the Scottish Government guarantee 25 years of power purchases by Gupta’s company from another business owned by his father, with the guarantee funding the purchase of the aluminium smelter.
The guarantee allowed Greensill Capital to transform the guarantee into nearly £300m of debt with a credit rating equivalent to UK sovereign bonds to be created, funding the purchase.
The deal with the Scottish Government was provided when the smelter in Lochaber was purchased by GFG Alliance alongside two hydropower plants from Rio Tinto in 2016.
GFG Alliance also promised the construction of an alloy wheels factory near the smelter, which was scrapped last year in favour of a £94m recycled aluminium factory, which could have created 2,000 jobs. Earlier this year the government admitted just 50 additional jobs had been created by the deal.
Gupta’s company hit the skids earlier this year due to the collapse of Greensill Capital, which was partially blamed as Gupta’s company began to default on the more than $5bn (£3.7bn) of debt GFG Alliance had borrowed from Greensill.
The guarantee was reportedly provided, covering annual amounts between £14m and £32m, in return for a fee initially valued at £21.4m, but later written down to zero with a £33m provision due to the potential exposure of the deal.
GFG Alliance said: “The Lochaber aluminium smelter is a profitable operation, and GFG Alliance’s commitment to invest in a new recycling and aluminium billet plant there will secure the future of the operations, create new high-quality employment in the area and provide opportunities for the local supply chain.”
Ministers were also criticised by Scotland’s information watchdog for failing to release the total value of the deal after they claimed their commercial interests would be harmed by its release.
In a decision notice published in mid-October, Scottish Information Commissioner Daren Fitzhenry criticised the use of commercial interest as a defence, saying it was unlikely the release of the information would prejudice the negotiation of future guarantees. He said:
“The ministers do not, in general, operate in a commercial environment and the commissioner does not consider them to be doing so simply because they are providing funding to, or guaranteeing the liabilities of, business.
“They do not undertake such activities as participants in the market with the businesses concerned, in pursuit of profit, but rather to promote the economic and social well-being of the country, or parts of it, in furtherance of the wider public good.”
“Nothing in the submissions offered here persuades the commissioner that the ministers’ interests should be regarded as especially ‘commercial’ here.
“There might be prejudice to the public purse if the guarantee were to be called up, and disclosure might (although the commissioner considers this less likely) prejudice the negotiation of future guarantees, but neither of these considerations suggests an interest that should properly be considered commercial (as opposed to more widely economic, or social).”.
A summary of an August 2017 meeting led by First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, warned the government had “reached the very limits of what was possible” and noted: “the potential to be overexposed to one company – a company that we know is on an aggressive expansion drive elsewhere”.
Sep 2024: Panic button pressed £585 million government guarantee called in as Guptas business collapses. More incompetence
caltonjock 