My personal opinion of Gavin Williamson is not high. He has always struck me as typical of the kind of self-serving, ambitious oik that pass for politicians these days, and I mourn the fact that such people are allowed anywhere near Parliament, let alone Government. His threatening of the Russians and the Chinese with Britain’s “hard power”, including the sending of an aircraft carrier into the Chinese backyard to warn them, was a particularly severe example of his tendency to act like a complete idiot.

Nevertheless, I am deeply uneasy about the treatment that has been meted out to him over the last 24 hours. And I think it crucial that we separate our opinions of people out from what is right and wrong, just and unjust.

I fully accept the possibility that Mr Williamson may well have been the person responsible for the leak from the National Security Council meeting a couple of weeks ago. I accept that he may well be lying through his teeth and may turn out to be even more of a scoundrel than I had previously thought. But we have a tradition in Britain, which we seem to have all but lost, where we allow people who are charged with a crime the opportunity to defend themselves.

Of course, Mr Williamson has not yet been charged with a crime. However the action he is alleged to have taken is indeed a crime, and therefore he must be given the opportunity to defend himself against the allegation (and allegation it is), with the apparent evidence against him presented openly.

My big issue with what has happened so far is that the Prime Minister and her handlers, of whom my opinion is roughly the same as my opinion on Mr Williamson, are acting in their usual high-handed manner and — without having conclusively shown their case to be right — expect everyone to believe them. Here is what Mrs May said in her letter to Mr Williamson after the sacking:

“No other credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.”

Well, I’ve been paying attention for long enough to remember some very similar weasel words she used without presenting proper evidence in a certain case that I have been covering somewhat extensively. Here’s what she said in her statement to the House of Commons on 14th March 2018:

“Mr Speaker, there are therefore only two plausible explanations for what happened in Salisbury on the 4th of March … So Mr Speaker, there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter – and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury, including Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.”

I also note that this was remarkably similar language to that used by the Chairman of the National Security Council, Mark Sedwill, in his letter to NATO on 13th April 2018:

“We therefore continue to judge that only Russia has the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible. There is no plausible alternative explanation.”

It should be noted that, according to Mr Williamson, the accusations against him at the moment stem from a vendetta from that very same Mark Sedwill.

So we have Mrs May and Mr Sedwill, who seem to make a habit of coming out with phrases along the lines of “There’s no any plausible/credible alternative explanation/version of events,” and yet they seem to do so not only without presenting proper evidence, but by also insisting that there’s the end of the matter. Which is what they appear to be doing in this case:

“Opposition MPs said there should be an investigation into whether the Official Secrets Act had been breached. Downing Street said it had “compelling evidence” and the matter was closed.”

This seems to be their modus operandi:

  1. Make accusations
  2. Use weasel phrases like “no other alternative explanation” (which by the way is an admission that proof is lacking)
  3. Insist that we trust them and move on.

Well I for one don’t. In failing to produce compelling evidence, and in calling the matter closed so that Mr Williamson cannot defend himself against what is essentially an allegation of a crime having been committed, this most dreadful of leaders yet again shows her disdain for due process and the rule of law.

Let me repeat: Gavin Williamson may well be guilty of that which he is accused. If that be the case, let him be prosecuted and face the consequences. But I simply have no confidence in Mrs May or Mr Sedwill and the way they conduct these matters to simply take their words on trust. They cite circumstantial evidence to pronounce “no credible alternative” as if this proved the case (can you not think of a credible alternative? I can). And then they pronounce the case to be closed, and ask us to accept it. And so much as I dislike Mr Williamson, and much as he may well be guilt of this, I am certainly not going to trust the word of those who act like lawless little despots to tell us the truth.

210 thoughts on “In Defence of Gavin Williamson’s Right to Defend Himself”

  1. “Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal who was poisoned in Salisbury last March, has put her Moscow flat on sale, Sergei’s niece, Victoria, has told several Russian media outlets.

    Yulia has also sold her car by power of attorney and is also looking for a new owner for her dog, according to Victoria.

    Yulia Skripal’s cousin added that she does not intend to go back to Russia and will probably make a corresponding statement soon.”

    https://sputniknews.com/russia/201905181075121622-yulia-skripal-flat-statement/

  2. Hi all,

    I must ask that certain commenters stop posting comments about Rebecca Hudson which are speculative and potentially libellous. I have been in contact with Rebecca, and I know that she has been very distressed by some of these comments. By all means, comment on Rebecca’s reporting, but I would be grateful if comments could cease that imply anything untoward about her, her relationships or her motives. If there are any such comments, I will have to move them straight to the bin.

    Thanks,

    Rob

    1. Hello Rob! I believe your post aimed at me. Sorry if I upset you. It is what I believe
      but I will not mention fiasco-HOAX again.
      If You in contact with Rebecca as You say? Please ask her some important questions
      regarding 04-03-18.
      Images x3 Bench Area Post Alleged Attack Within Police Cordon Having A Jolly With
      Dodgy-Rebecca-Collins-Holloway.
      If We On A Case Why Are You Censoring Legitimate Posts-Comments?
      I don’t care about Liable Claim. Novihoax and involvement of said persons
      is the important issue is it not? Otherwise this Blog has-is a waste of time!

      You Cant Solve A Case By Being Nice-Not Upsetting Suspects In Frame.

      1. Not just you, Mark, it was me too.

        Apologies to Rob, for posting something potentially inflammatory on his blog – although I truly hadn’t expected any journalist to be quite so thin-skinned about some fairly mild banter.

        (An apology is also owed, by me, to Mark Urban for implying that he, and only he, might be able to navigate the drama’s director around security sensitivities. The sentence ought to read ‘Maybe someone like …’).

        1. Maybe we both getting a bit close to an answer eleanor….
          Muddying and Fudge?

          Good Work,Take Care. Be Careful! TTFN….

  3. Hello Ladies-Gents! Just passing through not stopping. Is this true regarding
    BBC Action Drama Novihoax?
    How is this allowed during an On Going Police Investigation. When Good Honest
    People apply for a FOI and told No Due On Going Police Investigation?

    What if Salisbury Hoax ever comes Court Case as I very much doubt it will but
    any Witness-Juror will now be compromised via BBC false evidence.

    Is this The Plan Via TPTB-HMG-MET-MI56?

    Muddying-Fudging Waters.
    Best Wishes.

    1. Hello, Mark, I was thinking about you only a couple of days ago and wondering how you were.

      The Novijoke Story is going to be a piece of entertainment and of course a fiction – given that there’s so little in the public domain, there’s plenty of space for creative interpretation of what might have happened. Maybe Mark Urban will be used as a consultant, to enable them to deftly sidestep the places where a hidden fact might lurk. And maybe there’ll be a storyline about the young local journalist and her police source (you know the one: the police inspector who told her he was investigating a drugs case).

      Good to ‘see’ you, whenever, and keep fudging, nudging and muddying with my best wishes to you …

      1. Before the BBC airs this make-believe drama of the Skripal affair it should issue a pre-broadcast statement to the effect that the programme is based entirely upon speculation and anything depicted in the programme is for entertainment purposes only as there is no verifiable evidence available regarding the truth of the matter. Anything less would be abrogation of responsibility.

        One has to assume the BBC receives its information from government sources in matters such as the Skripal affair like the rest of the public at large. The problem with the Skripal story is that a substantial proportion of the public have forensically examined the government narrative and concluded that it simply doesn’t compute.

        I have little hope that any statement from the BBC in relation to the veracity of the programme will be forthcoming prior to it being broadcast as the BBC appears to have taken on the role of mouthpiece for the government and has long since lost its reputation as an independent broadcaster.

        I will be most concerned if this programme is broadcast following the entire government narrative and as unvarnished truth.

      2. Hi eleanor,best wishes! Rob seen his arse over a legitimate line of enquiry?
        How much does Rob Know if in contact with players 04-03-18 and not
        updating us on Blog?

        Take easy eleanor and take care. Been a pleasure working with you on
        this Hoax….xx

        1. Rest in Peace, Mark, and I write this having read on another Blogmire thread that you died less than five days later, sometime on 23 May iirc.

          So your post of http://www.theblogmire.com/in-defence-of-gavin-williamsons-right-to-defend-himself/#comment-28207 – May 19, 2019 at 11:11am, was your last post here.

          In a now removed comment, I wrote that I hoped your belovéd Merc has been rehomed to an appreciative new curator … and that the new owner continues to lavish TLC on it.

  4. I don’t pretend to know what the heck is going on in the US;
    What Trumps Real and False Aims / Agendas are
    What the other sides are up to; Clinton / Democrats
    Where Israel and the NWO fit in
    Who is on which side in the CIA, FBI & all the other Intel agencies

    I feel there are more than 2 sides, many agendas and lies upon lies.

    I know it impinges on the UK

    I know the BBC won’t tell the truth

    May, Skripal, Steele, Anti Russia, Mi5/6, Integrity Initiative and all the paralysed MP’s.

    The US are going down the pan and are taking the UK with it and our elected representatives do nothing; not one question on the corrupt Skripal Hoax, not even the threat of an Inquiry for fear of where it may lead.

    The MP’s did nothing and their parties’ got a hammering in the Council Elections. Brexit is a side issue, the US (and the larger issues) are the problems that have to be faced.

    Both the Tories and Labour are in for a shock at the next General Election if enough people wake up and realise if you keep voting for the same thing you get the same thing.

    There is Not One single Current MP is worth voting for at the next election. The minority parties hope to gain wins flowing from public dissatisfaction in the main parties but the truth is they are minority parties for a reason, they are unpopular. The Pop Up Brexit Party is led by a deeply troubled individual that is attracted money and power and has an unhealthy relationship with Trump.

    We are stuffed as a nation because we allowed the neocons to hijack Parliament, the Security / Snooping Services, the Justice System and the media.

    They look after themselves with the taxpayers money and hold the taxpayers (their funders) in contempt.

    The youth are enslaved, suppressed and disenfranchised by the CIA drug model and the US economic model of keeping the majority on the breadline, benefits or poverty. To rebel means harsher treatment and punishment.

    You don’t have a PhD in economics to know there are too many billionaires in this country and too many food banks. Too many misdirected education budgets and to many illiterates leaving school. Too much access to cheap drugs and too much youth unemployment and youth crime.

    And the answer our politicians give;

    Give away Billions in foreign aid
    Spend Trillions on arms and needless illegal wars
    Cut welfare budgets
    Increase Politicians and civil servants pay pensions, perks and jollies.
    Cut public spending
    Increase Surveillance and Security Measures
    Introduce Universal Credits and pull the belt tighter
    Buy a couple of Aircraft Carriers (for what purpose?)
    Threaten Russia and China

    And then demonstrate how much more Contempt these MP’s have for the people who voted for them and pay for them by permitting Assange to be extradited on Secrecy Charges in the US but not investigate or prosecute Gavin Williamson on a far more serious charge of breaching the Official Secrets Act. (Spineless Gavin should be up in arms pointing his finger at the actual criminal who was responsible for the leak – (Sir Mark Philip Sedwill KCMG, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, former National Security Adviser)

    Are we really going to vote for these people again? Are we going to continue to tolerate the Civil Servants that direct and produce the dystopian world that they have created for themselves at the expense of the serfs (who fund their privileged and lavish lifestyles)?

    Can we afford to keep going in that direction?

    No we can’t afford it and yes we (as a whole) will keep voting for more of the same. That’s why Empires and Civilisations fall, because the human condition dictates that is how things are and always will be.

    But if it is of any consolation this is the reason:

    Word Population

    1950 2.556 Billion

    2020 7.585 Billion

    Nearly 3 times more

    That is a problem but not The Problem

    The Problem is the new money is not owned by 3 times the number of people; that would cause problems in the pecking order but mafia style wars normally sort out workable solution.

    No the problem is there are not just 3 times the number of wealth controllers, there are hundreds more. The main controllers of the money.

    So Israel, the Catholic Church, the UK, the US and their secret societies don’t have the clout they once had and that peeves them.

    https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/meet-the-8-men-who-control-half-the-worlds-wealth.html

    The New Money doesn’t have the experience in global controls though (apart from accounting). They don’t know how to start a war to gain territory, weaken opposition and reduce population in order to manage the assets.

    So its the Old way vs the New and we have at this juncture a hybrid of the two which as you might imagine took the worst from each; Greed, Corruption, Ostentatiousness, Excess, Poverty, Homelessness and Tyranny.

    Whereas a world with 7 and a half billion contributors in it (not owners) might prefer a different set of values; Fairness, Compassion, Openness, Generosity, Carefulness and True Democracy (with honest representatives)

    The two worlds are too far apart. The only foreseeable outcome is not good for any of the participants.

    But we did vote for it and let it happen as we watched.

    1. Not much of a choice: B’liar bombed Iraq (based on lies), ‘Dave’ bombed Libya (based on lies), Treasonous Mayhem has bombed the UK… the only thing you can be sure of is that voting Lib/Lab/Con will result in more ‘bombing’ and lies. The first task is to end the current monopoly of Con/Lab on government – if that actually happens then other things become possible but if it doesn’t happen, you know exactly what to expect.

    2. Unemployment at lowest since 1865 due Zero hour [0] contracts
      Agency Companies making a fast Pound [£]
      Universal Credit disaster
      Sanctioning
      Conservative Party Broadcast BBC…What A Load Of Poo!

