Opening statements from non-police core participants. Kirsten Heaven QC delivers comprehensive statement on behalf of non-state cooperating group detailing widespread political policing of left-wing groups, justice campaigns, trade unions, and children. Dave Morris provides personal testimony about being targeted as anarchist activist and postal worker.
# Transcribed with OpenAI Whisper (medium model)
# Source: Local audio transcription (no YouTube captions available)
00:07:30 you
00:07:44 Afternoon everyone and welcome to the afternoon session of the day three opening statements at the undercover policing inquiry. I will now hand over to our chairman, Sir John Mitting to continue proceedings. Chairman.
00:07:57 Thank you very much.
00:07:58 Thank you, sir. And good afternoon.
00:08:02 This opening statement is made on behalf of all the cooperating non police non state core participants, which I will call the non state cooperating group.
00:08:14 It supplements the statements that have been made directly on behalf of individuals and groups by their instructing lawyers and the first opening statement made by the non state cooperating group at the start of the evidence in trunche one phase one.
00:08:31 At the outset, the non state cooperating group wish to express their deep anger and upset in response to the announcement on Tuesday that the next stage of this public inquiry that was due to be heard at the start of October 2021 is to be delayed until some point in the first six months of 2022.
00:08:54 This means I interrupt you as to that the reason the basic reason is because I had unwelcome an application from somebody who had been in a very senior position in the SWP in this period.
00:09:10 I wish to obtain a statement from her.
00:09:14 So she could be heard in phase three.
00:09:18 But to do that, I, it is necessary that the inquiry should go back over reams documents, so as to be able to give them to her, so that you can see what is relevant in as substantially unredacted form as possible.
00:09:32 That's the basic and principal reason why things been delayed.
00:09:39 Yes, sir. Thank you.
00:09:43 We also learned for the first time in the opening statement from Council to the inquiry Mr. Bar Queen's Council that the trunche two hearings will not be heard in 2022.
00:09:55 This means trunche two could well take place in over two years time for the non state cooperating group. This is an entirely unacceptable state of affairs.
00:10:08 It is deplorable that non state core participants are having to face yet more delay before discovering the truth of why it was that they were unlawfully spied upon by the state.
00:10:21 Let's not forget that when Lord Justice Pitchford opened this inquiry on the 28th of July 2015. His hope was that he would deliver his report to the Home Secretary within three years.
00:10:36 The public inquiry is tasked with unearthing the truth behind undercover policing from as far back as 1968.
00:10:45 However, as time passes, the possibility for the inquiry to do this is fast reducing.
00:10:53 The number of cases to cover police officers and witnesses are of advancing age. And even during the course of this trunche, extremely significant witnesses have become too ill to give their evidence to the inquiry.
00:11:08 This situation will only worsen with this further delay, meaning yet more crucial evidence will be lost.
00:11:16 We heard from Miss Kaufman Queen's Council yesterday about the failure to obtain witness evidence from the vitally important witness HN67 cover name Alan Bond with the result that he is now apparently too ill to give evidence.
00:11:33 It is therefore essential that the inquiry take urgent steps to prioritize the taking of witness statements from all undercover officers and managers, and that the non state cooperating group are provided with a complete list of all managers due to give evidence in phase three and regular updates on their state of health.
00:11:57 Evidence preservation must be a central priority.
00:12:02 The non state cooperating group are concerned that the real cause of the delay is the overly secretive stance of the police and other state bodies and their excessive demands for redaction of documents.
00:12:16 The non state cooperating group urge these bodies and the inquiry to consider their approach to where the public interest lies, and specifically to reconsider the balance between state secrecy and justice for those who were spied upon.
00:12:36 We asked the inquiry to urgently provide specific dates for the next phase, and the trunche to.
00:12:44 Before looking at what is revealed in the T1P2 disclosure, I first want to make two short points. First, the non state cooperating group do welcome the disclosure that has been provided in this trunche.
00:13:00 However, the disclosure process has once again not been without difficulties which I will touch upon later.
00:13:08 Second, the non state cooperating group remain concerned that those unable to attend the venue without putting themselves or others at risk are prevented from seeing live screening of the undercover officers evidence.
00:13:24 The non state cooperating group reiterate their concern that a proper investigation and interpretation of the evidence in a way that ensures justice is done requires the non state cooperating group to be able to see as well as hear the evidence.
00:13:42 However, the provision of an audio feed is recognised as a gesture and a small step towards improving the opportunities for participation and engagement during the current difficulties.
00:13:57 It is hoped that the provision of a live audio feed can continue into the next phase, and that more consideration will be given to a visual feed.
00:14:10 It is also hoped that the chair will consider providing audio streaming to individual non state core participants who are located outside England and Wales to ensure they can meaningfully participate in this inquiry.
00:14:30 I now want to turn to the evidence.
00:14:33 As the inquiry moves into phase two, the period 1973 to 1982, as we've already heard, it will continue to focus on the activities of the undercover officers of the Special Demonstration Squad SDS for short.
00:14:51 What the non state cooperating group have found in the disclosure will be both shocking and revealing to the general public.
00:14:59 It is shocking because it shows quite how far the tentacles of the secret state had spread, even by the 1970s, and how many individuals and groups exercising their right to participate in campaigning activities were being routinely targeted and spied upon.
00:15:22 Revealing, because what the overwhelming majority of the documents confirm is what the non state cooperating group have always asserted, which is that undercover policing in this era was without doubt political policing.
00:15:41 What will become clear from the evidence is the way in which this practice of political policing became embedded during this period.
00:15:51 This resulted in widespread and illegitimate infiltration of groups and individuals perceived to be largely on the political left wing.
00:16:03 It is now that we see the abhorrent practices, such as the targeting of justice campaigns and defence campaigns, reporting on lawyers, and even advice from a solicitor protected by legal professional privilege.
00:16:21 We see undercover officers engaging in criminality and potential miscarriages of justice.
00:16:29 There is extensive use of photographic surveillance and early spotter cards, widespread and indiscriminate data collection, often at the behest or request of the security service MI5.
00:16:44 And there is extensive surveillance on young people, teachers and students.
00:16:51 There is reporting touching on trade union affairs and on members of mainstream political parties.
00:17:00 We even find intelligence of the SDS being potentially used to block the career of an activist.
00:17:08 As we have heard today, there is the use by undercover officers of deceased children's identities and undercover officers forming intimate and sexual relationships with women who were spied upon.
00:17:22 Last but certainly not least, the disclosure begins to reveal the deep collaboration between the security service and the SDS.
00:17:34 The controversial police practice first introduced by DCI Conrad Dixon in 1968, which became known as the oblique approach, was fully operational by the SDS by the early 1970s.
00:17:51 The attempt to minimise the approach with an anodyne tag should not obscure what we see in the documents.
00:18:00 This approach was unashamedly described by Dixon himself as the infiltration of quote relatively innocuous organisations as a way of developing cover and allegedly gaining access to more significant organisations.
00:18:19 In other words, it was a practice that led to large numbers of individuals and groups suddenly becoming fair game for routine spying by the SDS with their data being frequently copied to Box 500.
00:18:38 As the inquiry will recall, this is the reference that we see stamped or written on many documents to indicate that reporting had been sent by the SDS to the security service.
00:18:54 There are many examples of the impact of the oblique approach, to name a couple in Tranche 1.
00:19:01 The inquiry heard about the targeting and widespread reporting on the women's liberation movement over a two year period.
00:19:10 This included reporting on a child's Christmas party and jumble sales.
00:19:16 In phase two, the inquiry will hear about the infiltration of the youth wing of the Liberal Party.
00:19:25 This was specifically targeted by the undercover officer HN 298, cover name Michael Scott, to gain access to the core participant Peter Hain.
00:19:39 By its own admission in the SDS annual report for 1972, and I quote, most of the current team of officers have been through several organisations, which has not only established their identity firmly, but has increased coverage of the extremist field.
00:20:01 The non-state cooperating group suggests that in fact, the cynical targeting of so-called innocuous organisations as a means of providing cover to undercover officers is direct evidence of the contempt for civil society displayed by the SDS.
00:20:22 This should not be characterised as accidental or collateral intrusion.
00:20:29 And I want to go on to deal with the annual reports.
00:20:34 The designated lawyer core participant group who represent the majority of the SDS in their first opening statement for Tranche 1, phase one, they placed great emphasis on the content of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner's annual reports, as well as the SDS annual reports.
