Downing Street Can't Keep Lid On Smeargate

Downing Street's feeble efforts to keep a lid on 'Smeargate' has blown up in its face, with pressure mounting on the beleaguered prime minister to explain exactly what he knew, when he knew it and who else was involved. 

The Tory sex smear email scandal has rocked the rotten government to its core. 

Despite the best efforts of Saturday's Daily Telegraph pre-emptive spoiler, to allow Downing Street a chance to play down the squalid affair, 'Smeargate' exploded in the Sunday newspapers and on the world stage with US Drudge giving it the prominence it deserves. 

For government ministers their only hope would have been to sit tight and try to ride out the storm over the Easter holidays or get it all out in the open - quickly. Instead the rotting carcass is set to be picked over and over. 

With an amazing lack of political judgement, postie turned Blairite pasty, Alan Johnson, popped up on the BBC Today programme to defend his boss in the latest salvo to spin away from Brown, destroying any credibility he had left among rank and file Labour Party members.

Burying his head in the sand, health secretary Johnson said he was "surprised shocked and disgusted" by the e-mails but Brown should not personally apologise, suggesting the prime minister could not be held responsible for everything that people who surround him get up to.

With some disreputable spinning footwork of his own, Johnson tried to neatly side-step the crucial issue. McPoison was no lowly two-bit player. He was at Brown's side in the spinning Downing Street propaganda war room, a senior and trusted Brown aide and strategist.

Johnson's comments won't help Brown, in fact they move the story on and once again point the finger at the Supreme Leader and his digitised minister, Tom Watson who seems to have gone to ground after a quick burst of denial.

Peter Oborne writing in today's Mail makes the point which chimes with those of the Orange Party, made here yesterday. To say Brown was not involved is laughable: "The prime minister is up to his neck in this squalid affair."

The political fall-out dealt a bitter blow for Brown, after one of his most senior aides, Damian McBride, dubbed McPoison, was fingered by political blogger, Paul Staines, aka Guido, over emails discussing vile and unfounded sex smear stories about top Tory MPs, sent to New Labour blogger, Derek Draper, to be used on a scurrilous New Labour pre-election website, 'Red Rag'.

Former ambassador and legal brain, Craig Murray reckons there is "the clearest of prima facie cases that McBride has committed the criminal offence of misconduct in public office. There appears a strong prima facie case also against Mr Charles Whelan."

Today Guido drives the nail into the coffin: "Derek Draper’s “Red Rag” anonymous smear site was registered on November 4, 2008 according to publicly available records.  Draper had lunch at Chequers with Gordon Brown on Sunday 16, November 200 ... Draper boasted to many people that he was helping Gordon Brown.  Did he not discuss with Brown what he was doing for him?  Was Damian McBride also at the same Chequers lunch?" 

The smear campaign, spun by Number Ten as a "juvenile and inappropriate" prank by two blokes, has back-fired. Anyone who thinks this will end New Labour spin is living in fool's paradise. 

During his time in Downing Street, Brown's attack dog McBride did the job at his master's bidding. Brown may not have been in on the detail but would be aware of the broad outline of the cunning pre-election plan. 

Over at the Sun, Trevor Kavanagh makes the point Brown lives and breathes plotting: "Caught red-handed, the scandal-mongers tried the old trick of pretending it was all juvenile high jinks and never intended for publication. Don’t fall for it. This was a sinister and unscrupulous operation to malign the next government. It was intended to hurt anyone in range, including innocent bystanders."

As pressure on Brown to apologise intensified from both Tories and within Labour ranks, the Orange Party believes a personal apology is the least the Tory leader should expect but Brown should be forced to make that to the house of commons and a vote of confidence would have to follow. 

The lies, smears and deceit go to the heart of a rotten government bent on trying to cling onto power in its dying fag-end days. The stench of corruption fills the air. A commons no confidence vote means ministers and pay-roll MPs would have to stand up and be counted before election day, when voters then will have their chance. 