      My Vote Will Be Salisbury A Novihoax Lie
      Gatwick A Drone Hoax Lie

    1. That BBC article contains one falsehood, unless I’ve missed something:

      “The UK has said it believes they are agents of Russia’s military intelligence service, the GRU, and that one of the men is a military officer who received an honour from Vladimir Putin.”

      As far as I know, “The UK” has never officially said what the ‘real’ identities of Petrov and Boshirov are, or that either of them received an honour from Putin. Bellingcat and others have made the claim (without verification) that P&B are really Chepiga and Mishkin.

      1. By the sound of the blurb it is going to be set along the lines of the official narratives and not the facts or the truth.

        And yet we are paying for it.

        If anyone can be bothered to step up an begin a crowd funding campaign to fund an antidote to the BBC drama; another film drama based on facts, science and the truth of what happened in Salisbury I and I suspect many more would chip in, some might offer their time and skills / experience in scripting, producing and directing the drama.

        Just an idea but it can’t only be one way all the time, the taxpayer funding the lies, that’s getting beyond tiresome now.

      2. It actually contains another as well, Brendan:

        “Two men named as suspects claimed to be tourists who went sightseeing in Salisbury but returned to London within an hour.”

        Well, they were shown at Salisbury station at 11:48. Returning to London within the hour would mean that they returned before 12:48. Yet I could have sworn that the Metropolitan Police issued images of the men on Fisherton Street at 13:05 and 13:08, plus I could have sworn I’ve seen footage of the men outside Dauwalders at 13:48. But no, that can’t have happened, because they apparently returned within an hour.

        Is this an example of:

        A) The BBC just failing to get their facts right

        B) An attempt to sow the idea in people’s minds that they skedaddled back to London pronto because … well because that’s what you’d expect them to do, as opposed to going into town and doing a little window shopping?

        But here’s the big question:

        How can this programme be aired when the investigation is still ongoing?

        Answer: Well they got away with it with the Panorama programme so why not?

        1. Yes indeed, and the next train to London didn’t depart until about forty minutes after they were seen on CCTV at Salisbury station at 13:50. So they were in Salisbury for more than two and a half hours in total, and departed more than two hours after they allegedly sprayed Sergei Skripal’s door handle with nerve agent.

          As was discussed here last year, they had plenty of time to catch a train at 13:27 if they had wanted. But instead they wandered around town after their ‘hit job’ and very likely caught the 14:27 if the times given by the Met are correct. That train departed six minutes late at 14:33 and arrived in London at 16:48 (the Met said “They left Salisbury and returned to Waterloo Station, arriving at approximately 4.45pm”).

            1. From your link, there is a very intriguing timeline:

              “Hudson talked me through it in a cafe opposite the cathedral. She arrived at the bench just after the Skripals had left for hospital and in effect has kept vigil ever since. “At first, it was just normal gear for the police there,” she said. “It was three hours before the fire brigade came and started to decontaminate. As soon as they put those white suits on, it started to look unlike anything I’ve ever seen in Salisbury or anywhere else.”

              It had been a slow week because the office was snowbound. Stuck for a lead story, Hudson originally pursued the line that it was a fentanyl overdose, the first evidence of the opioid in the city. Then the hospital was suddenly cordoned off. Then someone waiting at the press conference, which kept being postponed, said the victim was a Russian spy. Hudson went back to the newsroom and then was up all night watching germ-warfare operatives rope off Zizzi. The next two weeks were a blur of no sleep.”
              .
              .
              We know Rebecca arrived there at approx 5:45pm – the police were in ‘normal gear’. Three hours later (so around 9pm) the fire brigade donned white suits to ‘decontaminate’.

              “THEN the hospital was suddenly cordoned off” – we know that was early on Monday morning and lasted until around 11am. We know the panic was caused by somebody presenting with similar symptoms – that can only be Bailey (i.e. he did not arrive on Tuesday morning as the narrative has it. Why have they changed the time of Bailey’s arrival?)

              “THEN someone waiting at the press conference, which kept being postponed, said the victim was a Russian spy” – someone at a press conference blabbed it was a “Russian spy” and nobody did anything about it? The press conference was about an hour before the BBC tweeted (just after 6pm) that it was indeed a “Russian spy” but none of the journos in the room filed an ‘exclusive’… or even tweeted it?

              But the really curious point is: why did they wait 3 hours to decontaminate the bench area? Surely that should either be done immediately or not at all. Why did someone decide, 3 hours later, approx 9pm on Sunday, to send in firemen in white suits?

            2. Where did the Guardian reporter get that idea they “came in on the replacement bus service”?

    2. A BBC docudrama to complement the mockumentary that Panorama produced? Tssk

      1. Don’t pay BBC Propaganda Licence Fee. Unlike Low Intel UK Sheep that pay for
        and believe the rubbish n lies BBC broadcasts 24/7

    3. There will be research, meticulous research.

      BBC Two has ordered a new drama based around the 2018 Salisbury poisonings.

      The factual drama will focusing on the impact of the Novichok poisonings on the community, telling how ordinary people reacted to a crisis on their doorstep, displaying extraordinary heroism as their city became the focus of an unprecedented national emergency.

      The drama is written by Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn, and produced by Dancing Ledge Productions for BBC Two.

      They say: “We feel extremely privileged to be telling this story. Extensive, meticulous research is at the heart of how we like to work and we’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of the people of Salisbury who have opened up to us over the past few months and continue to do so. This is an extraordinary story full of ordinary heroes, the tale of how a community responded to an inconceivable event.”

      1. “…an inconceivable event” – do you think that might be why it is an unbelievable narrative?

    1. As predicted, Paul.
      Here two main characters – Serhiy Leshchenko (left), Victoria Nuland and Mustafa Nayem :
      https://twitter.com/SergeiMillian/status/1127935129211559938

      Leshchenko and Nayem were main players to trigger the Maidan Coup d´etat.
      But they don´t belong to the neo-nazis. They view themselves as reformers.
      They are closely associated to the Atlantic Council, Soros and McCain.

      The next name that will pop up soon is Alexandra Chalupa !

  7. “The Italian prime minister has suddenly requested resignations from 6 deputy directors of Italian intelligence agencies: DIS, AISI and AISE. This was all after I outed Mifsud in Rome and the president called the Italian prime minister. Italy has flipped and are giving up Brennan.”
    https://twitter.com/GeorgePapa19/status/1129100036254490624

    Is this house-cleaning by Salvini? Will the UK follow suit?

    Horowitz report is expected early next week… Trump is going to declassify all the FISA documents next week (Horowitz’s report won’t make much sense without them).

    1. The problem : You cannot trust Papadopoulos either. He is a wannabe, a peacock.
      Sure, he was badly played. But some of his statements need to be digested with a pinch of salt.

      Nevertheless – stormy weeks are coming.

      What was done to these people can be done much easier to YOU.
      There is no justice anymore in the world.

    2. 112.International was completely hijacked by Poroshenko. Not better than BBC and CNN.
      If you want to be informed what really happens in Ukraine, read strana.ua

  9. Sean Hannity says he is hearing that the Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz’s investigation into alleged Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuse is “done and it’s devastating.”

    “…the people “likely” in legal jeopardy are former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, former FBI General Counsel James Baker, former FBI special agent Peter Strzok, former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, “maybe” former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and “certainly” Steele and Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson.”

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sean-hannity-doj-inspector-general-fisa-abuse-probe-is-done-and-its-devastating

    Horowitz’s report is the next major shoe to drop but we will have to wait and see if anything happens… will anyone be arrested?

      1. I actually believe it might happen this time… if Horowit’z report is finished, it will kick things off.

        Earlier this week, Joe diGenova said that Horowitz was already convinced the last 3 FISA applications were illegal and was close to saying the first one was illegal as well… if that is now finished and the report says ALL the FISA applications were illegal, Comey is in a lot of trouble since he confirmed the veracity of the dossier (when he already knew it was a political hit piece).

        AND Trey Gowdy is saying that the FBI used information from (HRC’s ally) Sidney Blumenthal to corroborate the dossier:

        “I have seen each factual assertion listed in that dossier, and then I’ve seen the FBI’s justification. And when you’re citing newspaper articles as corroboration for a factual assertion that you have made, you don’t need an FBI agent to go do a Google search.”

        Trey Gowdy says FBI relied on Sidney Blumenthal info to ‘verify’ dossier:
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XyyMUhIOfI

        The rats are running out of corners to hide in… better gets LOTS more popcorn!

  10. Gradually, Gina Haspel comes into focus !

    Quote : The review is also likely to entangle the C.I.A. director, Gina Haspel, who was the agency’s London station chief at a seminal moment in the F.B.I.’s investigation. In late July 2016, the Australian government told the United States Embassy in London that George Papadopoulos, a Trump campaign adviser, had told an Australian diplomat that Russia had damaging information about Hillary Clinton in the form of stolen emails before WikiLeaks published them. It remains unclear if Ms. Haspel was aware at the time of the information the Australians had provided to the United States.
    That information partly formed the basis for opening the Russia investigation. F.B.I. agents traveled the following month to London to interview the diplomat and then mounted an operation targeting Mr. Papadopoulos and several other Trump campaign aides with personal ties to Russia.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/us/politics/russia-investigation-review.html

    The information about Papadapoulos, which the Australian diplomat Alexander Downer most probably gave to Gina Haspel personally, has its origin in Josef Mifsud.
    The Mueller Report strangely enough brands Mifsud as a middle man of the Kremlin.
    A proof of how biased Mueller is.

    This is what Papadapoulos just said in an interview :
    „Josef Mifsud at a five star hotel in front of probably 50 people in a dining hall deceides to tell me in an open space :
    „Hey George, I just came back from Russia, and you know what I´ve learnt ? That the Russians have Hillary Clinton´s emails.“
    And I said „what do you mean, Josef ?“
    He said „they told me“ just pointing at himself.
    I´ve never heard who, when, how, except that the Russians have thousands of Hillary Clinton´s emails. I also never heard the word „Podesta“ or „DNC“.
    So, what I thought was happening there was, that this person was mediating a rumor, which has been circulating in Europe, that Clintons private State Department of emails might have been hacked and that this person was validating a rumor that other people were openly speculating about.“
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggNWpNZJjNg

    “…this person was validating a rumor that other people were openly speculating about.”
    Let this sink in for a moment…

    The NYT wrote : “That information partly formed the basis for opening the Russia investigation.”
    A RUMOR – spread by a man close to a lot of Western politicians !!!
    Was Boris Johnson investigated for his ties to Mifsud ?

    Rod Rosenstein, who stepped down as deputy attorney general last week, said in a speech in Baltimore a few days ago :
    “I always need to base my opinions on credible evidence.”

    Since when are RUMORS credible evidence ?
    The same goes for the Steele Dossier – RUMORS.
    The whole RussiaGate is a farce. But a very very dangerous one.
    A lot of livelihoods have been destroyed by this ghost hunt.
    The Skripals maybe included.

  11. WHY RUDY GUILIANI CANCELED HIS KIEV VISIT

    Rob, you kick at an open door, I predicted the Ukraine involvement a long time ago.
    Let me elaborate a little bit on the Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris video (which just scratch the surface).

    The central figure in RussiaGate is John Brennan. It’s almost impossible that Gina Haspel (who was in London at the time) was not involved in Brennan’s actions.
    Brennan’s goal was to prevent Trump’s election.
    His strategy was based on two pillars:
    1. Produce “facts” that discredit Trump and his staff.
    2. Use the loyal media for a broad-based smear campaign.

    Means to achieve the purpose were entrapments AND the dossier.
    I strongly believe that the cornerstones of the dossier were already in the drawer latest at the end of 2015.
    To target Trump´s campaign on US territory Brennan needed the FBI. The FBI was responsible for FISAs and wiretapping. For this, the FBI had to be provided with “feed” : THE DOSSIER.

    To make the dossier credible, the author had to be known to the FBI as a credible source.
    The actual authors, Glenn Simpson and Alexandra Chalupa (with the help of the Ukrainian secret service SBU) were NOT well-known sources to the FBI.
    Therefore, they needed Steele, who was willing to put his name under the dossier for a lot of money. And he most probably amplified the story.

    THE UKRAINE CONNECTION :
    The Paul Manafort part of the dossier for sure has its origin in Alexandra Chalupa (I already posted on her).
    She is well connected in the Ukraine and she was digging into Manafort for years.

    In March 2016, Chalupa met with Ukrainian Ambassador Chaly and Oksana Shulyar, his top aides, at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington to discuss the connections between Manafort and Russia, and Manafort’s potential association with Donald Trump (meeting is proven fact).

    Andrii Telizhenko, who worked as a political officer in the Ukrainian Embassy under Shulyar, was then instructed by Shulyar to assist Chalupa with her investigations.
    Telizhenko testified : “Oksana said that if I had any information, or knew other people who did, then I should contact Chalupa. They were coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa. Oksana was keeping it all quiet, but the embassy worked very closely with Chalupa.“

    On March 28, 2016, Trump hired Manafort for the Trump campaign.
    The day after Manafort’s hiring, Chalupa briefed the DNC’s communications staff on Manafort, Trump and their ties to Russia.

    On March 30, there was a meeting at Capitol Hill in Washington, which was attended by Chalupa, Ambassador Chaly, Melanne Verveer and David Kramer.