00:20:57 To highlight what they say is the increasing public disorder in the 1970s and need for public order policing.
00:21:06 These Metropolitan Police annual reports have not been disclosed to the non-state cooperating group.
00:21:14 In any event, the content of annual reports must be treated with great caution by this inquiry.
00:21:22 Annual reports were documents designed to ensure a continuation of funding to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, SDS, from the Home Office.
00:21:34 What is notable is that the SDS annual reports simply do not reflect the sentiments expressed by many of the undercover officers in their witness statements for this phase two.
00:21:48 Many of these undercover officers frequently realised at an early stage that the groups they were infiltrating did not have the ability or intention to be truly subversive or extremist.
00:22:03 And they rarely witnessed public disorder.
00:22:07 One short example includes an admission of Chief Inspector HN294, who was in charge of the SDS in the early 1970s.
00:22:19 In 1973, he is recorded as commenting to the security service that when infiltrating the International Marxist Group and International Socialists, the SDS, and I quote,
00:22:33 often found that when they had penetrated a branch, which they thought would be more interesting, they were disappointed.
00:22:42 What is also conspicuously absent from the disclosure, including in the annual reports, are regular and thorough risk and threat assessments as regards subversion and public disorder.
00:22:57 How could the SDS be satisfied that their targeting of hundreds of members of the public and innocuous organisations was legitimate and justified?
00:23:10 We simply cannot find these assessments in the disclosure.
00:23:16 We do, however, get an insight into the security services understanding of risk and threat.
00:23:23 And this is in the context of subversion in the early 1970s.
00:23:28 This is from the witness statement of witness said, made on behalf of the security service.
00:23:34 At paragraph 56, it states and I quote, counter subversion, whilst a main priority for the security service through 1968 to 1983, was just one priority alongside others,
00:23:49 including counter espionage, protective security and counter terrorism.
00:23:55 It appears from the 1972 guide that the security service did not consider that subversive organisations posed a particularly high threat.
00:24:07 And the pressure to investigate these organisations often came from the Prime Minister and Whitehall.
00:24:15 The non-state cooperating group welcomed the admission by witness said that the targeting of subversive organisations was certainly at this time, often politically directed from the highest levels.
00:24:31 The non-state cooperating group therefore urged the inquiry to take this evidence on board and to make sure that it leaves no stone unturned in its investigation of political influence on undercover policing operations.
00:24:48 On the theme of threat assessments, paragraph 57 of the statement of witness said goes on to state as follows and I quote,
00:24:57 I am unable to comment on the 1984 guide to subversion, save to observe that I understand that it provided at the time, a reference point for the security service in respect of every organisation that was suspected of some involvement in subversive activity.
00:25:18 The guide does not contain an assessment of the threats the organisation posed and it appears simply to have been a point of reference providing basic information about the relevant groups.
00:25:32 It is telling that an important document such as the security service 1984 guide to subversion did not contain any assessment of the threat posed by the groups being targeted.
00:25:48 This is a document which in all likelihood advocated the targeting of and spying on many of the groups involved in this public inquiry. We await disclosure of the 1984 guide.
00:26:03 And finally, whether or not there was an adequate process of risk and threat assessment underpinning all the decisions made on targeting by the SDS is something that will clearly need to be explored by the inquiry, including in tranche six.
00:26:22 And I want to move on to other common themes if I may in tranche one, phase two.
00:26:29 We begin to see in this tranche the alarming continuation of reporting on lawyers and material potentially subject to legal professional privilege, often provided in the context of defence and justice campaigns and involving alleged police misconduct.
00:26:49 For example, in 1971 HN 347 cover name Alex Sloan reports on the justice campaign arising from the death of Stephen McCarthy, who was a 19 year old boy who died in 1971.
00:27:08 A number of days after being allegedly assaulted by the police in the course of an arrest.
00:27:15 The reporting included reference to legal advice contemplated against the senior police officer.
00:27:23 This is an example, and it's an early example of SDS reporting on a justice campaign.
00:27:32 The same undercover officer also reports on a visit to a female asylum seeker detained in Holloway prison and awaiting her appeal from the Home Office.
00:27:42 Why was it that this was of interest to the SDS we ask?
00:27:46 Such reporting can only be seen as a gross and unjustifiable invasion of privacy by the state.
00:27:55 We also see increased policing interest in justice campaigns and campaigners.
00:28:02 The following groups and individuals are just a selection of some of the names we have found in the disclosure.
00:28:11 They are included here either because they have a Metropolitan Police Special Branch Registry File or their name simply appears in the latest disclosure.
00:28:24 They include the Shrewsbury 2 Defence Committee, the Roach Family Support Committee, Stoke Newington and Hackney Defence Campaign,
00:28:36 Persons Unknown Defence Campaign, Murray Defence Campaign,
00:28:43 Deptford Action Massacre Committee, Friends of Blair Peach Committee, Celia Stubbs, partner of Blair Peach and a core participant in this inquiry,
00:28:56 Graham Smith, a core participant in this inquiry,
00:29:00 Justice for David Ewan campaign July 1995 and Deborah Cole's Director of Inquest,
00:29:09 which was a group set up to monitor deaths in police custody and campaign on behalf of bereaved families.
00:29:19 Many of these groups meetings were directly targeted, contrary to what has been previously asserted by the designated lawyers who represent many of the SDS.
00:29:31 The examples of direct targeting of justice campaigns are overwhelming.
00:29:38 See, for example, the private meeting of the Free Desmond Trotter campaign,
00:29:43 which was directly targeted by an undercover officer and where standard campaigning activity such as fundraising, awareness raising and a demonstration were all reported on.
00:29:59 Another theme that we see emerging during this phase is that the children of activists and groups comprised of young activists become subject to direct reporting and targeting by the undercover officers.
00:30:16 This is an example of intrusive and unjustified general reporting, which must be of relevance to this inquiry.
00:30:25 For example, we see a report signed off by a chief inspector and chief superintendent and sent to Box 500, the security services,
00:30:35 consisting of references to an individual's brother and wife and the fact that the couple, quote, have a Mongol child.
00:30:45 The inquiry will hear in particular from HN 216, cover name Paul Gray, who reported on many young activists and teachers.
00:30:55 And you have already heard today, sir, in the opening statement for Richard Chaston and Mary, the intrusive nature of some of this officers reporting.
00:31:05 The non-state cooperating group note with dismay the suggestion by the designated lawyers in their latest published opening statement,
00:31:15 which states that there was no reason to refrain refrain from reporting on such children, as it, quote, did not cause any harm.
00:31:25 The non-state cooperating group question how by any standards, including those of the 1980s,
00:31:32 such a gross invasion of privacy and family involving the targeting of children could be seen by legitimate and justified and not harmful to society.
00:31:45 A particular focus for HN 126, cover name Paul Gray, was a group called School Kids Against the Nazis, SCAM for short.
00:31:56 For example, he reported on a 14-year-old boy because he'd come to notice by attending a meeting of the North West London district of the Socialist Workers Party.
00:32:08 And he was also a member of SCAM.
00:32:11 The undercover officer provided this child's year of birth, height, details of other personal characteristics, and attached a photograph of the boy to his report, all of which was copied again to box 500.
00:32:28 There are many, many more examples of HN 126 reporting on children, particularly those who are involved in SCAM.
00:32:37 These former child campaigners are not here to have their voices heard.
00:32:42 We do not know if the inquiry has attempted to contact any of the members of SCAM who were targeted.
00:32:49 Consequently, the non-state cooperating group feel it is important for the inquiry to hear directly from some of the SCAM children themselves.
00:33:01 So here are the Hackney School Kids Against Nazis from 1978.
00:33:06 And could we please play Dock 044?
00:34:23 Okay.
00:34:50 So I think I can't obviously see the screen. Is there an issue with the footage, sir?
00:35:05 I can see the screen, but there is no sound.
00:35:12 Well, sir, I'll wait for your indication. If there's no progress, then maybe I can continue.
00:35:20 Do you intend to play it with sound?
00:35:23 Yeah, I think it doesn't really, I think it really does need sound. Yes.
00:35:27 After the carnival we started up scaring.
00:35:29 I'll just give it another minute and we'll see.
00:35:31 It's against the Nazis.
00:35:35 Thank you, sir.
00:35:37 We're opposed to the idea of the National Front in it, and we want to sort of stop it at the beginning, at schools in it.
00:35:56 Come and join the discussion about what we can do to fight the Nazi National Front in schools.