UPDATE 1.57pm: Even Blair's spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, believes Brown should apologise. This won't go away.

Picture: Trumble, Sun

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No Confidence Vote Could Bring Down Brown

Pressure on Beleaguered Brown is mounting with calls to apologise for 'Smeargate' from both Tories and New Labour ranks. A commons 'no confidence' vote would purge the lies, deceit and spin eating away at the heart of a rotten government.

Furious Cameron is demanding a personal apology from Brown. Members of the decent Labour Party have rounded on the corrupt Downing Street black ops spin machine. Any shred of credibility left in ministers and their band of cronies has been destroyed.

The Tory leader is said to be "absolutely furious" after more details were revealed today of a disgraceful Tory sex smear campaign at the heart of Number Ten which led to one of Brown's closest aides being forced to quit.

A leading back-bench Labour MP today added his voice of disgust at the dirty tricks outrage, placing Brown as Party leader in a precarious position.

A personal apology is the least the Tory leader should expect. But that should be made to the house of commons. A vote of confidence would have to follow.

Cameron is calling on Brown to give a guarantee that such messages will not be sent again. Anyone who thinks this will end New Labour spin is living in fool's paradise.

Blair's spin doctor Campbell is in regular contact with Brown. Whelan, now head of press at the union Unite, is back in the fold and was copied in emails between McPoison and New Labour's Dolly Draper.

With spinmaster Mandleson lurking in the shadows, that can only lead to more dirty tricks and dark ops in the weeks to come. To argue that Brown knew nothing is laughable.

During his time in Downing Street, Brown's attack dog McBride did the job he was expected to do. Brown may not have been in on the detail but certainly he would be aware of the broad outline of the cunning pre-election plan. After all, that is why taxpayer-funded toe-rags like civil servant McBride are hired.

The smear campaign has been spun by Number Ten as a "juvenile and inappropriate" prank by two blokes. A pathetic attempt at damage limitation to play down the seriousness of the spin operation at the heart of the fag-end of a rancid government spinning out of control.

The dirty tricks campaign to smear top Tories, including Cameron, was exposed by top political blogger, Paul Staines, author of the Guido Fawkes blog. But it's not just the Tories who are furious. The rank and file Labour Party has had to suffer the lies and spin of the New Labour brand for over a decade.

Labour backbench MP, John McDonnell, today called on Brown to launch an independent inquiry into who was involved: "Smear tactics like this are not the Labour way ... They drag the Labour Party into the gutter." LibDems too are up in arms.

Deluded Brown stands alone. His cover has been blown. He would do well to remember the unpopular Callaghan government's defeat on 28 March 1979. Then the commons passed a motion of 'no confidence' by one vote — 311-310 — which forced Callaghan to call a general election, ushering in the Thatcher years.

Only last June, Brown escaped the 42 days vote by the skin of his political teeth in a mixture of pork-barrel politics and support of Northern Ireland's DUP when the government scraped through by just nine votes - exactly the number of MPs from Northern Ireland who voted for the draconian measures.

With a united front of Tory, LibDem and back-bench Labour MPs, a 'no confidence' vote would place the Brown's government on a knife edge.

The full blown political row has dealt a bitter blow for Brown, after one of his most senior aides, Damian McBride, dubbed McPoison, was fingered by Staines over emails discussing possible smear stories about Tory MPs, sent to New Labour blogger, Derek Draper to be used on a scurrilous New Labour pre-election website, 'Red Rag'.

Once again, the spinner became the story and McBride was toast. The more they spun, the deeper the hole.

Brown famously forced his way into Number 10 in 2007 declaring an end to the culture of spin that had dogged the Blair years. No-one believed him then as McPoison followed closely behind. No-one believes him now. A slow drip of poison will continue under a horse with a different colour.

All political parties have their attack dogs. All get up to dirty tricks of one sort or another. That's politics. And all do their upmost to shield their boss from any damage.