    In an email, which was sent in early May 2016 to then-DNC communications director Luis Miranda, Chalupa indicated that she had additional sensitive information about Manafort that she intended to share “offline”, including “a big Trump component you and Lauren need to be aware of that will hit in next few weeks and something I’m working on you should be aware of.”
    The email was later hacked and released by WikiLeaks.

    Chalupa provided off-the-record information to some journalists, for example Michael Isikoff, to start the hunt on Manafort.

    There´s a lot more to say about Chalupa, but I think this information is enough.

    NABU :
    The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) was created in 2014 as a condition for Ukraine to receive aid from the U.S. and the European Union, and it signed an evidence-sharing agreement with the FBI in late June 2016. But the FBI started to work with NABU already in March 2016.

    In April 2016, the FBI and the United States Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs donated a $500,000.00 package of scanning equipment, hardware and software to the NABU. This payed off later…

    On July 16, 2016, Josh Rogin published the article “Trump campaign guts GOP’s anti-Russia stance on Ukraine” in The Washington Post as an opinion piece.

    Crossfire Hurricane was then opened on July 31, 2016 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

    On August 3, 2016, Michael Crowley published the article “Trump changed views on Ukraine after hiring Manafort” in Politico.
    The next day, Ambassador Chaly published his opinion piece titled “Ukraine’s ambassador: Trump’s comments send wrong message to world” in The Hill.

    In August 2016 documents (the so called black ledgers) appeared to show millions in cash payments that were earmarked for Manafort by the party of former Ukrainian president, Yanukovych.

    On August 14, 2016, Andrew E. Kramer, Mike McIntyre and Barry Meier published the article “Secret Ledger in Ukraine Lists Cash for Donald Trump’s Campaign Chief” in The New York Times :
    Quote : „The accounting records surfaced this year, when Serhiy A. Leshchenko, a member of Parliament who said he had received a partial copy from a source he did not identify, published line items covering six months of outlays in 2012 totaling $66 million. In an interview, Mr. Leshchenko said another source had provided the entire multiyear ledger to Viktor M. Trepak, a former deputy director of the domestic intelligence agency of Ukraine, the S.B.U., who passed it to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.“

    It is important to note it were „anonymous sources“ who passed the black ledgers to Leshchenko and Trepak !
    Trepak was the head of the SBU’s anti-corruption department and in August 2016 he was a professor at the SBU´s academy.
    I don´t buy the „anonymous sources“. The black ledgers came out of the SBU.
    I smell Brennan behind the release of the black ledgers.

    On August 15, 2016, David Wright published “Manafort named in Ukrainian probe into millions in secret cash” in CNN.
    Followed by Maxim Tucker’s article, “Trump campaign chief linked to secret Kiev cash payments” on August 17 in The Times of London.
    Jeff Horwitz and Desmond Butler published “AP Sources: Manafort tied to undisclosed foreign lobbying” in The Associated Press.
    On August 18, Michael Weiss published the article “Here’s How Donald Trump’s Paul Manafort Helped Created Chaos In Ukraine” in The Daily Beast.
    On the same day, L. Todd Wood disputed The New York Times’ initial article about Manafort, citing his own visit to the NABU of Ukraine in May 2016.

    For sure Brennan´s broad-based smear campaign was now in full swing – with the help of Ukraine !

    On August 19, Leshchenko held a news conference in Kiev to highlight the black ledgers, which attracted international media coverage.

    On the same day, Paul Manafort resigned from the Trump campaign.

    Two weeks after his news conference, Leshchenko was interviewed by the Financial Times.
    The newspaper noted that Trump’s candidacy had spurred “Kiev’s wider political leadership to do something they would never have attempted before: intervene, however indirectly, in a U.S. election,” and the story quoted Leshchenko asserting that the majority of Ukraine’s politicians are “on Hillary Clinton’s side.”

    It is „highly unlikely“ that either Leshchenko or the NABU would have pushed the Manafort case without approval from Poroshenko or his closest allies.
    But almost immediately after Trump’s stunning victory over Clinton the Ukrainian Government backed away from investigating the black ledgers and some even suggested it might have been doctored or even forged.

    To improve the relation to Trump, Leshchenko and the head of NABU were charged of meddling in the US election.

    On March 22, 2019 Larouchepac.com wrote :
    “The court in Kiev charged that Artem Sytnyk, who led Ukraine’s anti-corruption efforts, and Serhiy Leshchenko, a politician funded by George Soros and Ukrainian oligarch Victor Pinchuk, were responsible for the leak of the payments allegedly made by Ukraine’s Party of the Regions to Manafort.
    Victor Pinchuk contributed millions to both the British intelligence outpost known as the Atlantic Council and the Clinton Foundation and is an extremely important player in the British operations against Trump.
    Not only was Christopher Steele being paid as an informant of the FBI concerning Ukraine, he was also funneling his dirty memos to the State Department’s Victoria Nuland, the U.S. case officer for the coup. StopFake, the anti-Russia censorship and InfoWar network associated with the Chalupa sisters, is a full partner of the British military’s Integrity Initiative information warfare operation.
    https://larouchepac.com/20190322/john-solomon-breaks-old-story-all-roads-russiagate-lead-back-british-coup-ukraine-not

    Now you only have to know that Serhiy Leshchenko is the adviser of the newly elected Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

    Many of these information may not have been known to Guiliani before. But now they are.
    Giuliani’s backtrack is therefore understandable.

    In an extra post I will clarify why I believe that much of the dossier is NOT from Steele.

    1. Thank you, Liane. For those interested there is more about John Brennan’s – and James Comey’s – involvement in Russiagate in an article by Mike Whitney at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/51599.htm
      Whitney thinks there may be big trouble in store for Brennan and Comey, as attorney general William Barr and inspector general Michael Horowitz have them in their sights.

  12. Check out Trump’s Twittering

    https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

    And don’t believe it.

    The US is in the smelly stuff

    https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/13/us-senate-threatens-sanctions-over-russian-pipeline-nord-stream-two-geopolitics-energy-germany-europe-gazprom/

    https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/15/asia/china-xi-jinping-us-civilization-intl/index.html

    Whichever war the US choose to fight (military or economic) they will lose, that’s the bottom line yet they insist on fighting, that is all they know, normally by proxy but now their cover is blown.

  13. For those who are interested, very interesting episode of The Duran, in which Alex Christoforou and Alexander Mercouris discuss Rudi Guiliani’s recent astonishing comments on Fox News about the Steele Dossier and its possible connection to Ukraine. At about 10 minutes in, Alexander Mercouris, who in my opinion is one of the most astute commentators on geopolitics out there, makes a very speculative comment about the possibility of Ukraine and the Skripal affair. It reminded me that George Galloway had also made that same possible connection in a piece he wrote last year.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SEiuLVvY64U

    1. Putin “We know everything” (31min 50secs into Rob’s YouTube ling above.)

      I believe this to be true in the Skripal case.

      Why they are keeping schtum I don’t know but if they do drop a Truth Bomb it will be a big one, one that could buy them a great deal of leverage not to drop it.

  14. Salisbury hoax made use of ‘snatch squad’ techniques.

    “Years ago I met a former IRA member, who said the abduction strongly echoed ‘snatch squad’ operations in Northern Ireland – the victim would be taken away for interrogation while someone disguised as the victim was driven in their own car as publicly as possible, to cause confusion and distract attention from abductors. The operation was made to look botched and amateurish – the cover of a bungling, sexually perverted burglar would help discredit any notion of state involvement.”

    https://sputniknews.com/europe/201805041064116385-hilda-murrell-mi5-conspiracy/

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7chmzc0-GE

    A CCTV clip of the Skripals’ car being driven (by???) was made available by the police, the only video ever released of the Skripals on that day, and neither Sergei nor Yulya are identifiable. The drama at the bench, of which no images have ever been released was all part of a distraction ploy. Sergei’s histrionics at Zizzi’s were to make sure he was noticed there at that time.

    As the MI56 operation failed miserably, Petrov & Boshirov were later named as the ‘assassins’, and it was all made to look botched and amateurish because that’s how ‘GRU thugs’ behaved. Had MI56 succeeded in their snatch job’, of course the Russians would still have got the blame, but like the IRA in certain cases, they would have been innocent but exploited as a cover for what really happened. The Russian-assassin theme would have acted as plausible cover story.

    In the Murrell affair, MI56 were using a team of six people from a private intelligence outfit to do their dirty work. This is standard practice and provides the state with ‘plausible deniability’. But, as with Salisbury, things went horribly wrong for them, so eventually a scapegoat for the murder was found – a 16yo living in a children’s home at the time.

    Hilda Murrell’s murder took place over 30 years ago, yet records are still being withheld, as they always are in these cases.

    In the Skripal affair, it was intended from the outset that the Russians were to be made scapegoats for a planned MI56 ‘snatch’ operation. Their snatch squad was no match for at least one other snatch squad operating in Salisbury on that day.

    1. There is one piece of evidence that causes me to believe that the Skripals actually were in Salisbury that afternoon.

      “As further details of Col Skripal’s movements emerged, a source close to Greg Townsend, manager of The Mill, revealed that he served the Russians last Sunday afternoon and had since been treated like a “terror suspect”, interviewed by police up to eight times last week.

      He said The Mill had 12 CCTV cameras, covering the large open-plan bar area as well as the upstairs balcony and lavatories overlooking it.

      “The pub has obviously remained closed for more than a week and the cordon widened, but Greg feels like he has been kept completely in the dark, they’re not telling him anything.

      “He actually served them. He’s had a bit of a time of it all and is a pending terror suspect.

      “He certainly said he’s being treated like one. He’s had around eight police interviews.”
      https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/13/salisbury-car-park-ticket-machine-cordoned-expert-warns-dusty/

      What happened at The Mill then? Was Greg Townsend interviewed eight times by police for serving Sergei drinks?

      1. Excellent! What ever happened it happened @ rear of Mill.
        Feel sorry for Manager being treated like that. Doing his job
        and gets grilled by Keystone Cops.

        1. A few things come out of it.

          1) Greg Townsend already knew Sergei – if Greg says he served him, then Sergei was there.
          2) If Greg Townsend was grilled by plod, then something unexpected happened there that was not part of any HMG plan.
          3) Nothing similar happened at Zizzi. Instead of grilling the manger there, plod had a party on the Monday evening!

      2. Was Yulia in Salisbury the week before?

        If Greg wasn’t being misquoted she could have been.

        He uses the words ” that he served the Russian(s) last week ”

        Does Yulia visit each week?

        1. Ken, The article is dated 13 March, 9 days after the events. I believe that Greg Townsend was holed up with the police for most of the week immediately following, so by the time this article was published it was over a week since.

          If I recall, Yulia was in Moscow the previous weekend, celebrating with her boyfriend.

          1. Paul

            Thanks for the info.

            Looks like he was given a good grilling.

            No glass collectors were contaminated though in the pub.

            Or plate/cutlery or glass collectors in Zizzis.

            Why just burn the table and not destroy all the plates and cutlery as well?

            1. All good questions – but I think you know the answers.

              Also worth mentioning that the search INSIDE The Mill didn’t start until the following week. I wonder how many people sat at the table by the door on Monday, that has been used by the Skripals the previous day?

              While the car park was subject to immediate and extensive searches, there was apparently nothing of interest inside The Mill… not even the table… I wonder why…

    1. MoA also mentions Bellinghoax:
      “Shortly after the incident the NATO aligned propaganda group Bellingcat asserted that the cylinders were dropped from helicopters.”

      What a complete bunch of charlatans. Higgins discredits himself at every opportunity.

  17. WOW !
    OPCW members leaked a document which is proof that Douma „chemical attack“ was staged !
    Read this :
    http://syriapropagandamedia.org/working-papers/assessment-by-the-engineering-sub-team-of-the-opcw-fact-finding-mission-investigating-the-alleged-chemical-attack-in-douma-in-april-2018

    OPCW’s unpublished engineers’ report (to get a clue, read the devasting assessment on page 8) :
    http://syriapropagandamedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Engineering-assessment-of-two-cylinders-observed-at-the-Douma-incident-27-February-2019-1.pdf

    1. “WOW” is the word!

      This is bad:
      “We conclude that the staging of the Douma incident entailed mass murder of at least 35 civilians to provide the bodies at Location 2. It follows from this that people dressed as White Helmets and endorsed by the leadership of that organization had a key role in this murder.”

      but the absolute killer is section 4:

      “4 The hijacking of OPCW
      In our last Briefing Note, we concluded by asserting that “It is doubtful whether [OPCW’s] reputation as an impartial monitor of compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention can be restored without radical reform of its governance and working practices”. The new information we have removes all doubt that the organization has been hijacked at the top by France, UK and the US. We have no doubt that most OPCW staff continue to do their jobs professionally, and that some who are uneasy about the direction that the organization has taken nevertheless wish to protect its reputation. However what is at stake here is more than the reputation of the organization: the staged incident in Douma provoked a missile attack by the US, UK and France on 14 April 2018 that could have led to all-out war.”

      The OPCW has been hijacked! I suggest the hijacking extends to Salisbury as well.