00:36:02 We are black, we are white, we are dynamite. School kids against the Nazis can.
00:36:07 Let's see what we've got.
00:36:17 I'm sick of what's going on in school, you know, all the racism and all this.
00:36:20 Because most fights which happen in school are caused by racism, right?
00:36:24 It's not just by jealousy or hate or something which crops up between them.
00:36:29 It's caused by racism. And you mostly find all the fights going on between two different races.
00:36:33 And the headmistress constantly keeps on saying that, you know, let's be one big happy family.
00:36:38 And it's really depressing, it is.
00:36:40 I don't think a lot of them bit us up because they're haters or anything.
00:36:43 But when they're unemployed they decide to blame it on us.
00:36:46 I just think the National Front wants someone to blame for what's happening to the country at the moment.
00:36:52 They just want someone to hold the can.
00:36:54 Thank you, sir. Has the footage now finished?
00:36:56 Thank you, sir. It's just that I can't see it. Thank you.
00:36:59 As already noted, the name... Oh, it hadn't?
00:37:02 Really? Because it won't go away. Because it's going to be there. It's going to grow, isn't it?
00:37:06 If you don't talk about it.
00:37:08 It's finished now, isn't it?
00:37:10 Black National Front! Black National Front!
00:37:24 Because everyone thinks that in the East End it's all National Front, but it's not.
00:37:27 The majority of people are against them, you know.
00:37:29 The more there is of us, and each time we increase, then we could drive these National Fronts off.
00:37:34 Because what they do is just isn't right, you know.
00:37:38 They ain't got the right to, you know, throw people out of the country or nothing like that.
00:37:42 Well, you've got to fight it somewhere.
00:37:46 It has finished now.
00:37:48 Thank you, sir. Thank you.
00:37:50 The difficult is, I think, I certainly got the impression that you seek to convey from it.
00:37:55 I got a very clear impression of what School Kids Against the Nazis was doing publicly, as shown in the talk.
00:38:03 Thank you, sir. I'll carry on.
00:38:06 As already noted, the names of many of the groups that were spied upon have had their names redacted.
00:38:13 In other words, they've been deleted from the documents so that we cannot know who they are.
00:38:19 However, what is now becoming evident is the extent to which groups were being monitored
00:38:25 and or were of interest to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch and the SDS during the 1970s and early 1980s.
00:38:35 The following are a very small selection of groups of interest to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch with registry files.
00:38:44 And this has been taken, sir, from SDS reporting.
00:38:48 Christian Aid, Fellowship Party, No Violence, No Racism, Say Yes to Fellowship,
00:38:55 mainstream political parties such as the Hornsey Labour Party, Tottenham Labour Party, Dulwich Labour Party Young Socialists,
00:39:04 St Pancras South Labour Party, Harlow Labour Party, Erath and Crayford Labour Party, Southgate Labour Party,
00:39:15 Norwood Labour Party, Vauxhall Labour Party, Epping Labour Party and the Orpington Young Liberals.
00:39:25 We see various trade councils, Southup, Lewisham and Deptford, Hackney, Haringey and Croydon.
00:39:34 We see the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers, London North District,
00:39:40 the TGW Legal Workers Branch.
00:39:45 We see the Defend the Health Service, ASTMS, Central London Medical Branch.
00:39:52 We see the Lewisham Humanists, the National Union of Students, the National Union of School Teachers and the National Union of Teachers.
00:40:03 These are just a few examples.
00:40:07 Women's groups continued to be reported on during this period, including Women's Voice,
00:40:15 Greenham Commons Women's Support Group, Spare Rib Collective, Women in Ireland, Women Workers League, Brixton Black Women's Group.
00:40:27 By the early 1980s, we also see that the security service are taking a keen interest in women's groups
00:40:35 and appear to be seeking information from the SDS on groups including the Greenham Common Women's Support Group,
00:40:44 Lambeth Women for Peace at the Melting Pot Foundation, Women for Life on Earth, Women vs Crews.
00:40:53 There are many, many more examples of the intrusive targeting of women.
00:41:00 To name a few, we see reporting on an unnamed woman, including her photograph,
00:41:06 simply because she had resigned from the Socialist Worker Party that maintained an interest in Women's Voice and the Anti-Nazi League.
00:41:15 Of note, the photograph was taken by an undercover officer at the funeral of Blair Peach.
00:41:23 A particularly invasive, deeply offensive and unjustified report on a woman can be found in reporting attributed to HN106,
00:41:35 cover name Barry Tomkins, although he denies this.
00:41:41 It records a female activist having an abortion with speculation in the reporting about, quote, the putative father.
00:41:50 Once again, the non-state cooperating group query how any person could ever consider that such a gross invasion of privacy was legitimate and justified.
00:42:04 When considering the list of targeted groups, which represents a mere fraction of those targeted,
00:42:10 the non-state cooperating group reflect on what could possibly justify such widespread undercover policing.
00:42:20 As the designated lawyers point out in their first opening statement to Tranch One, Phase One,
00:42:26 political neutrality meant avoiding any more or less favorable treatment of particular groups, and that is what the police are required to do.
00:42:38 However, what is evident from the documents from this period of time is that this is not what happened.
00:42:46 The simple fact is that the SDS and the security services targeted hundreds of individuals and groups perceived to be on the political left wing.
00:42:56 They appeared, however, to be far less interested in the obvious threats posed by the rise of the far right and the National Front
00:43:06 and their desire to provoke conflict demonstrations and engage in violent criminality and create fear in communities.
00:43:17 The SDS in their annual reports year after year stated that the far right was simply not of interest and did not warrant coverage.
00:43:28 The National Front was first reported as having been infiltrated by the SDS in the 1975 annual report.
00:43:36 However, this was not on the official instructions of SDS management, but rather action taken by an undercover officer of the SDS in his cover identity
00:43:47 after being tasked to infiltrate the National Front by the Workers' Revolutionary Party.
00:43:55 This led inadvertently to the discovery by the SDS of the so-called more hardline fascists, the League of St George,
00:44:05 a group which the SDS noted as one that could quote well pose future public order problems.
00:44:13 During the 1970s, why were the far right not infiltrated and reported on by the SDS in the way that left wing groups were?
00:44:24 The designated lawyers in their first opening statement claim that the National Front tended to cooperate with the Metropolitan Police Special Branch in connection with demonstrations and marches.
00:44:39 Any such evidence needs to be seen by the inquiry and the non-state cooperating group, if it exists, to ensure there's a complete picture.
00:44:50 The non-state cooperating group do look for reassurance that the inquiry is requiring disclosure of the evidence, this evidence, sorry,
00:44:59 and not simply accepting at face value what is stated in the annual report and other Metropolitan Police Special Branch and SDS documentation.
00:45:11 The inquiry will also want to consider whether it is in fact credible for the Metropolitan Police Special Branch to suggest they did have coverage that was good of the far right.
00:45:24 The National Front, for example, were actively engaged in this era in instigating public disorder and involved in violent and criminal acts against members of the public.
00:45:35 Much of this was simply not preempted or not prevented by the police.
00:45:43 The attention paid to the National Front by the SDS during this period appears to be in stark contrast to the extreme lengths the SDS went to target left wing groups.
00:46:00 By way of example, HN33, cover name Gary Roberts, who mainly infiltrated the International Marxist Group, became a student at Thames Polytechnic and studied for a degree in BA Political Economy in his cover identity.
00:46:18 He even attended classes for four days a week for a number of years.
00:46:24 He became vice president of the local NUS and attended the National Conference.
00:46:29 This was all apparently paid for by the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.
00:46:37 Other important issues can be found in the disclosure in this phase.
00:46:42 Racist attitudes are evident. See, for example, the following reporting on the events at Lewisham on the 13th of August 1977 and I quote,
00:46:54 Young blacks, the vast majority of whom have little time for the ultra left turned out at Lewisham with the sole intention of attacking the police.
00:47:06 It must be realised that the hatred of these people for authority has no bounds and the most insignificant of incidents involving them could spark off a major public disorder.
00:47:22 I now want to turn, sir, to the issue of the targeting of trade unions and blacklisting.
00:47:28 The non-state cooperating group was surprised when the designated lawyer group told the inquiry in their first opening statement that quote,
00:47:38 SDS personnel did not infiltrate or target trade unions and were not involved in trade union blacklisting.
00:47:48 The SDS annual report for 1972 clearly records intelligence on the miners, dockers and building workers strike.