Now a general election is round the corner. For the first time in the UK, political bloggers will be a powerful and influential force.

Trying to beef up existing New Labour-supporting blogs and launch new ones are part and parcel of that phoney war campaign.

But New Labour ministers and cronies cannot get it into their arrogant skulls just why so many blogs seem to be 'Tory supporting'.

The Orange Party, a relative new kid on the political blogging block, certainly isn't Tory supporting per se, its politics are left-leaning. But like so many voters it is just fed up to the back teeth with a decade of the discredited New Labour brand and the arrogance of lies, spin and deceit.

That raises the issue of confidence among the voters and that should raise the issue of confidence in Brown in the house of commons.

Throw in the toxic scandal of ministers' second homes fiddles and Brown and his fag-end of a government is doomed, however long New Labour tries to cling onto power.

Picture: What did Brown know and when did he know it? McPoison and the Supreme Leader in happier spinning days

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A Rotten Government Spinning Out Of Control

More details are due to be revealed tomorrow of a disgraceful Tory smear campaign at the heart of Number Ten which has led to one of Brown's closest aides forced to quit a rotten government spinning out of control.

The Downing Street dirty tricks campaign to smear top Tories, including leader David Cameron, was exposed by one of the country's top political bloggers, Paul Staines, author of the Guido Fawkes political blog.

The smear campaign has been spun by Number Ten as a "juvenile and inappropriate" prank by two blokes in a pathetic attempt at damage limitation and to play down the seriousness of the spin operation at the heart of a fag-end of a government.

But a full blown political row dealt a bitter blow for Brown, when one of his most senior aides, Damian McBride, was fingered by Staines over emails discussing possible smear stories about Tory MPs, sent to New Labour blogger, Derek Draper to be used on a scurrilous New Labour pre-election website, 'Red Rag'.

Staines had alleged a Downing Street operation, co-ordinated by McBride tried to smear Conservative MPs, including lurid and totally unfounded allegations about the private lives of David Cameron and George Osborne.

Some of the smears, due to be published in tomorrow's News of the World, are revealed here by the Sunday Times. The Tories have already confirmed that David Cameron and his wife Samantha, George Osborne and MP Nadine Dorries, are among the targets.

But in a toxic mixture of deceit and spin, Downing Street today tried to play down 'Smeargate' as spinners tried on the tactic of a political battle between 'left' and 'right' when it's nothing of the sort.

Claims on Guido Fawkes and Twitter also point the finger at minister for digital engagement, Tom Watson, who denied involvement. SpAds and spinners are one thing, a government minister, quite another.

A Downing Street spokesman said it was Brown's view there was "no place in politics for the dissemination or publication of material of this kind."

But that's rich coming from the man who promised a new era of politics and vowed to put an end to the spin and SpAd culture which had dogged Blair and discredited the New Labour brand.

The allegations, which detail a smear campaign against various Tory politicians, were due to be exposed by one of the Sunday newspapers.

But, in what appears to be a spoiler and pre-emptive strike, the claims featured on the front page of today's Daily Telegraph.

Downing Street initially tried to hold the line and issued a statement saying McBride has apologised but the writing was on the wall as Downing Street's rapid rebuttal unit worked overtime.

The BBC pushed the Brown and the Downing Street line playing up the apology and playing down the seriousness of the affair with the toe-rag McBride being given the oxygen of air-time to drip more McPoison.

To spin this as some kind of 'juvenile and inappropriate' prank by one person in Downing Street is bollocks.

Spinners also tried the tactic of accusing Guido of money grabbing, claims which he strenuously denies: "Not a penny is changing hands. This is for pleasure, not profit."

McBride, dubbed McPoison, who has worked for Brown for many years, is well-known for downright devious briefings to journalists.

At the heart too is a long-running cyber-spat between Guido and Draper, a former spin doctor to the spinmaster Mandelson, who runs a weedy apology for a political blog Labourlist, as part of the 'Go Forth And Multiply' New Labour gang.