      1. The OPCW has been hijacked! I suggest the hijacking extends to Salisbury as well.

        Of course it does. The OPCW, the police, Public Heath England, SDH, Air Ambulance, DCBRNC, DSTL, the army. All have been hijacked in their higher echelons by puppets of a corrupt state, and this is nothing new. It’s no longer just MI56 and the police, but more widespread and flagrant than ever, thanks to an equally hijcked mass media.

    3. When documents were leaked in the Salisbury case, the OPCW replied very quickly.

      Russia published some results from the Spiez laboratory in Switzerland that showed the presence of BZ in samples. In response, the OPCW explained that the BZ was not the Salisbury poison but was only used as a control sample (as a reference to compare with the collected samples).

      That explanation is hard to verify when there is very little openness or transparency in the scientific investigation. the OPCW was very vague about the forensic samples it collected from Salisbury. We know the dates when the team visited Salisbury, but where and when were the environmental and biomedical samples taken, and who exactly took them?

      The leaked Douma document would be harder to dismiss because (if it is authentic) it would reveal a blatant cover up.

        1. Scott Lucas was forced to correct an earlier version of his work where he said that the leaked document ignored one possible factor in the impact of one of the gas cylinders. It was pointed out to him that the possibility of the cylinder bouncing off a wall had in fact been considered and ruled out.
          https://twitter.com/HRIMark/status/1127964438936424449

          Lucas – who is a professor – also makes this remark:

          “Confining himself to engineering, Henderson does not venture to explain why dozens of people were killed, if a cylinder was simply placed in a roof.”

          In other words, it was very narrow-minded of Henderson – as an engineer – to accept that an object dropped onto a surface is subject to the laws of physics! The overriding fact that must be accepted is that the White Helmets & Co are telling the truth about the dead bodies!

          1. The opcw didn’t see one dead body they took the word of the local’s / White Helmets as to the casualty list.

      2. The thing is when the OPCW talk about ” collecting ” forensic ” samples were they talking about collecting the British taken samples or did they take samples themselves as in ” collecting ” their very own samples as a cross reference to the British collections?

        1. It’s a good point KK but if the OPCW are proved to be corrupted then its rather moot.

          The samples that were taken from the “Skripals” and indicated that they had a specific Novichok in their systems, were blood samples, and they were taken in the first 24 hours (from the couple being found at the bench)

          These blood samples were sent to Porton Down and 13 hours later Porton Down were able to say what type of Novichok it was. A type that the OPCW had never heard of before but Porton Down actually had a physical sample of on the shelf.

          The OPCW representatives arrived more than two weeks later and the metabolites that somehow indicated a specific Novichok were no longer in the system of the two victims.

          The record shows that the OPCW took ownership of blood / tissue samples taken from the pair when they visited and through a DNA match they were able to confirm the original blood samples that proved Novichok A??? was present were indeed blood sample taken from the “Skripals” on the 4/5 March.

          The problem:

          The OPCW are bent (if the Douma document is genuine and correct)

          DSTL Porton Down are bent if they say they were able to identify a specific Novichok in metabolites in blood taken from the pair.

          Bent because the New Novichok was unknown to the OPCW and the rest of the world (or at least no one had reported the chemical to the OPCW). Porton Down are the only people known to possess that particular chemical and must have conducted mammalian testing (on humans or animals) in order to know with a high degree of certainty that the metablolites found in the blood samples found the result of this specific New Novichok. (A certainty that reached the bar of submitting evidence to the High Court under sworn statements)

          So which ever way it was Porton Down are bent.

          We know the UK government has lied over this affair, we know the British police have lied.

          So the value of the statements made regarding the samples taken from the stricken pair are worthless, none of the witnesses are honest and certainly not reliable.

          There is no possibility that Porton Down could identify a New Chemical from its metabolised constituents and say what the chemical formula of that chemical was in just 13 hours. It is equally impossible for the OPCW to look at that original sample and match it to the victims by DNA and say “yes this is precisely what Porton Down says it is”.

          We are listening to liars. The government and their agents can listen to these liars if they wish and say it is the truth but when a liars tell you something is the truth it doesn’t make it the Truth.

          The Skripal affair has been a lie from the start, until the liars are held to account in a Court of Law the lie will continue; we however do not have to listen to it.

          1. In the OPCW report:
            https://www.opcw.org/sites/default/files/documents/S_series/2018/en/s-1612-2018_e___1_.pdf

            The OPCW says:

            “The team received information on the medical conditions of the affected individuals,
            Mr Sergej Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey. ”

            I still maintain that that is extremely ambiguous. How many people are they referring to? That will have been poured over by OPCW lawyers and HMG, it says exactly what they wanted it to say but the ONLY way you can argue that it is not: “affected individuals + Mr Sergej Skripal + Ms Yulia Skripal, and + Mr Nicholas Bailey” is to suggest that their English is not up to scratch! I do not buy that! Put: “Mr Sergej Skripal, Ms Yulia Skripal, and Mr Nicholas Bailey” in brackets and it is clear; use a colon after “individuals” and it is clear. The way it is written is deliberately NOT clear!!!

            1. From The High Court Judgement

              https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/sshd-v-skripal-and-another-20180322.pdf

              “2. The fact of their exposure to a nerve agent has already had significant consequences on the wider domestic and international stage which I need not go into for the purposes of this judgment. However central to the application before me is the fact that on 14 and 16March 2018 the UK government issued a formal invitationt o the Director- General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to send a team of experts to the United Kingdom ‘to assist in the technical evaluation of unscheduled chemicals in accordance with Article VIII 38(e).’ This in effect is to independently verify the analysis carried out by Porton Down. In order to conduct their enquiries the OPCW wish to

              i)Collect fresh blood samples from Mr and Ms Skripal to
              a)Undertake their own analysis in relation to evidence of nerve agents,
              b)conduct DNA analysis to confirm the samples originally tested by Porton Down are from Mr and Ms Skripal,

              ii)Analyse the medical records of Mr and Ms Skripal setting out their treatment since 4 March 2018,

              iii)Re-test the samples already analysed by Porton Down”

              And

              “The TS intends to obtain new blood samples, obtain and test some of the samples already taken and undertake DNA testing to match the new and existing samples.”

              The High Court Judgement sets out in The Evidence 17 That:

              Mr Skripal is unable to communicate in any way.

              Ms Skripal is unable to communicate in any meaningful way.

              The judgement was signed on the 22nd March but the hearings were on 20, 21 and 22 March.

              Yulia says she was in a coma for 20 days (it was a medically maintained coma) so she was taken out of it immediately after samples were taken and the OPCW took swabs from the door handle on Thurs 22nd March and discovered incredibly pure Novichok.

              https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/03/22/police-officer-injured-russian-spy-poisoning-life-will-never/

              Everything was time managed including the news; what wasn’t managed at all was the sense and reality of the events and discoveries. None of it made any sense for a very simple reason it wasn’t simply all lies and Hoax they were very bad lies and Hoax. That some people still believe any of it is testament to the stupidity of humankind and not the skill of the Hoaxers.

          2. The quality of Porton Down’s sampling / testing expertise can be characterised by their involment in investigating the City Stay Hotel, Bow.

            They took a sample from a bedroom and said there were traces of Novichok present. Later the same day they re-sampled and re-tested and said the hotel had no Novichok in it anymore and it was declared safe for customers and staff.

            This event should tell you that Pirton Down are completely useless at identifying the presence of Nerve agents or they are prepared to lie when required.

            The net result is they cannot be trusted.

        2. Ken Kenn, the OPCW appeared to contradict itself in its report but I think it was just obfuscating an inconvenient fact without actually lying. It didn’t want to state clearly that the Novichok substance was identified from samples collected from the Brits (and not taken directly by its own team).

          On 12 April 2018 the OPCW said that its team “was able to collect blood samples from the three affected individuals”. But later in the same report it speaks of “biomedical samples collected by the British authorities from the affected individuals”.

          You have to read carefully to see that the blood samples were used to confirm the identity of the three victims, while the unspecified biomedical samples (presumably different to the blood samples) were used to identify the Novichok.

          But even that isn’t 100% clear, which I suppose is the idea (ie. to obfuscate). That ambiguity is not something you would normally expect in a document about a scientific investigation.

          1. That is yet more proof that the OPCW report was very carefully worded. On the face of it, it looks like it is saying what you expect it to say… but it might be saying something else entirely, which you were not expecting… so you have to read it EXTRA carefully to see what it is really saying.

            Not only is that: “not something you would normally expect in a document about a scientific investigation”, it is only something you would find in a document that has been very carefully drafted and intended to be ambiguous!

  18. Not all journalists and editors are lickspittle but all of the MsM is owned by a warmongering elite; to get paid as a freelancer or hold down a job as a staffer you have to write what is “required” to be printed.

    Occasionally an ambivalent or undecided voice will be given air to demonstrate balance but whilst we have politicians that are chosen by the Party and governments that are instructed from Washington we will get the bilge we do.

    It was nice however to re-read this and the question holds true today as it seems likely to until the end of time itself. (if the evidence was available we would have seen it by now)

    Simon Jenkin’s question: 18th July 2018

    “If the novichok was planted by Russia, where’s the evidence?”

    “https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/05/novichok-wiltshire-poisoning-russia-putin-world-cup?CMP=share_btn_fb&fbclid=IwAR0J6DNIr8-njNL4rdPZt_1oqgfwQE19gCKnX58NegXKDvSYf-9AcV0chRI”

    If Basu’s 5th Sept statement was the Hoaxer’s response to that elephant in the room observation they really missed the point as they failed miserably to provide any evidence other than the two Russians could both be in various places at the same time and catch trains that were cancelled.

    In this case, made-up evidence did not fill the void left by no evidence

    1. This is evidence that it’s the Russians wot dun it

      https://media2.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/2018_36/2555561/180905-skripal-suspects-mc-1332_5d30c8a2527430fe6ad61f27cdf5a749.fit-760w.JPG

      It shows them 1 minute after Basu said they had caught the 4:10 train back to London (they have not even passed through the turnstile onto the platform). It wasn’t that they had missed the 4:10 train, there never was a 4:10 train and the 4:20 was cancelled.

      But nevertheless this picture proves:

      Only Russia could make the Novichok concerned and not the 100’s of other labs around the world or the one 8 miles away with some of the Specific Novichok used, on the shelf (which had not been reported to the OPCW).

      Only the Russian State had the motive to poison Skripal and not the 100’s of ex colleagues he had betrayed or another State who wanted to embarrass Russia and put them in a bad light in the run up to the Russian elections and World cup.

      Only the Russian State had the opportunity to poison Skripal and not the 1000’s of people who were in Salisbury that day close to Skripal and his home including two sinister figures wearing masks.

      1. Two people wearing black cycling masks, seen within 200 yards of The Mill, only 30 minutes apart, cannot be coincidence. They were part of someone’s plan and were shielding their identity from CCTV cameras.

          1. Also worth noting that from the description of where the witness met the masked man (the witness was returning to Sainsbury’s car park), the masked man was heading towards Priory Square and the rear of The Mill, not away from it.

            1. Paul,

              Did you notice that Mark Rowley described DSB as one of the first to attend the scene of the incident?
              Even at this early stage how could the police not know who was where?

              1. Duncan,

                I am quite sure that, within a couple of days, the police knew all there was to know. They had hundreds of hours of cctv and also over 200 witness statements (not just people near the bench but also in Zizzi, The Mill and Pret, etc.).

                I think we can deduce a couple of things from this and the fact that they have not shared any of that information:
                1) something did happen that was not supposed to happen, which is why there was a police investigation; and
                2) they can’t (or won’t) tell us what was supposed to happen, or what actually did happen… which is why they came up with nonsense about door handles and nerve agents as a smoke screen.

          2. The fact that there were two masked people seen in the same small area, and within 40 minutes of each other, and that the second sighting only took place a mere 20 minutes or so before the bench incident can hardly be a coincidence.

        2. Dark Figure running along Market Walk as Police Car passed
          rushing to Hoax Scene at bench.
          Was PC driving car aware of Dark Figures involvement in Hoax
          explaining why Failed In Stopping A Prime Suspect?

          1. Whoever the dark figure was (hiding his face from the police car) he will have been caught on CCTV above Market Walk Entrance (Maltings end), Snap Fitness, (the one published – Jenny’s), Market Walk Entrance (Castle St end) and emerging from Market walk – Council CCTV above HSBC Market Place.

            Anybody and everybody was caught on dozens of Council CCTV + Private cameras around the Maltings area (The Mill (x 12 cameras), Priory Place, Sainsbury’s & car park (x 10), Market Walk (x 2), Market Place, St Thomas Square, Poultry Cross, Guild Hall Square (x3), High St, Fisherton St, Summerlock Place & City Hall (x 3).

            There was no shortage of CCTV evidence of what actually took place and who the players were.

            Market

            1. “There was no shortage of CCTV evidence of what actually took place” – exactly! Yet we have seen absolutely nothing…. probably because that is what really happened. Nothing!! What harm could there have been in showing a few relevant clips? It would have backed up the official story. But in over a year, we have seen NOTHING!!!

              Not only ‘nothing’ from CCTV but not even a single picture from a single mobile phone. Did nobody take a picture of the bench in over an hour? Why are the ONLY pictures available, pictures of ‘nothing happening’ – taken a few minutes after it was all over? Those are the ONLY pictures we have seen!!! If it were not for pictures taken ‘after it was all over’, there would be… nothing!