00:47:58 The Shrewsbury 2 defence campaign set up by union workers was directly targeted in this tranche.
00:48:06 The documents also clearly reveal that the undercover officer 299 slash 342, cover name David Hughes,
00:48:16 joined the Transport and General Workers Union in his cover identity and would go along to quote,
00:48:22 Big meetings, which he claims he did not cover as they were being covered by quote,
00:48:29 an ordinary special branch officer.
00:48:34 Unfortunately, the inquiry is unable to fully test this officer's account and probe why it is that so much of his reporting is missing,
00:48:43 including all that on the claimants union, as it was considered that the inquiry did not need to hear from him.
00:48:54 In terms of blacklisting, the blacklisting support group, who are core participants in this inquiry,
00:49:01 were frankly outraged by the choice of language used by Mr Skelton, Queen's counsel,
00:49:08 when he gave the opening statement on behalf of the Metropolitan Police, when he referred to quote,
00:49:16 so-called blacklisting organisations.
00:49:21 So there is no doubt that blacklisting occurred and any attempt to belittle that fact is deeply offensive to those individuals
00:49:30 and their families who have suffered so extensively as a result of blacklisting.
00:49:38 May I remind this inquiry that it was the Metropolitan Police's own investigation,
00:49:44 Operation Rubin, that made the finding that the police had contributed to the consulting associations blacklist.
00:49:52 I quote the finding as recorded by Operation Hearn. So this is paragraph 4.2.
00:50:08 This is the report of the investigation by the country's major construction firm, the consulting association and other agencies.
00:50:18 And I want to move on, sir, and just say a few words about the disclosure from the security services.
00:50:26 After many decades of secrecy and obfuscation about the role of the secret state in political policing,
00:50:35 the security services is welcomed. However, more is required.
00:50:41 It is clear that there was deep collaboration between the security services and the SDS.
00:50:47 The latest disclosure barely touches the surface.
00:50:51 A few examples include the SDS at times pursued the interests and agenda of the security services.
00:51:00 The SDS displayed a willingness to infiltrate a group recognized as posing no threat to law and order in response to the security services interests and to develop SDS cover.
00:51:14 The SDS may have talent spotted for the security services,
00:51:19 and they certainly complied with many security service requests to data mine infiltrated groups.
00:51:27 And this included membership lists, photographs, bank account details and phone numbers.
00:51:37 Now, the inquiry is tasked with investigating the motivation and justification for undercover policing.
00:51:45 The designated lawyers suggest on the one hand that the SDS were, quote, neither a servant nor an agent of MI5, end of quotes.
00:51:59 But on the other hand, that the SDS could not, quote, realistically have challenged or gainsaid the latter's assessment of national security matters.
00:52:09 Which is it, we ask.
00:52:11 Those representing the majority of the SDS undercover officers can't have it both ways.
00:52:19 In order for the inquiry to properly understand the motivation and justification for undercover policing and get to the truth of who really controlled the SDS,
00:52:32 the inquiry must answer a number of questions.
00:52:36 Number one, was undercover policing taking place either at the request of the security services and or in order to serve the requirements of the security services?
00:52:50 If yes, was it or should it have been the responsibility of the SDS to take steps to understand the assessments by the security services
00:53:02 so that it could satisfy itself that any such targeting requests from the security services were legitimate and justified?
00:53:15 Where did responsibility lie for assessing what constituted an extremist or a subversive group?
00:53:24 The non-state cooperating group do note that some assistance is provided by the official guidance and terms of reference given to the Metropolitan Police Special Branch by the Home Office in 1967, 1970 and then in 1984.
00:53:43 However, these documents do not provide a complete answer to the questions just posed.
00:53:51 What is beyond doubt in these documents is that the SDS's remit clearly covered spying on so-called subversives.
00:54:01 The non-state cooperating group note that it appears to be as late as 1984 when detailed guidance was first given to the SDS on its relationship with the security services.
00:54:15 This includes, for example, the SDS and Metropolitan Police Special Branch being directed to exercise great caution and seek advice from the security services before targeting any alleged subversives.
00:54:32 It also contained the warning that Special Branch must take particular care to avoid any suggestion that they were either investigating matters involving the legitimate expression of ideas or interfering in the exercise of political and civil liberties.
00:54:55 The non-state cooperating group want the inquiry to scrutinise whether all the terms of reference and the rules that govern the SDS relationship with the security service were adequate and whether they were complied with.
00:55:11 How far, for example, did the SDS go to serve the security services?
00:55:17 How much did the SDS really question the security services when they were asked by it to target so-called subversives?
00:55:27 Was the SDS used by the security service in their attempt to target and undermine the legitimate expression of ideas?
00:55:38 I now want to move on to briefly deal with some procedural matters and I do this in summary form only as the matters are set out more fully in the published opening statement which is on the inquiry's website.
00:55:55 Under the topic of disclosure, as the inquiry are well aware there were problems in ensuring appropriate and timely disclosure of documents prior to the tranche one phase one hearings and problems with the rolling transcript.
00:56:13 These factors left the non-state cooperating group feeling unable to properly participate and at times excluded from the hearings.
00:56:25 The non-state cooperating group do welcome the steps that are being taken by the inquiry legal team to improve channels of communication with non-state cooperating groups and their legal teams and we hope this can continue.
00:56:42 Unfortunately, disclosure in the run up to tranche one phase two has not significantly improved.
00:56:51 The non-state cooperating group do acknowledge the impact that the pandemic has had on these proceedings and we also understand that council to the inquiry was in a similar position.
00:57:03 However, the bare facts are that at the date of initial disclosure on the 5th of March 2021 significant numbers of documents referred to were missing.
00:57:15 On the 6th of April 2020 the page count on OPUS was 5226 where the initial indication was that there would be 10,000 pages of material for tranche one phase two.
00:57:31 The consequence of this approach is that it does create an intolerable burden and it simply reinforces the inherent unfairness and inequality embedded in the inquiry.
00:57:43 As already stated, this inquiry is tasked with investigating the motivation and justification for undercover policing.
00:57:52 Those recognised as non-state cooperating group participants in this inquiry in this tranche all appear to be of interest to the security services.
00:58:01 Given this and given the extremely close working relationship between the SDS and the security services that we see in the documents,
00:58:12 the non-state cooperating group repeat their request that the inquiry obtain and disclose all non-state core participant personnel files, organisation subject files held by both the security services and the SDS Metropolitan Police Special Branch.
00:58:35 On the separate topic of Metropolitan Police Special Branch registry file classifications, so HN 126 cover name Paul Gray will briefly touch upon this issue.
00:58:48 However, the non-state cooperating group do request the inquiry to provide urgent clarification on the classification system used for registry files and related filing references, including for example those of the secretive R squad.
00:59:05 This is essential to allow the non-state cooperating group to properly interpret the unredacted references in the disclosure.
00:59:14 And finally, on the topic of disclosure, the non-state cooperating group also request full disclosure of the operation HURN material, including briefing documents prepared based on meetings with undercover officers.
00:59:30 This is particularly important given that certain undercover officers within this branch have been shown documents and dispute their content.
00:59:40 For example, HN 155 cover name Phil Cooper disputes inaccuracies in the operation HURN notes of the meeting with him, including confirmation by him that he used a deceiving document to prove that he was not a member of the non-state cooperating group.
00:59:59 And finally, he used a deceased child's identity, something he now claims not to recall.
01:00:07 I just want to make a few brief comments on the topic of restricting public access.
01:00:13 The extent of those affected by undercover policing during the tranche one phase two period is becoming clearer in the latest disclosure.
01:00:21 The non-state cooperating group urged the inquiry to take steps to assist in the identification and notification of subjects of undercover policing.
01:00:31 This must include proactively encouraging members of the public to come forward by publishing a list of all groups spied upon.
01:00:41 The requirements also include publishing photographs of each undercover officer as they appeared whilst undercover and proactively and thoroughly attempting to contact all significant non-state civilians revealed in the disclosure.
01:00:59 And I move on to the issue of redaction and restriction.
01:01:05 The inquiry continues to refuse to unredact and release the names of all groups that have been spied upon.
01:01:11 As a consequence, in the tranche one phase two disclosure, there is a worrying level of redaction of certain listed groups in the SDS annual reports.
01:01:21 The non-state cooperating group ask again that the names of all groups reported on by undercover officers should be disclosed in full.
01:01:30 This will enable the true scale and nature of the SDS operations to be seen in full.