What is highly embarrassing for Number 10 is that its spinners and plumbers are spending their time obsessing about how they can smear the opposition with the politics of character assassination, rather than doing the job they are paid to do by the taxpayers. And that is trying to advise ministers on how best to run the country.

No political party of whatever colour is whiter than white when it comes to the dark arts of political dirty tricks, from Richard 'Tricky Dicky' Nixon in the US through to the Campbell and Mandleson spin of the Blair years.

But these sordid smears do reveal the increasing significance of the political blogsphere which is becoming a powerful political voice and the main forum for political debate, as is already the case in the US.

Once again, the problem comes when the spinner becomes the story. McBride is toast, Draper must surely follow. The more they spin, the deeper the hole.

The healthy UK blogsphere will become more important in the run-up to the general election as Downing Street spinners are all too well aware.

The Orange Party has pointed out before this arrogant bunch of chancers don't like it up 'em, and expects more of their dirty tricks, lies and downright deceit in the weeks to come.

Staines aka Guido has done a magnificent job exposing this particular New Labour brand of nastiness at the heart of a rotten government - but he should be careful about going for long walks alone in the woods.

Picture: Happier spinning days - McBride (left) and Draper (right)

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Why Police Wear Balaclavas In Spring

The rise of balaclava-clad riot police, caught on camera over the death of innocent G20 bystander Ian Tomlinson, has exposed a disturbing new police tactic, with masked, unidentifiable officers now deployed in a chilling throw-back to the days of the discredited and now disbanded Special Patrol Group and the death of teacher Blair Peach. Are the police in danger of taking the law into their own hands?

The masked police thug caught on camera and seen by millions assaulting a man at the G20 protests minutes before he died, finally came forward last night.

But disturbingly the Guardian reports "fresh pictures suggested he had removed his shoulder number and covered his face with a balaclava before hitting Ian Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground last week."

The officer, from the Territorial Support Group (TSG), is part of a squad of officers who view themselves as the 'elite', now becoming common place on our streets as the unidentifiable balaclava brigade. 

Watching the Guardian video footage of the sickening unprovoked attack, the Orange Party was not alone in raising questions about the balaclava-clad assailant: "What is equally disturbing is that the officer is heavily masked with no shoulder number and only the words "MP" for Metropolitan Police on his helmet."

That  tactic of wearing a balaclava to hide the identity of specialist riot squad officers from prying eyes, is increasingly being used in crowd control tactics. 

On the surface it seems worthwhile. It prevents the officer from being identified in any reprisal in what is often a dangerous job and helps prevents any facial injuries. 

The Orange Party has no quarrel with that. Nor with the work of specialist police often at the sharp and dangerous end, dealing with the nasty criminal and terrorist underbelly which simmers near the surface of society.  

But the use of balaclava clad officers was also highly visible at the North Lindsey Oil refinery during the BJ4BW protests (opposite). Clearly then it wasn't just the cold which was being kept away. 

And that raises the sinister spectre of a political police force used to control the 'English mob' during legitimate and justified protests.

The TSG is an operations unit of the Met, specialising in public order. It is no stranger to the streets of London nor the provinces and replaced the controversial Special Patrol Group (SPG) in 1987. 

Officers should be identified as TSG from the 'U' in their shoulder or 'collar' number, which was not visible in the assault on Tomlinson who was not part of the demonstration and was assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by a masked baton-wielding TSG officer.

Senior police officers have condemned the assault saying there is no excuse for what he did and at the very least he had committed a serious disciplinary offence and a criminal assault.

The rise of the balaclava brigade marks a disturbing trend reminiscent of the disreputable antics of the SPG which it replaced and the death of innocent bystander Blair Peach. 

The SPG's most controversial incident came in 1979 when teacher Blair Peach died as a result of alleged police brutality during a demonstration in London. 

Inquiries found SPG officers with baseball bats, crowbars and sledgehammers as part of their armoury. 