              A few pictures of nothing happening, ‘minutes after’ it was all over! From the relevant period? Absolutely nothing! 100% nothing at all!! NOTHING!!!!

              Guess what actually happened? What did all those CCTV cameras see? What is it that happened that they do not want us to know? Perhaps… nothing?

              If anyone doubts it, please show some evidence… anything will do. Absolutely anything that is trustworthy.

              1. Freya Church and Jamie Paine are genuine Salisbury residents, they do not strike me as particularly skilled actors or someone the Security Services would rely on to deliver a key part of their Hoax.

                Something happened at the bench but it is far from clear what (without access to the CCTV footage).

                1. I think Freya was ‘set up’ to be a witness – note that she was checking the time on her phone as she left the gym. Constantly checking the time is what people do ‘on a mission’ – Freya knew the time anyway… she was leaving work! I don’t think she wasn’t pre-briefed; just that she was told to walk by the bench at about 4:05. Her evidence is genuine but what she saw was a couple LARPing.

                  There are several problems with Jamie Paine’s evidence:
                  1) we do not know who produced his interview on 6 March;
                  2) he gives us too much detail and it is overdone. Who would say of somebody vomiting on them “… it wasn’t too bad; I just brushed it off”?
                  3) He says it took 10 minutes for the emergency services to arrive – we know it was about 2 minutes;
                  4) If professional paramedics were there, he would have been told to let them do their job and get out of the way. We are told that the most senior nurse in the British Army was already on the scene, would she allow a member of the public to get involved at all?
                  5) the female was supposed to be not breathing, so how could she vomit or foam as the mouth?
                  6) Jamie was one of only 2 witnesses to get a second interview (the other being Meg Edgar). Jamie’s was at the end of March – by then he knew the whole story was false yet stuck to his original script!

                  I think it is very likely that Jamie Paine was a crisis actor – Rob contacted him but Jamie played dumb and did not answer Rob’s queries.

              2. Google Images! SO15 Type In Balaclava Driving Black Land Rover.
                Looking Aggressive-Menacing!
                Shoulder Rank Slide say SO15 but not a Standard Issue Police Face Mask
                Balaclava.
                Market Walk with Paramedic Car-Police Car have bypassed Major Suspects
                On Jenny CCTV.

                1. They also put sniffer dogs out, it’s a good job they didn’t find anything.

                  But having said that this wasn’t ordinary Novichok, it wasn’t even M&S Novichok, this was Salisbury Novichok so the sniffer dogs would probably be OK anyway.

                  1. Moscow Theatre Siege ended with 20% fatalities through use of Opiod Incapacitant.

                    Wiltshire poisoning Hoax ended with 20% fatalities through use of New Novichok

  19. I note that bully-boy Pompeo’s remarks on the Salisbury poisoning in his lecture the other day seem to have had the bizarre effect of causing CNN to determine that it was VX, rather than “Novichok”, which was used last year. It comes to something when purveyors of untruths cannot even get their falsehoods right:

    “‘After the chemical weapons attack that took place here in Salisbury, along with our other allies, we pushed back, we punished Russia with important sanctions,’ Pompeo said in remarks in London. ‘We wanted the world to know that the use of chemical weapons is unacceptable and will not be tolerated by nations like ours who value the rule of law.’ Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia Skripal, were poisoned with VX nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury on March 4, 2018.”

    Still, credit where credit is due. Unlike Nikki Haley, former US Ambassador to the UN, at least they note that Salisbury is an English city and not an English village.

    https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/politics/pompeo-skripal-action/index.html

    1. Rob, it was NOT Pompeo who made the VX claim, it were the FIVE journalists that can not even get the official narrative straight.
      Real journalism is dying more and more.

      1. Yep, I realise that Liane. As in: “… seem to have had the bizarre effect of causing CNN to determine that it was VX, rather than “Novichok”. Pompeo said very little about it, but for some reason CNN decided to mention it a little more fully, only to get even their most basic “false facts” wrong.

        1. Do you not think these “mistakes” ie: pictures of dead ducks ,poorly children and now the reference to VX as the poison is Trumps way of letting the UK know that he knows this story is bogus? Pompeo met with Lavrov very recently, and if my memory serves correctly it was Lavrov who divulged the VX presence many months ago from a leaked swiss lab report. Just a thought.

          1. No, Pam. Lavrov, revealed that the leaked report referred to the presence of BZ, an incapacitant, along with suspiciously pure A-234. (Too pure to have been found on any door handle after so many days). The BZ was then claimed to have been a ‘control’ added later. But I wonder, considering the extreme purity of the nerve agent.

  20. Fellow UK Blogmirers, please do not panic.
    My inside sources tell me that despite the shortage of wipes, there is a plan.

    More than 45 million single use paper and very disposable pieces of high quality but worthless wipes will be sent to UK households.
    The label will state “European Elections”.

    Please dispose of carefully.
    Respect the environment.

  21. Getting a mention on the great Skripal work from:

    Intelligence agency snafus, corruption exposés, satire & general irreverence

    https://ronaldthomaswest.com

    This points to 2) Foreign Policy is losing readers and they ‘faked’ an erroneous mail to try and draw former subscribers back (but also could be cover for 3 or 4)

    Meanwhile, the guy in Britain who’s been tearing up the ‘official’ Skripal narrative at:

    http://www.theblogmire.com/

  22. Holland & Barrett have announced that they will no longer be stocking wet wipes/baby wipes in a bid to encourage customers to be more sustainable. Instead, they say they will sell sustainable, multi-use alternatives, such as cotton pads and exfoliating mitts:

    https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/holland-and-barrett-wet-wipes-cost-shelves-sales-water-uk-sustainability-a8905056.html

    If other retailers follow suit, this could have a devastating effect on the public’s ability to protect themselves against contamination by nerve agent. Questions should be asked in the House of Commons as to whether cotton pads and exfoliating mitts are really able to perform the same role in defending against nerve agents that baby wipes apparently were.

    1. Most disturbing news. Mr Slane. It’s imperative that questions are asked!

      I won’t be sleeping soundly tonight.

      Concerned of Cheltenham Spa.

    2. Sounds like more virtue signaling, eco-lunacy. You can buy non-polyester, bio-degradable wipes, which I am sure work just as well with any nerve agent, so just stop selling the others… but an exfoliating mitt on a baby’s bottom??? Ouch!!

    3. Panic buying, there will be panic buying …

      … if the shops haven’t run out of their stockpiled stocks already.

    4. The reality is that the public needs to protect itself from the corrosive and deeply malodorous propaganda spread by the Guardian etc on doorsteps and not doorknobs.

      The one true and proven defense against nerve agents and other biological aggressors is to read the blogmire.

  24. What will Gavin Williamson do now?

    It is widely speculated that a cushy job awaits at Morgan Stanley or one of the other beneficiaries to Britain’s illegal US proxy wars, with a (possibly genuine or disingenuous) offer of a return to politics if he bites the bullet and keeps his head down.

    It appears the choice is a very lucrative job with future expansive opportunities or penury (through otracisation) or possibly worse.

    Williamson will be aware that there may well not be a Tory party to return to after May has finished with it and his potential temporary benefactors debt (from their War Billions Gain) may be wiped.

    What a choice but my guess is he is set to become a banker.

    It’s a pattern that has been followed by many Warmongering politicians and civil servants including Blair himself but it isn’t immediately clear what Blair did for Morgan Stanley post him joining them and him picking up his brown envelopes stuffed with millions.

    One notable gravy train revolving doorer was Jeremy Heywood.

    Heywood was Blair’s Mr Fix It during his Killing Days including the David Kelly Hoax. Heywood left in mysterious circumstances after he was caught out for not telling the truth and discovered Morgan Stanley wanted him as a Managing Director and when David Cameron arrived he returned to politics and eventually became Cabinet Secretary and May’s Mr Fix It.

    Heywood got May out of several fixes but even he was out of his depth with the May’s obsession with digging holes and jumping in.

    Some quite deep holes; using Mi6 to harm Trump wasn’t her finest hour, the Skripal Hoax didn’t go as well as could be expected and the exposing the Integrity Initiative and Institute for Statecraft was a bit of a nuisance. Just how you tell your European Allies and others that you have placed British spies in all the UK Embassies’ in their countries’ with the sole intention of undermining their democracies’ and laws for the benefit of pro war, neocon Clintonism was always going to be a challenge.

    Unfortunately Heywood had other problems he discovered he was ill and died and Sedwill took over as May’s hand holder.

    Williamson’s future is now in the hands of psychopaths. He could become extremely wealthy, he could die, it’s not quite his choice but becoming involved with that set was.

    I shall nor worry about him, I have too much to worry about as to where these maniacs are taking us next.

    1. Forgive me if you have read this posting on another site but I thought it might be worth mentioning here. The gist being that arms races appear so twentieth century and are now giving way to twenty-first century technology races and one arena of battle is in telecommunications.

      The possibility that American telecommunications technology may well now be being out-stripped by Chinese technology, hence Huawei first being considered then subsequently accepted by the British government to participate in aspects of the supply of their equipment to Britain. This fact is probably going down in Washington like a lead balloon.

      I understand the possibility exists for communications devices (television sets included) to be not only be tapped, but turned into listening devices even when the device is switched off.

      Brexit has rendered Mrs May to a position between a rock and a hard place as she wishes to fulfil this deal with Huawei in China and had given the instruction that it should proceed, much to the chagrin of Mr Williamson, who has been dismissed for allegedly leaking his opinion and details of the NSC meeting to the Press.

      Interestingly, Mrs May’s justification for Mr Williamson’s dismissal in her letter to him conjectured ‘compelling evidence’ pointing to him as the culprit, which he has fervently denied. If one asks why that evidence has not been publicly produced as Neil Basu, Deputy Met Commissioner, is on record as saying a breach of the official secrets act has been committed while Cressida Dick, his boss, has declared it has not, then something as yet undisclosed is certainly has to be amiss.

      My understanding is that Mr Williamson readily confessed to a conversation with a journalist but denied being the source of the leak. One also has to ask why if Mrs May was so certain that the leak emanated from Mr Williamson, and then fired him, she must have thought she was on safe ground so was his phone tapped and possibly using Huawei equipment ? As Defence Secretary might Mr Williamson have known phones might be routinely tapped, but was naïve or arrogant enough to believe his device would be excluded ?

      Spying on one’s own people is one of the reasons given why the opponents of Huawei do not want their equipment here. I do not believe Mrs May would appreciate a revelation if it was discovered she or another senior figure in her cabinet had authorised one, or all, of her ministers phones to be tapped and hence the vague and imprecise reading of the dismissal letter.

      Mrs May also seems desperate not to upset Washington as she wishes to favourably continue trade with the USA and probably fears that whosoever did leak the details of the deal with Huawei, will not help her intention in that endeavour as President Trump is having his own troubles with China.

      President Trump has indicated any entity dealing with people he doesn’t favour will be hard pressed to deal with the USA. It’s tough being at the top.

  25. THE SKRIPAL DOSSIER
    This link is about how Julian Assange was set up by the US using a Swedish dyke that turns tricks for the CIA. There is something that is relevant to Charlie in the piece.
    https://www.greanvillepost.com/2019/04/13/how-julian-assange-was-entrapped/

    The extent of criminality in the Swedish and British legal/law enforcement system:
    https://www.abc.net.au/4corners/sex-lies-and-julian-assange/4156420
    http://johnpilger.com/articles/assange-the-untold-story-of-an-epic-struggle-for-justice

    Quote: “Blake Seven is a British science fiction series which revolves around an Assange like figure who, upon making certain discoveries in relation to murders by the state, is fitted up with false charges and deported to a prison colony. The series has pretty terrible special effects but the first episode, which deals with the attempt at a coverup and his subsequent deportation, is worth watching.”

    THE DRUGS – CHARLIE

    METHADONE

    Saturday 30th June 2018
    12.00 Charlie and Sam visit Boots the Chemist in Amesbury to collect a Methadone prescription. Quote: “Do not use alcohol or medications that contain alcohol while you are receiving treatment with methadone.”
    13.45 Charlie and Sam visit Amesbury Baptist Church for a free hog roast. Reverend Roy Collins: “Charlie was incoherent. He did stand out a little bit, he was not very well dressed and was rather dishevelled in his appearance. I assumed that he had been drinking, so I wanted to get some food into him, and he did take something. We had an opportunity to have a very brief chat. Around 200 people attended the event, including many families and children, but nobody else has suffered any ill effects.”

    The symptoms of a Methadone overdose are not too dissimilar to Novichok:
    • Pinpoint pupils
    • Vomiting
    • Muscle spasms
    • Dizziness
    • Confusion
    • Seizures
    • Coma

    BENZODIAZEPINE

    This is a quote from the first link, bearing in mind it’s a translation from Russian to English:

    Claes Borgstrom (being the chairman of the disciplinary committee of the Swedish Bar Association) was a lawyer for a Swedish psycho named Thomas Quick. This psycho loved fame and pretended to be a maniac. Claes persuaded this psycho “to cooperate with the investigation”…… Police and prosecutors were also involved in this unpleasant business. Kwick’s case is a disgrace for the Swedish legal system: 8 murders of 1964-1993 were pinned on an innocent man with the help of “brilliant” interrogations under the drug Benzodiazepin. Under such a drug you can confess to the Kennedy murders. Poor Kwick took those deaths with great enthusiasm, having learned the clues of the investigation. Then the “law enforcers” got into the act and another 10–20 corpses from all over Scandinavia were going to be pinned on him, but then the Norwegian police were outraged and said: “don’t touch our bodies!”