01:01:37 It will also enable legal representatives to take targeted instructions from those non-state cooperating group and civilians with the most relevant information to give.
01:01:52 On the restriction of cover names, of course, you're aware that this remains of significant concern to the non-state cooperating group.
01:02:02 This is an issue that will become more prominent as the inquiry enters later tranches, particularly in relation to the National Public Order Intelligence Unit.
01:02:12 The non-state cooperating group do contend that the approach to restriction orders in this context must be reconsidered.
01:02:22 Closed hearings. As we've heard, the inquiry has disclosed an undercover officer gist document summarising the evidence of seven undercover officers who it is proposing will give evidence in closed proceedings.
01:02:38 The gist document summarises the evidence by theme and not by officer or time period.
01:02:46 The non-state cooperating group echo the concerns already raised yesterday by Miss Philippa Kaufman, Queen's Council and today by Rajiv Menon, Queen's Council about this gisted document.
01:03:00 We also ask are closed hearings in fact required for each of these undercover officers?
01:03:07 In the restriction order process, a number of these officers were considered suitable by USUR for open proceedings with special measures and some were also considered to be low risk.
01:03:20 It would appear that at least one of the undercover officers appeared in the documentary True Spies, whilst another may have appeared.
01:03:29 The non-state cooperating group strongly reiterate that there should only be departure from open justice if the evidence is so sensitive that the departure is strictly necessary to protect an officer from identification.
01:03:45 The non-state cooperating group can see no real justification for allowing closed proceedings for any officer who has appeared on television talking about undercover policing.
01:03:58 Finally, a protocol on the procedure for closed hearings hasn't been published as requested.
01:04:05 This must be done as a matter of urgency with a timetable for the closed hearings.
01:04:13 I'm now so moving on to a section entitled Managing the Evidence.
01:04:19 It is of real concern that for Tranche 1, Phase 2, out of a list of 18 undercover officers on the witness list who are alive, the inquiry will only hear evidence from eight.
01:04:32 We note that there are three undercover officers who are not being called to give live evidence, either because the chair has directed that they are not required, sir.
01:04:43 It is of real concern that there are four who are unwell and three officers who are not being called because they are outside the jurisdiction.
01:04:52 It is noted that counsels the inquiry do state in their opening statement, their recent one, that at some point in the future, a statement may be obtained from one of these, HN 296.
01:05:06 This is a great, what we stated at the start of this opening statement.
01:05:11 Evidence preservation must be the number one priority, and so this statement must be obtained as a matter of urgency.
01:05:20 It is understood that the inquiry obtained witness evidence from HN 353, cover name Gary Roberts, whilst he was in the United Kingdom in 2019.
01:05:31 He is currently out of the jurisdiction and as such his evidence will now be summarised by counsel to the inquiry.
01:05:38 This is an unsatisfactory state of affairs.
01:05:41 HN 353, cover name Gary Roberts, was present at the demonstration in 1974 in Red Lion Square when Kevin Gately was fatally wounded.
01:05:52 And he was present and potentially reported at the demonstration or on the demonstration in Lewisham in 1977.
01:06:02 His reports appear to be missing.
01:06:06 In the age of remote working, there does not appear to be any reason why HN 353 cannot give evidence remotely, like some other non-state CPs.
01:06:18 In order to increase public confidence and trust in this inquiry, it will be important for the inquiry to investigate matters such as missing reports,
01:06:28 in order to understand the extent to which the police may have sought to cover up their involvement in certain prominent incidents.
01:06:39 HN 299342, cover name David Hughes, who I mentioned earlier, is not being called at the discretion of the inquiry.
01:06:51 There are important questions that he needs to be asked about his reporting on the claimants union, the majority of which is missing from the bundle.
01:07:02 Further, this undercover officer was reporting on the IMG, but any mention or reports on the Red Lion Square demonstrations are missing.
01:07:13 This is an emerging theme with all the relevant undercover officers in this tranche.
01:07:20 Also of note is that Mr Barqueen's counsel to the inquiry in the opening statement on Wednesday, referred to a report from HN 299342.
01:07:31 It was characterized as follows, quote, In terms of subversive aims, it is the most disturbing document that we have found.
01:07:41 So you will recall that this was the document referring to the liquidation of two million people, amongst other things, when the socialist revolution took place.
01:07:53 However, the interpretation placed on this document by counsel to the inquiry is a matter on which we would wish to submit questions.
01:08:04 Unfortunately, we cannot do this on a close reading of this document.
01:08:10 It would appear that the individual making the statements in question merely attended a Marxist class and started interrupting and expanding his individual views.
01:08:20 Nothing more.
01:08:22 In considering whether there is any genuine evidence of disturbing subversion in the disclosure, it will be important for the inquiry to identify what is obviously rhetoric and overstatement rather than evidence of actual subversion.
01:08:40 HN 301 cover name Bob Stubbs is also not being called to give evidence at the discretion of the inquiry.
01:08:47 HN 301 was at Red Line Square and Kevin Gatley was fatally wounded and punched in the face by a police officer.
01:08:55 At the hearing on the 26th of January 2021, the paucity of core participant evidence in relation to the event, this event was noted.
01:09:05 This undercover officer's witness statement is extremely limited on the violence he suffered at the hands of the police and whether other activists suffered the same fate.
01:09:17 It is of concern that this undercover officer's reporting does not include reporting and intelligence leading up to the events at Red Line Square, the events on the day itself and the debriefing and reporting following the event, including the impact on undercover policing.
01:09:37 These are important matters upon which the non-state cooperating group would wish to submit questions.
01:09:46 HN 106's cover name Barry Tompkins, who is not being called for reasons of ill health, denies having engaged in inappropriate sexual relationships with a woman during his time undercover.
01:09:58 There is evidence, as you've heard in the material from the security services, to suggest in their words that he may have bedded a woman whilst undercover.
01:10:08 Whilst it is noted that for some undercover officers a gist of the medical evidence is provided about their ill health, this is not always the case.
01:10:17 As far as we understand, no evidence has been provided in relation to HN 106's state of health.
01:10:24 We have searched the undercover policing website extensively, but we cannot locate it.
01:10:30 HN 106 is a vitally important witness on many of the central issues to be considered by this inquiry, not least the women deceived into relationships with undercover officers.
01:10:42 Separately, in the words of counsel to inquiry, quote, there are similarities between HN 106's deployment and that of HN 81, who reported on the Stephen Lawrence campaign.
01:10:55 End of quotes. HN 106's widespread targeting of justice campaigns is a sign of what is to follow, we suggest.
01:11:05 The non-state cooperating group urged the inquiry to adopt a more transparent approach to the disclosure of medical evidence relied upon where possible and where a witness is not being called for reasons of ill health.
01:11:19 So turning to the conclusion, sir.
01:11:23 This public inquiry must be committed to establishing the truth about why it was that large sections of the left and social justice campaigns were subjected to wide scale and sustained police spying and interference.
01:11:40 It is clear from what has already been revealed that there was widespread and systematic contempt for the rights of many perceived by the SDS and the security services to be on the left of the political spectrum.
01:11:58 The undercover policing of these groups and individuals was clearly not in accordance with their common law rights or their rights enshrined in articles 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights, 1950.
01:12:16 The UK government cannot claim to have been unaware of these rights.
01:12:23 In light of the clear disregard for these rights over a sustained period of time, any assurances by the SDS and the security services should not be taken at face value.
01:12:35 It is therefore of paramount importance that the inquiry provides the disclosure set out in this opening statement to all non-state cooperating group members to enable those spied upon to have the opportunity to correct false information and advise the inquiry of other significant breaches.
01:12:57 The full extent of all the human rights abuses that have been committed must be examined, not least so that lessons can be learned to prevent such actions happening again.
01:13:09 This is the whole purpose of this inquiry.
01:13:14 The sheer scale of the spying operation, the volume of people and groups spied upon, the apparent lack of accountability, the exaggeration of risk and the obvious imbalance in targeting by the SDS between the left and the right, all suggests in the submission of the non-state cooperating group that undercover policing during this tranche was from its inception.
01:13:43 It was an unlawful enterprise conducted for political purposes and motivated by a desire to protect the establishment rather than the wider public interest.
01:13:56 The non-state cooperating group urged the inquiry to investigate all the questions that are raised in this opening statement and reiterate the demands that were made in the opening statement for tranche one, phase one, which I will repeat again.
