Home Office under fire for panel ruling
ADVERTS for popular car brands have been banned for encouraging irresponsible driving.
Two ads for Ford featured a voice-over quoting a Dylan Thomas poem, saying: “Rage against the dying of the light.” Twelve viewers complained that they depicted driving as a way of relieving anger.
The Advertising Standards Authority also upheld a complaint about ads for Nissan, which showed a car veering into the left-hand lane before taking a hard left around a corner into an airport. THE King and Queen of the Netherlands have begun a state visit to the UK aimed at strengthening the bonds between the two nations.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima were welcomed to Britain by the Queen during a ceremony full of pageantry but set against the backdrop of Brexit.
The visiting head of state kissed the Queen warmly on both cheeks and clasped her hands with his, a gesture that was repeated by his wife.
On Horse Guards Parade, the king – making his first official trip to the UK – was also greeted by Britain’s political leaders including Prime Minister Theresa May, THE Home Office’s refusal to appoint an independent panel to the so-called “spycops” inquiry has come under fire at the High Court.
A judicial review of the decision has been brought by three core participants in the undercover policing inquiry (UCPI) including Patricia Armani da Silva, whose cousin Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by police in London in July 2005.
At a hearing in London yesterday, Phillippa Kaufmann QC told Mr Justice Supperstone that there had been “a true loss of confidence” in retired High Court judge Sir John Mitting by many core participants over his handling of anonymity applications by former officers.
She added that issues of sexual and racial discrimination were “at the heart” of the inquiry, of which Sir John had only a “primitive understanding”.
Ms Kaufmann submitted that it would be a “false economy” for the inquiry - which has already cost more than £10 million and is not due to conclude until at least 2023 - to continue with “a panel that lacks the requisite experience to fulfil the terms of reference effectively”. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt and the Home Secretary Sajid Javid.
The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall had escorted Willem-Alexander and Maxima from the Dutch embassy to Whitehall.
Waiting on Henry VIII’s former jousting yard was the guard of honour formed by
The Home Office argues that there was no obligation on Home Secretary Sajid Javid to reconsider his predecessor’s decision not to appoint panel members to the inquiry, and points out that the position is being kept “under review”.
Ms Armani da Silva is joined in the claim by “Jessica”, who alleges she was deceived into a sexual relationship by undercover officer “Andy Davey”, who is now a member of Peterborough City Council, Andy Coles. Mr Coles denies her allegation. The third claimant is John Burke-Monerville, whose 19-year-old son Trevor was held at Stoke Newington police station in 1987, was allegedly beaten and left with brain damage, and whose campaign for justice he asserts was infiltrated.
During the hearing, Ms Kaufmann said Sir John’s “old-fashioned” remarks that “because (an officer) was a married man, effectively he did not think there was going to be any wrongdoing” had drawn “audible gasps” from those present at a UCPI hearing in February.
She said Sir John’s “lack of training, expertise, exposure or understanding is made manifest by comments that he has the 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, in their scarlet tunics and bearskins.
The trip follows a pattern dubbed “Brexit diplomacy” – where either members of the British royal family visit EU countries or their heads of state travel to the UK, in an apparent bid to strengthen national friendships. made on issues of race and sex discrimination”, which were “deeply concerning”.
Ms Kaufmann added Sir John “understands discrimination to be entirely about a conscious, motivated racism or sexism” and “fails to appreciate the way in which these beliefs or these attitudes operate at subconscious levels and feed their way into the structures of institutions”.
She said that for the inquiry to be effective “it must be capable of addressing the issues of discrimination” on the grounds of both gender and race and that Sir John’s “expertise in these areas simply does not exist”.
Clair Dobbin, for the Home Secretary, said that there was “no obligation” on Mr Javid to retake an earlier decision to not appoint panel members as there were “no material developments which bore upon the decision”.
She said that the inquiry would be “far more complex and difficult if it is to be conducted by a group of people”, adding that the Home Office was “obviously justified in being concerned about delay” by introducing a panel to hear the inquiry alongside Sir John.