    Benzodiazepines may be used to treat:
    • ****alcohol withdrawal****
    • anxiety
    • as a muscle relaxant

    The shopkeeper: “He said he’d been drinking whiskey for the last couple of days and wanted something different so bought four cans of Polish lager. He pulled out a bundle of notes, paid for the drinks and left.”

    Matthew Rowley: “He sounded really weak, almost as if he’d been drinking too much.”

    Charlie Rowley: “I’m very glad to be out of hospital but I’m trapped in a room and on a lot of medication.”

    An MI5/6 debriefing appears to consist of:
    • Isolation
    • Whiskey
    • “medication”
    • Money

    THE DRUGS – DAWN

    Friday 29th June 2018
    During the afternoon Dawn is seen buying alcohol (no soft drinks) in several shops in Salisbury with Charlie and Sam Hobson. They visit Elizabeth Gardens where they spend the afternoon drinking alchohol. It was 28/29 degrees in Salisbury that weekend.

    Saturday 30th June 2018
    Charlie Rowlay interview with ITV: “I thought it might have been something to do with – she had complained of a headache and she asked for paracetamol and I thought maybe she had taken her own medication that she had at the time. I thought at the time maybe it was a reaction to the medication she had taken.”

    Sam Hobson Interview with Explicite France: “Dawn had complained of a headache that morning. She did not want to take medication because she didn’t want to mix with those she was already taking, anti-depressants. To calm the pain, she had a shower but then collapsed.”

    Antidepressants and Alcohol

    • It’s best to avoid combining antidepressant and alcohol. It may worsen your symptoms and it can be dangerous.
    • You may be at risk of a dangerous reaction if you take MAOIs. When combined with certain types of alcoholic beverages, antidepressant called monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) can cause a dangerous spike in blood pressure.

    7th July 2018 The Sun: The son of Novichok victim Dawn Sturgess fears she may have been left brain-damaged after her heart stopped for 30 minutes. Teen Ewan Hope says his mum is only alive thanks to quick-thinking paramedics, following her heart attack.

    1. Anonymous -1

      I read that Dawn’s parents said that none of her internal organs were damaged.

      I think you can have a heart attack without any visible damage to the heart – it just stops for a period until revived.

      I would think that Novichock would damage a few organs.

      The interesting thing is that I’ve not read or heard a word about the Inquest that was allegedly to be held in January of this year to establish the cause of Dawn’s death.

      Have you any info on that?

      1. 11th July 2018
        • Charlie regains consciousness and speaks to investigators for the first time.
        • He is told a small glass bottle with a modified nozzle was found on a kitchen worktop in his flat containing Novichok.
        • His girlfriend, Dawn Sturgess, died on 8th July from Novichok poisoning.
        • He has been in a coma since 30th June.

        19th July 2018 Inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess
        David Ridley Senior Coroner for Wiltshire and Swindon:
        • A post mortem was carried out on Tuesday 17th July, 2 days before the inquest.
        • Her body was released to her family and is cremated on 30th July.
        • The cause of death would not be confirmed until further tests had been carried out.
        • The inquest is postponed until 16th January 2019.

        Inquest into the death of Dawn Sturgess
        On 19th July 2018 the inquest is postponed until 16th January 2019.
        On 16th January 2019 the inquest is postponed until 4th April 2019.
        On 4th April 2019 the ‘Pre-Inquest Review Hearing’ is postponed until Friday October 18th 2019 at 10am.

        5th September (67 days later): The Metropolitan police announce
        • Charlie told police he found a box he thought contained perfume in a charity bin on Wednesday 27th June. Inside the box was a bottle and applicator. He tried to put the two parts together and in doing so got some of the contents on himself.
        • During a search of Charlie’s home on 10th July a small box labelled Nina Ricci Premier Jour was recovered from a rubbish bag in the kitchen.
        • On 11th July a small glass bottle with a modified nozzle was found on a kitchen worktop. Tests undertaken at Porton Down established the bottle contained a significant amount of Novichok.

        6th September 2018
        The Met had been making regular visits to the City Bay Hotel since 4th May without telling Silman Mir, the owner, that the hotel had been contaminated with ‘low levels’ of the nerve agent, before TV crews turned up on 6th September. The hotel never underwent any decontamination process.

        Issues Regarding the Perfume Bottle/Poisoning
        1. It is claimed that Charlie found a 3” x 3” x ½” box of perfume in a large dumpster behind a charity shop in Salisbury, 16 weeks after the Skripals fell ill.
        a. The dumpsters are emptied on a weekly basis.
        b. There is CCTV overlooking the area.
        2. Why did it take 11 days for forensics to find the glass bottle on a kitchen worktop, in plain sight, if they already knew what they were looking for?
        a. “it’s likely to be made of glass” [8th July].
        b. Investigators are working on the theory the substance was in a discarded perfume bottle.” [20th July]
        c. “During a search of Charlie’s home on 10th July a small box labelled Nina Ricci Premier Jour was recovered from a rubbish bag in the kitchen.” [5th Sept]
        d. “On 11th July a small glass bottle with a modified nozzle was found on a kitchen worktop.” [5th Sept], the same day Charlie regained consciousness and spoke to investigators.
        e. Why were police “working on a theory the substance was in a discarded perfume bottle” on 20th July, if they already found the bottle on 11th July?
        3. Charlie: “It was a 3” x 3” box about half an inch thick, which contained a glass bottle, so you had to remove the bottle from the cellophane wrapper and put the pump dispenser on the bottle”
        a. WHAT made Charlie open a box of women’s perfume, if it was a present for his girlfriend?
        b. How did he KNOW he HAD to “put the pump dispenser to the bottle/spray part to the bottle” if it was in a box sealed with cellophane?
        c. HOW did he know it wasn’t a normal perfume bottle inside the box?
        d. He can give a detailed description of the dimensions of the box but cannot recall where he found it.
        e. He cannot give any description of what was removed from the bottle prior to the insertion of the pump dispenser, merely, “put the pump dispenser to the bottle/spray part to the bottle”
        4. Charlie: “It was an oily substance with very little odour”.
        a. Why did he give it to Dawn if it obviously wasn’t perfume?
        b. Why did Dawn spray it on her wrists if it obviously wasn’t perfume?
        5. Something had to be removed from the bottle prior to the insertion of the spray nozzle. Why is it missing from the exhibits?
        6. If Dawn had received “10 times the amount of nerve agent” [20th July] why were the Air Ambulance paramedics who treated her, not affected? There are clear photographs of them NOT wearing any protective clothing.
        7. Why was the block of flats not immediately evacuated on 2nd July when blood tests were sent to Porton Down, or 4th July when they were confirmed as containing Novichok?
        8. Why did it take 83 days to begin the “clean-up operation” of Charlie’s first floor flat?
        9. Why were the other flats ie, those above, below, adjoining and opposite, not part of the “clean-up operation”?

        2. Anonymous-1

          Thanks for your comprehensive reply.

          A lot to take in there.

          The Inquest looks a bit like Brexit can kicking to me.

          October now.

          I think poor Charlie’s been ” told ” a lot of things.

  26. Craig Murray today :
    Theresa May almost certainly sacked Gavin Williamson not just on the basis of a telephone billing record showing he had a phone call with a Telegraph journalist, but on the basis of a recording of the conversation itself. It astonishes me that still, after Snowden and his PRISM revelations, after Wikileaks Vault 7 releases, and after numerous other sources including my own humble contribution, people still manage to avoid the cognitive dissonance that goes with really understanding how much we are surveilled and listened to.
    …the USA’s NSA spies on UK citizens while the UK’s GCHQ spies on US citizens, and then the information is swapped. It was thus probably the NSA that harvested Williamson’s phone call, passing the details on. Given official US opposition to the UK employing Huawei technology, Williamson’s call would have been a “legitimate” NSA target.
    Williamson of course is relying on the security services’ secrecy about their methods to maintain his protests of innocence, secure in the knowledge that the recording of him would not be produced. The existence of the recording – of which I am extremely confident – is the only possible explanation for May’s degree of certainty and swift action against one of her very few loyal allies.
    https://www.sott.net/article/412564-Huawei-hypocrisy-Williamson-was-sacked-thanks-to-NSA-eavesdropping-the-very-thing-Chinese-firm-is-being-preemptively-accused-of

    1. Liane,
      I have no doubts.
      I know an ex GCHQ manager who told me that the default expectation would be that ALL the cabinet mobile phone calls were recorded ALL the time.
      Who would request specific transcripts?
      Sedwill of course.

      1. @Duncan

        What you say raises the prospect of an intriguing possibility:
        One would expect anyone, even a government minister, who wanted to keep their private conversations, with whoever, clandestine would, to ensure that, obtain burner phones for both him/herself and the other party (or vice versa).

        The possibility is that even burner phones are in the slightest secure and anonymous.

        Does your GCHQ contact have anything to say about that possibility?

          1. That would (in theory) actually be quite easy to do. Simply monitor for voice patterns and burner phones become useless because you can assign the phone to the voice.

            The only ‘safe’ way to communicate would be with end to end encryption where the keys are held on the devices (and not with the provider). That is how Telegram’s encrypted phone calls work making, any piggy-in-the-middle hacking useless.

    2. Liane,

      I got there a day before Craig Murray. See my messages of 6 May 2019 below.

  27. In theory, Alex Younger is head of UK Intelligence.
    He would be the coordinator (leader) to focus GCHQ, MI5 and MI6 activities, when the multiple branches of the intelligence services are involved in an event, e.g. Salisbury, Gavin and the NSC leak.
    (You may remember Younger’s predecessor Sir John Sawers somewhat scary monologue on the Panorama Skripal documentary.)
    However, in reality, Sir Mark Sedwill seems to have an ever increasing role.
    More than likely because the Maybot trusts no one, so probably distrusts Sedwill less than the others.
    For both Salisbury and the Williamson leak, Sedwill seems to be the man who does the heavy lifting.
    Highly likely that Sedwill informed Basu on what was needed, or more importantly not needed.
    Unelected mandarin, so it seems perfect in our current UK society.
    It seems highly probable that he fed the libelous Daily Record “sick kids, dead ducks” story to Gina Haspel as ammunition to sway Trump.

  28. GW says he was “tried by a kangaroo court”.

    He is expected to make a personal statement in the HoC after PMQs tomorrow.

    1. I have conferred with my hopping colleagues in that fair land and they assure me that there is not one kangaroo in the entire country that would consider Gavin worthy of trial let alone even converse with him. “Rule 303” was their preferred response. Tough cheese Gavin, just accept that you have been ratf#cked by the maybot and shut up. Unless of course you are motivated by revenge and ‘go your hardest’ I say.

  29. What if

    The UK wanted to do a deal with Huawei and preparing a top delegation to China to close that deal and other business.

    But the Chinese said sorry, the deal is no longer on the table because Williamson threatened to attack us with his aircraft carrier

    ?

    1. Was Gavin a bit premature with that threat. New Carrier got no aircraft yet, has it?

      New Royal Baby will take heat n pressure off “Theresa The Law Enforcer” [temporary reprieve]

      Is Little Gavin getting ready for a Counter Attack?
      I do hope so!

      1. No Rape-Abductions-Assaults-Shootings-Knife Crime for rest of today within U.K.
        We have a New Royal Baby!
        Breaking News…………..
        PM Theresa May Congratulates The Happy Couple…….

        My thoughts are with People who perished in Russian Air Disaster.
        Thinking of Family and Friends who have lost someone.

  30. Why did the Met search the room of the 2 Russians at City Bay Hotel on 4th May when:
    a. Sir Mark Sedwill, UK National Security Adviser told a House of Commons Defence Committee hearing on 1st May they had no suspects
    b. Ben Wallace, Minister of State for Security tweeted on 19th July, in response to media reports about the suspects being identified, “it was ill informed and wild speculation.”
    c. The Met released CCTV images of Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov on 5th September, when the metadata showed the images were prepared on the morning of 9th May, four months before they were released.

    1. 1st May 2018 The Guardian
      Police and intelligence agencies have failed so far to identify the individual or individuals who carried out the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, the UK’s national security adviser has disclosed. The comments by Sir Mark Sedwill UK National Security Adviser punctured hopes that the police and other security agencies had pinpointed suspects but were withholding the name or names from the public. Asked by an MP at a Commons Defence Committee hearing if he knew the individuals responsible, he replied curtly: “Not yet.” Sedwill, who coordinates the work of the MI6, MI5, the surveillance agency GCHQ and others, did not elaborate but among problems that have hampered the agencies is a lack of CCTV coverage in Salisbury compared with London.

      19th July 2018
      • The BBC: A source with knowledge of the investigation told the Press Association that investigators believe they have identified the suspected perpetrators of the Novichok attack through CCTV and have cross-checked this with records of people who entered the country around that time. The pair had left the UK after the attack.
      • Ben Wallace Minister of State for Security Tweets at 4.29am “I think this story belongs in the ill-informed and wild speculation folder”.

  31. If the government has got evidence of who did the leaking then it was probably obtained by telephone tapping. I suspect this is why they don’t want a criminal prosecution – they don’t want the telephone tapping to be revealed in court.