01:14:11 So, number one, facilitate proper core participant and public access to the proceedings, if necessary, by audio visual live streaming, ensuring equality of arms between all core participants, including through legal representation, enable non-state core participants to participate meaningfully and effectively in the proceedings.
01:14:40 And do so effectively, including by giving them disclosure of their personnel files and disclosure in advance with reasonable time to prepare so they can assist the inquiry with themes and questions.
01:14:55 Publish the full list of groups spied on, publish photographs as well as cover names of undercover officers so that members of the public can know if they were affected and make all efforts to contact non significant non-state witnesses.
01:15:13 And finally, so we asked that you list the next phases and tranches of the hearing without unnecessary delay.
01:15:36 Thank you, sir. And sorry for the overrunning.
01:15:39 Don't worry about it at all.
01:15:41 These things happen.
01:15:42 Thank you.
01:15:43 Now I think Mr. Morris is next.
01:15:46 Do the short hand writers require a break before he begins?
01:15:54 Yes, please, sir.
01:15:56 And we will have a 10 minute break for the short hand writers to recuperate.
01:16:02 We will resume at 25 to 4.
01:16:32 Thank you.
01:16:48 Now take a 20 minute break.
01:16:50 We shall resume at 25 minutes to four.
01:28:58 Thank you.
01:29:00 Good afternoon, everyone.
01:29:02 We are just waiting for the chairman to return.
01:29:04 We shall be back shortly.
01:29:06 Thank you.
01:29:08 I am here.
01:29:10 How are you, chairman?
01:29:12 Your camera needs to be turned on, please.
01:29:14 I have no idea how you do.
01:29:16 It is not video.
01:29:18 There you are, chairman.
01:29:20 Welcome back, everyone.
01:29:22 I will now hand over to the chairman to continue proceedings.
01:29:24 Chairman.
01:29:26 Thank you.
01:29:28 I am sorry about the hiccup, Mr Morris.
01:29:30 Would you like to make your second opening statement?
01:29:52 Thank you.
01:29:54 I make this second core participant opening
01:29:56 statement following the recent disclosure to me
01:29:58 of a substantial volume of material
01:30:00 showing the targeting of myself
01:30:02 personally by
01:30:04 undercover officer
01:30:06 Graham Coates
01:30:08 , i.e. his witness statement
01:30:10 years and which I've just recently been able to read. I hope to respond briefly
01:30:15 to some of the strategic issues raised and explain a bit about being an
01:30:20 activist. I welcome the opening statement given by Kirsten Heaven on behalf of the
01:30:26 non-state core participants. I don't intend to repeat its points here except
01:30:31 for its conclusion which I agree with,
01:30:33 that quote, undercover policing during this tranche was from its inception
01:30:41 unjustified and illegitimate. It was an unlawful enterprise conducted for
01:30:47 political purposes and motivated by the desire to protect the establishment
01:30:53 rather than the wider public interest. I also reaffirm my previous witness
01:31:01 statement from March 2020 and my opening statement of November last year, paragraph
01:31:08 6 to 22 of which were formally endorsed by 90 of the non-state core participants.
01:31:17 About myself, as outlined during my previous statements I have been involved
01:31:25 since 1974 in a range of groups and campaigns trying to encourage people to
01:31:30 support one another and to make the world a better place. Such groups
01:31:35 include ones promoting libertarian socialist and anarchist politics,
01:31:40 workplace solidarity, environmental campaigning including London Greenpeace,
01:31:47 opposition to corporate power and exploitation including being one of the
01:31:52 two defendants in the McLibal case and community groups promoting local
01:31:59 mutual aid and self-organisation speaking up for their needs as local residents.
01:32:05 I am currently secretary of the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations
01:32:11 and chair of the National Federation of Parks and Green Spaces. The essence of my
01:32:18 personal motivation and political beliefs has remained consistent
01:32:23 throughout the last 50 years or so. The desire to tackle injustice, to seek
01:32:29 improvements in society, in the public interest and to encourage and empower
01:32:34 people to have as much control over their lives as possible. I left school in
01:32:41 1972 at the age of 18 and then did two years of full-time voluntary work
01:32:47 placements with refugees and people with disabilities.
01:32:53 I then began my job as an Islington postal worker in 1974 and moved into that
01:33:04 borough in London. I first became aware of the existence of anarchist groups
01:33:09 through an October 1974 BBC Open Door programme supportive of the
01:33:17 movement. Why was I attracted to anarchist ideas back in the 1970s?
01:33:24 Anarchism is defined as by the Oxford English Dictionary lexico online
01:33:33 a political theory advocating the abolition of hierarchical government and
01:33:37 the organisation of society on a voluntary cooperative basis without
01:33:43 recourse to force or compulsion. Anarchist ideas are about seeking
01:33:51 a society based on freedom and sharing rather than power and greed etc. and an
01:33:58 inclusive and collective way of working without hierarchical structures.
01:34:03 These are traditional ideas which along with authoritarian ideas too can be
01:34:10 found within the hearts of the majority of people within the majority of all
01:34:14 social and community groups and in movements for a better society. There is
01:34:20 also a need to take personal responsibility for what's going on
01:34:24 around us to care about others and to try to improve society regarding for
01:34:30 example people's rights to housing public services a decent income for all
01:34:36 good working conditions and human rights some real control over lives at work and
01:34:42 in neighborhoods and in people's private lives and to protect the natural
01:34:47 environment. In early 1975 I believe I started attending the Freedom newspaper
01:34:54 collective meetings in Whitechapel. A few weeks later I got involved instead in
01:35:00 the Anarchy magazine collective as the nearest group to me meeting in someone's
01:35:06 Islington home Islington's home. Also the group was good at discussing important
01:35:12 everyday issues of housing, poverty, exploitation, feminism, parenting,
01:35:20 industrial disputes etc. It was a friendly sociable group based on
01:35:25 meetings advertised in the paper and open to all supporters. I always tried
01:35:32 to understand and appreciate a wide range of points of view within the
01:35:36 anarchist movement and indeed all related campaigning activities. I was
01:35:43 active in the union of postal workers UPW up to 1980 encouraging a spirit of
01:35:51 mutual support and solidarity in the workplace and discussing and taking up
01:35:56 issues of concern to all members relating to terms and conditions of
01:36:00 employment, wages and rights. I was elected from my branch to attend the UPW
01:36:07 annual delegates conference of 3,000 delegates and a national rank-and-file
01:36:14 trade union movement conference of 1,100 delegates. Eventually I was elected as
01:36:21 the local UPW branch secretary. My branch of course took part in a number
01:36:28 of local London and national postal disputes. I did my job diligently and
01:36:36 personally got on well with most managers I came in contact with. See my
01:36:41 appendix one post office reference. I never hid my views nor did I try to force
01:36:50 them on anyone else. Anarchy magazine gave a platform for a range of views
01:36:57 some of which I disagreed with or was uncomfortable with but were legitimate
01:37:02 subjects of information to impart and debate to be had. E.g. the ones that I was
01:37:10 uncomfortable with included an anti-abortion article. I was concerned by
01:37:16 failure to put women's rights to choose at the heart of the subject. An
01:37:24 anti-fascist news and strategy article concerned by being too dismissive of
01:37:31 mass community based educational work needed. And thirdly an article about
01:37:36 guerrilla groups abroad concerned this was too militaristic and a substitute for
01:37:42 grassroots movements for change. I was also opposed to the Soviet Union system
01:37:51 and empire and keen to support dissidents. For example I took part in a
01:37:57 pro-dissident picket outside the Bulgarian tourist office in 1977 but was
01:38:03 unfortunately arrested for obstruction by the police despite no
01:38:10 obstruction occurring. I also visited Poland three times in the 1980s to
01:38:16 support Solidarnosc union activists and young anarchists resisting Soviet style
01:38:23 rule. I was pleased to be able to help establish establish direct links
01:38:28 between those interned in Poland and in Northern Ireland and tried to help
01:38:35 establish direct links between miners in eastern Poland and Yorkshire. My
01:38:43 increasing focus on the importance of grassroots movements not just
01:38:47 ideological groups or newspapers and my increasing concern for the growing
01:38:52 threats to the environment particularly the nuclear power industry led me to
01:38:57 drift towards getting involved in those movements towards the end of the 1970s.
01:39:03 And since then being involved in community and environmental groups and
01:39:11 movements has been my main focus. Just a short note on my relations with other
01:39:22 people. With other people personally I try to get on pretty much with everybody.
