Hard questions for the Met's secret cops

12 April 2012

Undercover policing is vital for dealing with serious organised crime. That makes it all the more important that it should be conducted under proper controls. Yet a report into alleged abuses of undercover operations by a Metropolitan Police officer, Mark Kennedy, who infiltrated an environmental group, has now been shelved in light of further evidence of such abuses.

Investigators now have to consider allegations about another policeman, Con Boyling, who was also involved in infiltrating an environmental group, Reclaim the Streets. We shall have to wait for that report by the Inspectorate of Constabulary before we can pass proper judgment on these operations. But from what is known and alleged, there are serious questions for the Met to answer.

Did police chiefs authorise undercover officers to use fake names under oath in court? As a result of the charge that Mark Kennedy withheld evidence in the trial of several activists for occupying a government office, their convictions were overturned. Another trial of activists accused of plotting to break into a power station has been abandoned. The notion that the police have effectively perverted the course of justice is deeply troubling.

So is the suggestion that a police officer masquerading as an activist took part in discussions with the defence solicitor for the group. If true, this compromises the principle of confidentiality between lawyers and their clients. Other allegations are even more sordid. Are police spies allowed to have sexual relations with members of the group they were infiltrating? It seems they were.

The report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary into the case of Mark Kennedy is said to have stopped short of recommending that police covert operations should be authorised by a judge. If so, the inspectors must make clear how these activities are to be properly scrutinised because they appear to have got completely out of hand and have jeopardised the reputation of the Met and public confidence in the criminal justice system.

The Met says the system of regulating undercover operations is now stricter and all deployments are "lawful". In the light of these revelations, it seems reform was and is overdue.

Wrong referendum

There is much to be said for the principle of referendums, but less for having one on the question of whether to stay in the EU, about which the Tories are divided. A debate tabled by a Tory backbencher for next week has now been brought forward so that the Prime Minister can take part. There is already talk of a three-line whip to ensure Tory MPs vote against.

This is heavy-handed. A better option would be an amendment suggesting that aspects of British membership should be renegotiated. The reality now is that the crisis in the eurozone means increasing divergence between the interests of those members states which have the euro and those, like the UK, which don't. Managing this altered situation in Britain's interests, so as to return power to Westminster, should be the real priority, not referendums designed merely to let Eurosceptics let off steam.

Bad guests

St Paul's Cathedral has been extraordinarily tolerant of the anti-capitalist protesters who have occupied the square outside. But now it appears that as a result of the increasing scale of the protest the cathedral may have to close. In thanks for the hospitality to date of the dean and chapter, the protesters should not outstay their welcome.

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