  32. We don’t want the Chinese to spy on us but we are quite happy for the Americans to spy on us. Am I the only person to notice this?

    1. Blunderbuss, no you are not. Pompeo recently stated that 5G is going to be at the future of global commerce and the USA could not allow China to win the ‘war’ and that the USA should dominate it. So, it’s nothing to do with any risk of security breaches rather to do with the USA, once again, wanting to dominate globally. I know, after the Snowden and Wikileaks that I would rather China run the 5G network than the USA.

      2. Can’t we have neither? Ever read reports of China’s social credit scoring system? Straight out of Charlie Brooker’s twisted mind.

        As an aside: would it make sense in Williamson’s case that, with both sides knowing where the Skripal bodies are buried, there could only be a brutal sacking but with no prosecution?

        1. Yes, neither would be best. The problem is that Britain can’t make anything any more. We just do dodgy financial services.

      1. “Sedwill, who coordinates the work of the MI6, MI5, the surveillance agency GCHQ and others, did not elaborate but among problems that have hampered the agencies is a lack of CCTV coverage in Salisbury compared with London. Known Russian spies based in Britain have also been investigated and ruled out.”

        https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/01/no-suspects-yet-in-skripal-nerve-agent-attack-mps-told

        On the 1st of May it was reported by Sedwill that police didn’t know who did it

        on the 4th May police raided the City Stay Hotel in London, they took forensic samples, theses were tested the same day by Porton Down and they declared there was Novichok in the Hotel.

        Later the same day (4th) more samples were taken and Porton Down tested them but couldn’t find any Novichok so they declared the Hotel safe and open for business (the same day 4th May).

        If you have a problem with this you are a Conspiracy Theorist

        Oh by the way they forgot to tell the owner of the hotel what they found until Sept 5th when they announced it on the telly.

        1. When I heard the news in September I thought I would pay the hotel a visit for my research but the publicity seemed too have done them no harm, I couldn’t get a room.

          I called a month or so later to see if I could get a room for November the 1st

          The receptionist was very polite and professional however she said she thought they were fully booked that date but said she would check

          She came back a few moments later and said “Sorry Nov 1 Chocka”

  34. Sorry, cannot agree – he should have been sacked ages ago. This is a man who has spread misinformation and lies about Russia, has threatened China and Russia, has shown himself to be nothing more than an empty vessel without an idea in his head and no concept of diplomacy. I am of the view he most certainly not only leaked the documents but did so with a view antagonising China. Well, his ill-judged comments about China caused them to cancel a trade visit by Phillip Hammond. He is a menace, a liar and yes, a criminal. The issue with Huawei is not security with 5G but that the USA are so far behind in its development they are desperately trying to stop China roll out around the world. I believe it was Pompeo who recently said it was a ‘war’ the USA needed to win as 5G would be the centre of technology in the future and the USA should be at the head of it. There’s your motive and I am certain Private Pike leaked the details to revoke the recent decision about Huawei being contracted to contribute to core infrastructure in the UK. Well, I would rather have China run it than the USA – especially after the Snowden and Wikileaks information about the USA espionage activities around the world. He should be charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act.

    1. There is Extremely Compelling Evidence that Sidwell ordered the leak.

      Yes Williamson should have been sacked along with May, all her ministers and Sidwell but it was more pragmatic to sack the little twit (sic).

    2. Maybe I’m just an ignorant foreigner – but why do you have to give a reason, when you want to change a minister?

      2. Is it not in the public interest to know the reason for a cabinet minister’s sacking from his/her position?

        Merely being incompetent or out of one’s depth for the job isn’t sufficient reason: the minister must have made a major blunder to warrant the sacking. Otherwise the entire government from Theresa May down should be stepping down if Williamson had to be removed just because he happens to be a total walking disaster zone.

        1. I take your point regarding the public interest in the dismissal of a government minister, but the simple fact is that it does not apply in cases involving prime ministers and her ministers of state. Custom and practice trumps any labour laws and ministers are fully aware when they are appointed that they are in their positions solely at the prime ministers discretion and their longevity in post is at best, tenuous.

          Much as people may dislike the manner in which Mr Williamson has conducted his ministerial duties his dismissal should not have been made public on the basis of conjecture alone and that is the fault of Mrs May and her advisors. When one examines all the known facets of this affair there is no getting away from the fact that she, alone, originally bears the responsibility for appointing Mr Williamson; it reflects on her competency not to have identified a dud and subsequent liability.

          If only it were true that Mrs May’s now publicised dismissal of Mr Williamson was for him being out if his depth and incompetency, but her letter to him shows that not to be the case. Mrs May has accused Mr Williamson of not being candid and suggested dissembling with the answers he had given to her inquiry regarding the NSC leaking of information to the Press.

          Mrs May (for the moment) has closed off any of Mr Williamson’s options to reply by declaring the issue closed and supported by the Met police commissioner who regards the matter as not a breach of the official secrets act. That is a breach of natural justice and sadly it is the way of things in the world we live in today.

          1. I agree with every word you have written Shardlake.

            Yes, PMs can appoint and sack who they like.
            Yes, GW should have never been appointed to the post in the first place, and TM is at fault for that.
            Yes, her letter goes beyond the realm of a normal sacking, and makes accusations that (contrary to what Neil Basu claims) are clearly a breach of the Official Secrets Act and therefore a criminal offence.
            And yes, TM’s closing off the case in this way and in denying GW even a look at the inquiry report stinks, and is a complete travesty of justice. But as you say, we aren’t seeing very much of that around these parts lately.

            Rob

            1. I have heard that Williamson is still a Privy Councillor.

              If that is true then there is a contradiction in his sacking.

              The police are not willing to get involved and as you know the handling of the poisoning saga
              makes the police nervous enough – they don’t want to get involved in another charade.

              We have to remember I think that politics trumps all laws and Assange is a fine example of this.

              When you are not the government you are open to exposure – but whilst you are the government you are not.

              At least for the time being that is.

          2. Your last paragraph represents the nub of the issue and the point of Rob’s ‘blog’. Should Williamson be innocent in this matter he has no means of demonstrating it beyond publicly saying ‘not guilty’.

            Not only is Rob’s comment about the (non) evidential style of accusations broadcast by May and Sedwill a valid one, but the Met’s reluctance to investigate smacks of collusion. If whoever was responsible for the leak did not breach the official secrets act, then we must assume that negotiation with Huawei over 5G provision, as conducted by the security council, was not an official secret. So why the fuss in the first place?

            I’m with Rob on this one. Whatever one’s opinion of Williamson, he was neither the only person present at the meeting(s) in question nor the only one with an axe to grind. As is so often the case with government, the attitude appears to be that making a stark public announcement is sufficient in and of itself to establish guilt. Parliament must not be above the law.

            1. I don’t believe in this case it is Parliament that must not be above the law, which of course it should not be.

              There are a number of MPs on both sides of the House that have for various reasons called into question the Prime Minister’s handling of Mr Williamson’s dismissal and there are already a substantial number of people calling for greater transparency in this affair.

              Those numbers may yet increase further, plunging the Prime Minister deeper into the hole she has dug for herself. Experience tends to show that attempting to shut off the transparency window invariably opens it wider. It remains to be seen whether this affair continues with Mrs May leaving Office in circumstances other than she envisages or merely if Mr Williamson disappears without trace from the scene. I have no particular preference, I would like both gone.

              1. I am genuinely pleased by the developments you describe.

                I suspect that for many people this incident will represent no more than a clash of personalities at the top, but for me it is as serious a matter as Rob alluded to in his blog. It represents the latest in a succession of instances in which the government have manifestly taken control of the legal process – the McCann affair, the Skripal affair, and now this effective de-criminalising of a statutory crime committed by someone (it is not yet certain by whom) in government, with the clear objective of suppressing the truth.

                I do not believe for one moment Neil Basu arrived at the decision not to pursue a criminal enquiry without reference to superior others. Hence we are witnesses to the bizarre juxtaposition of £12m+ (and counting) being spent on the deliberate non-investigation of what was, at base and however sad, a domestic issue, versus the immediate foreclosure of what ought to be necessary proceedings over a genuine security matter, and one with major ramifications for international relations.

                If independence of the executive and the rule of law cannot be maintained within the context of a parliamentary democracy, then we are staring down the barrel of eventual tyranny.

                1. By your writings I believe both you and Rob have the fullest understanding of what is being revealed before the eyes of the nation, yet a substantial proportion of mindsets seem to remain closed to the reality and think this Huawei fall-out is nothing more than a political spat between aspiring elites.

                  I am also persuaded that this is no accidental happenstance, rather it is something calculated by successive governments that has been in process over a number of generations which has its origins in the aftermath of two world wars.

                  Our education system continues to be under threat with the aid of a compliant right-leaning press who convince most of the public at large to believe and act against their own interests. We have participated in several dubious conflicts where we have lost service personnel who in all conscience believed they were fighting and dying for their country, when in fact they have been killed and maimed with life changing injuries for nothing more than British commercial interests that provide shareholders with increased profits.

                  The properly conducted coroners inquest into the inconvenient death of the weapons inspector, Dr David Kelly, is a prime example of the tyrannies that are upon us already, did but the nation know it.

                  1. Correction : I should have written that no proper inquest was ever conducted into the death of Dr Kelly and the full evidence has never been revealed. The Oxfordshire coroner had the inquest taken away from him to be substituted by the Hutton Inquiry who ordered the details to remain secret for seventy years.

                    1. Ditto all of the above. These few words from the BBC are sufficient to explain the Met’s reticence in this instance:

                      “Ms Dick says the Met will “look at any complaint”, but adds the force has not received any referral from the Cabinet Office. The force says it needs a referral and to see material before it can decide whether to carry out an investigation…

                      “…But No 10 appears to want to draw a line under it. A spokesman said it “considers the matter closed”.

                      Silly me for not realizing Cressida Dick was the gatekeeper. If Williamson should succeed in forcing a Judicial inquiry, then he’d better avoid travelling to work on the London Underground!

          3. I want to add another argument :
            Sedwill himself took part in the meeting, which means a possible suspect investigated a crime he could have done himself.
            That remembers me on MH17, where Ukraine as a suspect took part in the investigation.

            Sir Mark Sedwill acted suspiciously in both, the Skripal and the Williamson case.

            1. As I said a few days ago, it is extraordinary that Sedwill was in the meeting and then conducted the investigation – surely Sedwill (and everyone else in the meeting) was a suspect and he should have had no part in the investigation… if it was really an independent and fair investigation. Why did he not recuse himself?

              Yet NOBODY is talking about this point! The ‘investigator’ was obviously not independent and his ‘investigation’ is meaningless.

              Basu is clearly just a useless lickspittle – again!

              Nothing works anymore, the system is completely broken and not fit for purpose.

      3. There is no obligation to give a reason other than the practice being one of the cornerstone rules of natural justice the ‘audi alteram partem’ rule: to give the other side a fair hearing and reasons for the action so they may make a considered response. The rule of law is based on these foundations of fairness so that royals, presidents etc don’t just eliminate those they don’t like (does not apply in the USA).

        Others use a bullet: see Seth Rich. Some a bayonet: see Gaddafi. Some use proxy assassins: see Gandhi

    3. Pretty difficult Jo to have any faith in any of the government Ministers or the Civil Service apparatchiks these days, especially the Prime Minister, an individual who has long sacrificed credibility.

  35. The Letter.
    ‘Who is it directed to?’ said one of the jurymen.
    ‘It isn’t directed at all,’ said the White Rabbit; ‘in fact, there’s nothing written on the outside.’ He unfolded the paper as he spoke, and added ‘It isn’t a letter, after all: it’s a set of verses.’
    ‘Are they in the prisoner’s handwriting?’ asked another of the jurymen.
    ‘No, they’re not,’ said the White Rabbit, ‘and that’s the queerest thing about it.’ (The jury all looked puzzled.)
    ‘He must have imitated somebody else’s hand,’ said the King. (The jury all brightened up again.)
    ‘Please your Majesty,’ said the Knave, ‘I didn’t write it, and they can’t prove I did: there’s no name signed at the end.’
    ‘If you didn’t sign it,’ said the King, ‘that only makes the matter worse. You must have meant some mischief, or else you’d have signed your name like an honest man.’
    There was a general clapping of hands at this: it was the first really clever thing the King had said that day.
    ‘That proves his guilt,’ said the Queen.

  36. Have idea Paul is correct advising Gavin not to do walk’s alone anytime soon.
    Gavin’s inside information makes him very dangerous.
    Let Gavin have his day for defending himself!

    If anything does happen Gavin it will prove years of MI56 Killings of People
    Who Speak Out Against U.K. Policy.

    Has Blogmire given a Lifeline? I don’t like Gavin but I would not see a human
    drown….I Will Offer My Hand..Even If My Foe Is Drowning [Battle Of Atlantic]

    If refused Ok….
    Sink Theresa May!

  37. Hi! I believe all Blogmire Contributors just want truth-justice. Regardless of who or what nationality.
    Gavin Williamson not on My Valentine List or Poster on bedroom wall.
    I do think He should be allowed a fair enquiry and time in Court for explanation of alleged actions
    against himself and be able 2 defend himself against such an allegation.

    Who put May in charge as Judge n Jury above Law?

    Russia did it-Gavin did it?……..Theresa You Did It…Don’t Try Escaping Bunker Now!