01:39:28 I value genuine friendships and honesty especially within activists and
01:39:33 community groups. I don't like violence between people and I've never hit
01:39:38 another person in my life as far as I can recall even when I have been
01:39:43 physically attacked. However I believe as do most people and the law of the land
01:39:49 that people have the right to defend themselves effectively but
01:39:54 proportionately when attacked or put under threats. In terms of relations with
01:40:01 governments groups and movements I am currently part of expect government
01:40:06 support and action for their cause. Hence I'm happy to work constructively
01:40:11 alongside both local and national government who have access to the
01:40:15 resources and decision-making powers that communities need to work for them.
01:40:20 On the local level I have been chair of my local Friends of Lordship Recreation
01:40:26 Ground, the local park, for the last 20 years in which we have been successfully
01:40:33 working in partnership with Haringey Council Park Service to jointly manage
01:40:37 Tottenham's largest public park. It has been recognized as an exemplary project
01:40:43 with a national profile. At the national level over the last three years I've
01:40:48 been on the sector government liaison body, that's the park sector and
01:40:53 government liaison body, coordinating its community empowerment in green spaces
01:41:00 workstream. See my appendix to letter to the National Federation from Rishi Sunak
01:41:11 MP when he was Minister of Parks.
01:41:16 Moving on to the conclusions to be drawn from the specific evidence of Graham
01:41:20 Coates, the undercover officer who targeted me. I have read the statement and
01:41:29 related disclosure looking back on the surveillance and infiltration of groups
01:41:34 I was involved with in the 1970s and then later in the 1980s and onwards and
01:41:41 how I was personally targeted I feel disgust at this cynical and blatant
01:41:47 breach of trust. Not just for me but also for the other victims I knew and know
01:41:53 such as the family with young children whose home was where the Anarchy
01:41:58 Collective held meetings. Of course I am outraged not just by the tactics used
01:42:06 but also by the very existence and purpose of the whole swine operation.
01:42:12 This starzy like behaviour is totally unacceptable. All my activity which was
01:42:23 being monitored was traditional and legitimate political and campaigning
01:42:27 activity albeit much of it was at the radical and libertarian end of the left
01:42:34 right spectrum. For example producing magazines, exercising hard fought for
01:42:41 rights to freedom of speech and assembly, attending or helping organise
01:42:45 protests and social events, for example demonstrations, public meetings,
01:42:52 picnics, attending trade union meetings and supporting industrial disputes,
01:42:59 supporting defence campaigns for people arrested and so on. These rights
01:43:07 explicitly enshrined in international conventions and laws are supposed to be
01:43:12 afforded specific and highest possible protection. Secret political policing is
01:43:19 not supposed to happen in this country only in totalitarian regimes who hate
01:43:25 any idea of human rights or effective opposition. I and others I know who were
01:43:33 targeted were friendly and trusting people and not some sort of scary thugs
01:43:40 from planet Zog as implied by a few apologists for this 50 year operation.
01:43:47 We were aiming to spread ideas which seek to protect and improve society for
01:43:52 virtually everyone's benefit. Graham Coates the undercover officer who targeted
01:44:00 myself concludes quote the anarchists I reported on posed the minimal challenge
01:44:08 to public order. Quote did not even really discuss activities that would be a
01:44:18 public order threat. Quote I do not think either the international socialists or
01:44:25 the anarchist movement was suppressive in terms of their actions. Quote I do not
01:44:32 believe any info I provided was particularly significant. I do not think it would have made
01:44:38 any difference to public order if I had not worked for the SDS.
01:44:48 A key question therefore is was the infiltration and the resulting breach of trust and human
01:44:54 rights especially of protected human rights for example to participate in political activity to
01:45:00 assembly and to exercise freedom of speech justifiable at all let alone proven to be
01:45:08 justified in the individual circumstances of each operation. The spying operation against myself and
01:45:16 others during the 1970s has not on the face of it been shown to have had any reasonable basis
01:45:24 whatsoever. In fact the opposite is true the right to take part in political religious and
01:45:33 trade union activity has additional legal protection at the highest level. In my own
01:45:40 experience I have battled over those rights as they are fundamental to people's ability to
01:45:45 challenge injustice and oppression. Here are just three very different examples that I've
01:45:53 been involved with. First being a litigant in person during the McLibel trial throughout the
01:46:01 1990s the longest case in English legal history. The campaign around the trial successfully used
01:46:11 mass defiance to defeat McDonald's attempts to censor their critics. As a result it is thought
01:46:19 that no corporation has since taken a similar case to court. Helen Steel my co-defendant in that case
01:46:29 and I as well as winning many damning verdicts against McDonald's core business practices
01:46:39 during the trial. Also eventually secured a historic legal victory at the European Court
01:46:45 of Human Rights in 2005. More details in my first opening statement.
01:46:55 Second in 2007 challenging the stop and search military style police roadblocks in Kent
01:47:03 aiming to undermine and isolate a week-long camp for climate action at the site of King's North
01:47:11 power station. I took part in a mass defiance effort which ensured the suspension and charge
01:47:18 and change of that police operation at the site. I was one of three people who took a successful
01:47:24 legal case against the police afterwards which resulted in a declaration that mass stop and
01:47:31 search against such protesters was illegal. Third as a community activist in Haringey asserting
01:47:41 the right to be able to distribute campaign leaflets to the public on the street. Council
01:47:48 enforcement officers had to recognise that political campaigners were exempt from bans on
01:47:55 handing out flyers commercial flyers usually in high streets. Of course countless thousands of
01:48:09 others throughout the UK and throughout history have asserted their political and human rights
01:48:15 and will continue to do so. Some comments on the strength of the evidence base
01:48:24 in the documents disclosed to me.
01:48:29 Graham Coates states in paragraph 38 of his witness statement that quote I have considered
01:48:35 the reports in the witness bundle. I do not specifically recall the content of any I underlined
01:48:44 any of these reports. However I accept that I must have provided information for a number I am
01:48:54 to emphasise a number of them. It is important to note that information in the relevant reports is
01:49:02 not necessarily accurate. For example a key report about me personally after a year of being
01:49:09 targeted states quote Maurice was brought up in Hackney and Stoke Newington. It was actually
01:49:18 and Finchley. Quote and gained GCEA level passes in English actually it was physics
01:49:29 and mathematics at a local school actually it wasn't local it was Ealing and Finchley.
01:49:39 Some reports also seem to have been created up to a month after the event they purport to describe.
01:49:45 I just vary by written text here.
01:49:52 And could have been at least partly written by someone else who may or may not have seen
01:49:58 some undercover officer notes and who may or may not have edited embellished or created content
01:50:05 in in any way they saw fit.
01:50:07 And now I add an extra point that's not in my statement. Document UCPI 5011648 dated 6th January 1978
01:50:22 is said to be based on quote information received from a reliable source about a meeting of the
01:50:30 Anegeek magazine collective a month earlier on the 8th of December 1977.
01:50:39 But Graham Coates is not listed as being present at that meeting unlike in the previous and following
01:50:46 meetings reports disclosed to me.
01:50:49 So who provided the information is unclear. It claims I stated at a meeting
01:50:56 that the collective should be involved in quote fire raising activities on government buildings
01:51:01 unquote in support of a long and bitter national firefighter strike.
01:51:08 And I also say that the collective should be involved in quote fire raising activities on
01:51:15 in support of a long and bitter national firefighter strike.
01:51:21 I suggested it is said that no one else agreed with.
01:51:25 In fact I recall that the group support for the strike
01:51:32 was sorry in fact I recall the group decided that its support for the strike would be to produce
01:51:40 support the firefighter strike stickers and join local picket lines.
01:51:47 I dispute the accuracy of the report given although I recognise that people might say
01:51:53 all kinds of things in private in the heat of the moment or exaggerate
01:51:58 or probe an idea to see what others think or make a joke or whatever.
01:52:12 The wider context and the real sources of violence and subversion in our society.
01:52:18 In the relevant period there seemed to be an almost pathological obsession with the left
01:52:23 by those in charge of the spying operations.
01:52:25 They seemed to cover the whole left spectrum that included the reformist left,
01:52:31 radical left, single issue left, left parties, libertarian and anarchist left,
01:52:38 left MPs and left leaning trade union activities.
01:52:43 What unites all of these left tendencies whatever their tactical differences.
01:52:54 The fact that they are all motivated by seeking to protect and improve society
01:52:59 and to encourage people to organise and speak up for their needs.