    You are an Evil Entity

  39. “Make no mistake, (Gavin Williamson) is on the war path. He is thinking of delivering a speech on the level of Geoffrey Howe’s resignation speech which famously precipitated the downfall of Margaret Thatcher”
    https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1124079418979356673

    Also, it seems to have gone largely unremarked that Sedwill was himself on the NSC and would therefore, in a fair investigation, be a potential suspect… instead, Sedwill was leading the investigation. Arrogance or kangaroo court?

    1. Go for it! Let us hope he lifts a lid on a can of worms (Salisbury hoax will do nicely)
      Lol when Theresa got hassled in Wales. Her face was a picture 🙂
      Bla bla weak and wobbly haha 🙂
      “Why don’t You resign” haha 🙂
      Go on Gavin

      2. My bet is that it was a setup – she replied phynhaun da, which means good buy.

        For her, an English PM devoid of any Welsh heritage to be able to come out with that response on the fly suggests that she was briefed on it. But whoever briefed her got it wrong (a bit like the reset button that killary presented to Putin), goodbye is hwyl fawr in Welsh.

        It’s even more unbelievable given the Maybot’s demonstrated inability to exhibit any kind of spontaneity.

  42. Excellent analysis which i agree with ( I said this on Craig Murray blog but it was removed). I am no fan of Williamson but that is irrelevant to him being treated fairly, just like in the Assange case his personality is being mocked which totally detracts from the real issue. Theresa May is effectively saying ‘it must be him because we have no information it is anybody else’, he denies it so he should be given the opportunity to defend himself which May has closed down, an utter disgrace whether you like him or not. It’s not innocent until proved guilty, or even guilty before proved innocent, it’s guilty with no way to prove your innocence just because May ‘thinks’ it must be him.

  43. I fully support the proposition that the rule of law should be respected in every case. Gavin Williamson should be charged with breach of official secrets act.
    He should sue for wrongful dismissal if there are any labor protection laws left.
    He should trust that when he gets to court that he wont be confronted by a judge that accuses him of narcissistic behavior before he has uttered an explanatory word.
    He should feel safe in the certainty he wont be shipped off to the USA jurisdiction without due process.

    Somehow I get this nagging feeling that he has none of those rights to depend on anymore as his party and the blairites have removed them from people’s reach.

        1. Paul, that post on 1 May corresponds in its details and language with a series of posts by “Anon” on Craig Murray’s blog:
          https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/04/the-official-skripal-story-is-a-dead-duck/#respond
          These posts contain quite a lot more detail that could allow one to judge for oneself whether the poster is reliable and has new information. It would be nice to think that “Anon” has privileged access to CCTV data that no one else has seen, but I think the truth is that s/he is simply putting two and two together from the same published print and video materials that we already know about.
          “Anonymous-1” please correct me if this is not the case.

          1. Thanks John, I think you are right. It does sound the same except ‘Anon’ has numerous facts wrong on the Craig Murray blog. He says the Jenny’s video is timed at 4pm which we know is wrong; it was 4:07. He also says the female in that video is Yulia – but we know it isn’t… and the shiny pink bag that woman was carrying was not the same as Yulia’s bag from Moscow airport. He also relies on Cain Prince saying that Sergei was in a green coat as proof that the man in Jenny’s video is Sergei…

            Unless Anonymous-1 comes back with something better, I think we are still waiting for a real ‘whistle blower’…

  44. He was so inept, makes you wonder if he was always destined to be a patsy / fall guy. The thing I wonder about is what else was happening that day that the govt / msn wanted burying. Assange? Venezuela? That other govt idiot transport minister whose name escapes me?

  45. Britain demonstrates all the symptoms of a nation in the terminal stages of decline. It can’t be long now before they call for the hearse.

    1. Yep looks like it David. Good thing Tony Blair is still about as he makes a good pyre to incinerate the innocent and a few guilty. Boris (not a real englishman) could do the oratory and make pious gestures with a pigs head.

  46. Rob, you are a thoroughly decent guy. It’s one of the things that makes your blog so compelling. Best wishes to you.

  47. A police investigation?

    Overseen by whom?

    Cressida Dick who oversaw the cover up of the de Menezes Murder? (that’s how she got the job)

    Or a Chief Constable from elsewhere? Each having seconded officers to the Wiltshire Poisonings Cover Up?

    The police are as Rotten as the government, they can’t be trusted.

    Where do you expect this “justice” to materialise from?

    it won’t!

    2. In my opinion the police will not go near this.

      I have read that Williamson is still a Privy Counceilor and that should be suspended at least until the fog clears.

      The Conservatives are close to tearing themselves apart as a party and May is being forced to do a lot of things she wouldn’t have to do if she had a majority.

      The last thing the Tories require is an investigation into what we may see as a serious crime but is actually a matter for the government to request or not request a police inquiry.

      In politics facts and justice are not givens as political expediency is the order of the day for the ruling party.

      Similarly Assange’s heavy sentence for bail jumping is not based on justice or any type of law – it is politically expedient as the current game is to promote anything the US says in the media and in government.

      Whomever leaked to the Telegraph did it due to the current political climate otherwise they would have kept quiet.

      Russia and China are our enemies.

      To coin an old phrase – ‘ They thought it was the right thing to do’

      Ditto – the Skripal case and many many more.

      And the many more to come.

      1. Ken, your assertion that ‘Assange’s heavy sentence for bail jumping is not based on justice or any type of law’ is wrong.

        The offence of ‘absconding by person released on bail’ has a maximum sentence of 12 months imprisonment and a fine (Bail Act 1976, s.6(7)), and according to sentencing guidelines, his offence falling under ‘Culpability A’ (‘Failure to surrender represents deliberate attempt to evade or delay justice’ and ‘Category 1’ (‘Failure to attend Crown Court hearing results in substantial delay and/or interference with the administration of justice’), the starting point for punishment is 6 week’s custody ranging up to 26 weeks’; however, ‘In A1 cases which are particularly serious … a sentence in excess of the specified range may be appropriate.’

        Given that Assange has very publicly and internationally made a mockery of the British legal system for seven years, it was only expected that he would receive a stiff sentence. He should consider himself lucky not only to be 2 weeks shy of the maximum but to avoid a fine on top.

        Any chance of Saint Julian reimbursing the £93,500 of bail money his supporters forfeited after he betrayed their trust when he did a runner in 2012? Any chance of his fanbois chipping in?

        (En passant, one annoyance about being unhappy with HMG and the unnecessary Cold War Part Deux is finding oneself sometimes sharing space with SJWs who would burn down the West in a second and only fly a Russophile flag to attack the British nation they loathe. Personally, I’ll adopt the expression of Carl Schurz: ‘My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right’—but always, always… My country.)

        1. Regrettably, the two minutes spent reading your post are gone from my life forever. But on a matter of detail, presumably he was, effectively, sentenced to 52 weeks in prison but had already been in custody for two weeks.

        3. ” ‘Category 1’ (‘Failure to attend Crown Court hearing results in substantial delay and/or interference with the administration of justice’)”

          Well that can’t apply as the case against him has been dropped again and has not been reopened. Therefore there are zero charges against him for justice to be delayed. If there was any chance that he could be found guilty in Sweden the case would be reopened.

          Furthermore he has been trapped in London, effectively jailed for many years. Obviously he was given a heavy sentence because Assange is not liked by the establishment and it gives time for the extradition request to play out in the courts.

        4. “Given that Assange has very publicly and internationally made a mockery of the British legal system for seven years.”

          Good for him. Well done that lad. They deserve it.

          1. @Scotched. Note that Assange was never charged by Sweden. Also you have ignored the points made in the recent UN report on his 50-week sentence. Britain has repeatedly denied his human rights under both British and internstional law, and now so has Ecuador. If you jad been in his appalling position, fearing fpr your very life, I doubt very much that you would have done any different. Where is your compassion?

      2. I am waiting for the Torygraph to issue a statement to the effect that it will always protect its sources of information, but in this instance it is prepared to confirm that Mr Williamson did not furnish them with the details of the leak.

  48. Gavin Williamson has sworn on the life of his children that he did not do it. There is absolutely nothing that is so important to me that I would ever swear anything on the life of my children… but he did and I am inclined to believe him.

    I too have not thought very highly of Mr Williamson but this was no way for him to lose his job and if he was indeed not responsible, the leaker still lurks inside the NSC – which is not a comforting thought either.

    Treasonous Mayhem has been and remains a disaster for the country and for her party – Mr Williamson has a chance to force this matter and I hope he chooses to do it. I also hope Mr Williamson avoids any long walks on his own, for the next few months….

    1. Sleep with dogs and you will get flees

      There is no justice system

      We are in the end game

    3. My reaction to the headlines was that Mr Williamson – like all the Western warmongers – does not seem to care in the least for the lives of children in Africa and Asia. Perhaps he really doesn’t care about his own children either.

      We know those people are weird and, in some ways, inhuman. Who can tell how far their innhumanity goes?

    4. Mr Williamson essentially lost his job because his boss and her advisors are utterly incompetent and devoid of political nouse. Mrs May wrote a letter to Mr Williamson in which she attempted to justify her action in dismissing him using language that left her open to criticism when she had no need to. That letter is now in the public domain.

      As Prime Minister she has every right to choose who will and who will not serve in her cabinet and has no more need to justify dismissals any more than she has to justify an appointment. Nobody saw Mrs May justify Boris Johnson’s appointment as Foreign Secretary and therein lies the key to her lack of political competence.

      This is the lady who believes that the worst thing she has ever done was to run through a farmer’s wheat field as a child without any reflection on the damage she has exacerbated since she took over from her equally incompetent predecessor. It will likely take generations to recover from the position this nation now finds itself in.

      It’s hardly surprising then that Mr Williamson was chosen by Mrs May as he seems to possess an equally low level of political acumen which has resulted in his own downfall; the man seems to carry an over-estimation of self-worth and is gaff-prone – not an attribute any capable First Lord of the Treasury would look for in a potential government minister.

      1. If
        she’d sacked him and not given a reason there would still be a problem of the leak and who made it.

        Given that the only possible plausible explanation is Sidwell was responsible for the leak then Williamson was the obvious weak link.

        1. Sorry, I was attempting to demonstrate that in the final analysis it doesn’t matter who leaked the story to the Press. These leaks are a nine-day wonder and will be forgotten in a matter of days when some other scandal sells more newsprint. The real target in this affair has to be Mrs May, herself, and rightly so due to her overall lamentable poor performance. Even her own cabinet want rid of her along with a fair proportion of the electorate.

          When prime ministers reshuffle their cabinets they don’t give explanations why such and such a minister has been moved or why a given minister no longer has a department; that’s left for speculation in the national press, so why not let the speculation continue until it ceases to sell newspapers ? It won’t be that long before anyone will remember Mr Williamson’s name. Who remembers Johnathon Aitken or John Stonehouse ?

          I was attempting to say Mrs May had no real need to air her dirty linen in public, but she has form in acting to the point of recklessness (her calling an unnecessary GE springs to mind) so she and Mr Williamson are well-suited in that they both deserve removal from office.

  49. A point well made, Mr. Slane, but could one expect today’s politicians conducting themselves as did those in the past when justice, dignity, and one’s honour meant something?

    It may well be the leak was intentional, Private Pike’s now perceived by many (including the backbenchers) to have been wronged, the victim label may be of help when May goes, the fight for her replacement begins, very likely soon.

  50. Case closed! I don’t think Theresa wants police involved because they could
    find out about a much Bigger Issue from March 2018.
    She’s got a bizarre idea that She Is The Law…A Strange Woman Indeed?
    Accusations with no evidence seems to be her National Security Policy.
    I don’t like Gavin Williamson but he must be allowed to defend himself and
    clear his name if innocent.

  51. In my simplistic way of looking at the issue.

    Gavin contacts the Telegraph, asking them to confirm that he was indeed NOT the source.
    The journalist, believed to be Steven Swinford can state that it was not young Gavin, without compromising his source.

    He (young Gavin) then demands that May does indeed refer the incident to the Met in order for an investigation to determine a possible breach of the Official Secrets Act.

    If and when he does this, and how the Telegraph, May and the cabinet respond will tell us all we need to know.

  52. I too had made the connection to the Novichok affair, thank you for setting it out in much greater detail and analysing Sedwill’s phraseology. I do not think even Novichok true believers, ie. sadly 99% of the British populace, will deny the parallel. I wonder if pointing it out will cause some of them to question the Britsh government’s position on Novichok.

  53. Sir Max Hastings said a few days ago on BBC Radio 4 that he had been told the name of the culprit, and that it was someone who is spoken of as a future Prime Minister. To the best of my knowledge, that would rule out Gavin Williamson but I stand to be corrected.

      1. GrigoryZinoviev—Thank you. Williamson’s star, though, has fallen somewhat since 2017.

  54. I agree. Another case of ‘Highly likely’.

    I don’t like Gavin Williamson, and I suppose May can sack her own cabinet and change them around if she wants, and he never did seem a credible minister, but all the same, this doesn’t seem right.

    1. A PM can sack any minister but this goes beyond that, she has accused him of committing a serious criminal offence but denied him his day in court. He cannot sue her for slander or libel because of statements made in the House. He should report the crime to the police himself or are we just to accept that May is now above the law?

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