01:53:03 Such secret political policing is only supposed to take place as I said before under talent
01:53:08 talentarian regimes who despise human rights and any effective questioning
01:53:14 and opposition to those in power.
01:53:18 In the mid 1970s someone decided I should be targeted by the SDS and secret services.
01:53:26 As demonstrated elsewhere it seems clear that extreme right wing and pro-Nazi groups were
01:53:33 virtually ignored and we all know the long-term aims of fascist groups.
01:53:42 But if the SDS and MI5 had been genuinely worried about serious and large-scale
01:53:50 criminality and subversion in the 1970s and had carried out proper risk assessments
01:53:58 on the key existing and emerging threats to our society they would have been more
01:54:03 likely to have targeted the following organisations active around the same period.
01:54:11 One fossil fuel companies who 50 years ago were secretly suspect suppressing their own
01:54:20 research findings of the industry's calls in the global climate heating.
01:54:25 This now threatens the lives of millions of people and the collapse of the ecosystem
01:54:31 on which our species depends.
01:54:35 Tobacco companies and their subversive advertising and propaganda encouraging people to smoke
01:54:42 leading to widespread disease and death.
01:54:44 The development of tax havens subverting the state and society by hiving off billions
01:54:51 of pounds of tax revenue every year which could have gone to public services.
01:54:58 Car companies and the rampant pollution, danger and deaths caused by cars and the related
01:55:05 industrial scale criminality of breaching of laws on speeding, parking, pollution etc.
01:55:12 All backed by subversive pro-car advertising.
01:55:16 Traffic pollution contributes to thousands of premature deaths a year and has been at
01:55:21 illegal levels in urban areas for many years.
01:55:27 The military in Northern Ireland and the bloody Sunday massacre of demonstrators in 1972
01:55:35 calling for equal rights for all followed by mass interment without trial of thousands
01:55:40 of people showing what the British government is prepared to do to its citizens.
01:55:46 This led to another 25 years of bitter war and hundreds of deaths only resolved by
01:55:52 political negotiations and solutions.
01:55:57 The police themselves with the institutional racism and racist use of sus laws in the 1970s
01:56:06 believed to be the key cause of the 1981 uprisings and serious public disorder in
01:56:14 Brixton and across the country.
01:56:17 And finally the major construction companies
01:56:22 who bitterly opposed the 1971 national strike to improve wages and conditions on building sites.
01:56:30 Trade union pickets who became known as the Shrewsbury 24 were framed
01:56:34 and some jailed.
01:56:36 After nearly 50 years of campaigning the Court of Appeal last month declared a miscarriage of
01:56:42 justice.
01:56:43 During the appeal it was revealed that a secret anti-communist unit within the foreign office
01:56:49 backed by the Prime Minister Edward Heath had been involved.
01:56:54 Meanwhile the illegal industry-wide blacklist to deny jobs to construction site union activists
01:57:01 and others including incidentally myself and Helen Steel continued until recently.
01:57:09 Why didn't the SDS or MI5 target these construction companies instead of union activists?
01:57:16 Trade unionists continued to campaign against shocking safety conditions of building sites
01:57:23 and can report that the high rate of 250, 240 recorded deaths a year in the early
01:57:30 1970s on building sites was down to 50 a year, 50 a year in the early 1990s.
01:57:44 Specifically the targeting of London Greenpeace from the late 1970s onwards.
01:57:52 London Greenpeace begins to feature in the disclosed material from around 1978 onwards
01:57:57 as far as I can tell.
01:58:00 I first came across the group in the late 1970s through their work to expose the truth about the
01:58:05 dangers of nuclear power stations.
01:58:09 I later got involved in the group in 1982.
01:58:12 The group is a core participant and is due to be scheduled to appear in later hearings covering
01:58:18 the 1980s to 2000s so I'm not contributing a response at this stage to the disclosure so far
01:58:26 although they had asked to to be able to participate in this in this tranche.
01:58:32 Throughout the 1970s London Greenpeace campaigned against militarism and nuclear weapons.
01:58:39 Nuclear weapons which only exist to enable governments to threaten to murder millions
01:58:44 of innocent people.
01:58:47 From 1981 the group supported what became a massive movement to oppose the siting
01:58:53 of US cruise nuclear missiles on British soil from 1981.
01:59:01 With tens of thousands involved in regular blockades of military sites
01:59:05 including at Greenham Common.
01:59:07 London Greenpeace proposed and helped coordinate a day of action against the profits from the arms
01:59:13 trade in the city of London in 1983.
01:59:17 In 1982 the group had supported opposition to both sides in the Falklands war which notoriously
01:59:26 included the deaths of hundreds of soldiers from the sinking of an Argentine ship the Belgrano
01:59:32 outside an exclusion zone.
01:59:37 In the late 1970s the group began to focus more on the dangers of nuclear energy production
01:59:43 for which the group was targeted by undercover officers.
01:59:47 See disclosed files.
01:59:50 The group was also named in a secret anti-terrorism report to the government in 1980
01:59:56 obtained under the 30 years rule.
01:59:59 It states quote anti-nuclear power groups have been active since 1977 in arranging demonstrations
02:00:06 in various parts of the country.
02:00:09 In the past two years there has been a marked increase in the number of small anarchist
02:00:14 dominated or influence groups in the UK the most prominent being London Greenpeace.
02:00:20 The latter plays a major coordinating role in anti-nuclear affairs and is responsible for many
02:00:26 of the international links.
02:00:29 The bulk of the anti-nuclear power lobby including most of the anarchist groups
02:00:35 in the UK is opposed to the use of violence and there is no evidence of any current terrorist
02:00:40 threat from that quarter.
02:00:44 And I've disclosed that report of the relevant extracts to the to the inquiry.
02:00:51 But it was the industry itself that should have been investigated with the 1979 Three Mile Island
02:00:58 power plant meltdown in the USA a warning of the threat posed to the public.
02:01:04 In 1986 the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown caused an estimated nine to sixteen thousand deaths
02:01:12 from air pollution throughout Europe over the following 20 years.
02:01:18 I was later involved in the London Greenpeace anti-McDonald's campaign.
02:01:23 The McDonald's corporation opened their first UK burger store in 1974.
02:01:28 The campaign and subsequent McLeibow trial successfully exposed the corporation's subversion
02:01:36 of society dubbed the McDonaldization of society.
02:01:42 Of the parent child subversion of the parent child relationship by advertising to children.
02:01:51 Daily industrial scale breaches of laws protecting workers rights and animal rights.
02:01:56 And the fast food industry is seeking to replace healthy eating habits with the current unhealthy
02:02:02 junk food culture.
02:02:07 These practices resulted in serious rulings against the company at the end of the legal case.
02:02:15 Yet why didn't the SDS or the security services want to investigate and infiltrate this subversive
02:02:23 company?
02:02:24 There will be more on this matter at a later stage in the proceedings.
02:02:28 This will particularly focus on the three undercover officers who infiltrated London Greenpeace
02:02:34 during this period and the shocking and disgusting tactics they employed.
02:02:43 So briefly to conclude the spying operation against myself and others during the 1970s
02:02:50 The spying operation against myself and others during the 1970s has not, as I've said before,
02:02:57 on the face of it been shown to have had any reasonable basis at all.
02:03:03 In fact just the opposite it was unacceptable and unlawful.
02:03:08 It was a gross breach of people's trust and human rights which maybe could have
02:03:13 raised an arguable case if targeting active gangs of mass killers but has no shred of legitimacy
02:03:22 when it was actually being used to protect those who control society's wealth and power
02:03:29 from the real needs of the public.
02:03:33 Thank you very much.
02:03:35 Thank you, Ms Morris.
02:03:37 Our next hearing which will be of evidence will take place on Monday.
02:03:44 It will however be a somewhat unusual day.
02:03:47 We will begin not at 10 o'clock as usual but at 12 o'clock to accommodate Claren Langford
02:03:52 who will be the first witness.
02:03:54 Her evidence will be completed by four o'clock in the afternoon.
02:03:58 We will then have a break until 4.30 when Dr. Norl Temple will give evidence from Western
02:04:05 Canada. There's been a rather large time difference and so it will be very early in
02:04:10 the morning for him even though a little late for us.
02:04:15 His evidence is expected will finish by 6.30 until tomorrow, until Monday.
02:04:28 Thank you everyone.
02:04:29 The opening statements have now concluded.
02:04:31 We will resume at 12 p.m. on Monday with evidential hearing.
02:05:35 Thank you.