Police brutality was never proven but it was claimed Peach had fallen to a blow from a lead-filled cosh or rubberised police radio belonging to the SPG.

The current trend towards a police state is unacceptable but the danger lies when the police, as agents of the state, take the law into their own hands with tacit approval of their political masters. 

UPDATE 7pm: The TSG officer at the centre of the assault has been suspended.

Top Picture: Still from Guardian video footage of Tomlinson assault

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Smith's Favourite Cop Quick Quits

The home secretary's favourite copper has been forced to quit after a bungling blunder ended the Met's cosy relationship with ministers. But it's taken a long while for blundering Bob Quick to be prised out of his job, as the wind of change finally blows, in a wake up call for the Met, the political police and the government. For the Tories, revenge is a dish best served cold. 

The government's cosy relationship with the Met is so over the top it's almost laughable. Quick is now knackered of the Yard - to be replaced by Yates of the Yard. His latest blunder is the final straw.

Strolling into Downing Street with a top-secret anti-terrorism document under his arm in full view of photographers hardly puts public faith in the head of counter-terrorism who is set to leave without his dignity but with a generous pension pot. 

But the home secretary's only response was to blissfully ignore the whole thing. Smith made no comment about the blatant blunder. Instead, she praised police for their professionalism.

Any PC plod would have been sacked on the spot but not the home secretary's best friend. But his fate was sealed when shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, who, while not exactly calling for his head, said in politicianspeak: "It had to be decided whether he was really the right man for the job."

London mayor Boris Johnson too was quick to get in some credit for Quick's demise. A tad too quick. Sour grapes by the Tories maybe but Quick's fate was already sealed after the Downing Street blunder.  

For a top cop he has repeatedly shown a monumental lack of judgement as he sucked up to the government and rounded on the Conservatives, blissfully unaware they are Her Majesty's Official Opposition and the government-in-waiting.

In December, Smith's copper was forced to make an unprecedented apology  after a direct police attack on the Tories  blew out of the water any pretence the Met is not a highly politicised arm of the current government. 

At the time the Orange Party asked: Now the only question is how quick will Quick go? 

Quick was forced to  issue an "unreserved" apology to the Conservative Party after his outburst accusing the Tories of behaving in a "corrupt" way and mobilising the press against the Met. 

Publicly the Tories  drew a line under it, privately they must have been seething.

And, to top it all, Quick was clearly peeved with Mail on Sunday hacks sniffing around his wife's luxury car hire firm run from the family home but too quick to lay the blame.  

To make matters worse, Quick's absurd and damaging outburst re-ignited the whole Damian Green affair. Quick ordered the controversial arrest last year of senior Tory MP Damian Green and sent 20 anti-terrorist officers to search Green's parliamentary office. 

That called into question the political bias of Quick, a keen supporter of the home secretary's 42 day detention, who is also heading an inquiry into the alleged home office leaks which sparked off the Greengate scandal.

But times when police could pander to politicians and get away with it are changing and the Met should get used to it. 

Quick's shoes are being filled by Yates of the Yard, commander John Yates, who famously and doggedly pursued the 'cash for honours' scandal until he was told to drop it. 

Yates has the brains, temperament and sensitivity to handle this crucial top job. More importantly, it seems he's a copper who won't pander to politicians or be pushed around by politicians of whatever colour or flavour of the month. 

With a criminal investigation underway into masked police thuggery over the death of an innocent G20 bystander, Quick's quick exit may be a small step to restore some much-needed public confidence in the police.   

Picture: BBC

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Little Green Men Won't Save Brown

Deluded Brown is pinning his hopes on little green men to save his skin after digging himself into a fiscal stimulus hole, promising a new deal on jobs on which he cannot deliver and strutting around a G20 summit exposed as a con. 

With no green shoots of recovery to cling on to,  it's time to play the green' card, so Brown once again goes green, promising this month's budget will plot a "green" route to economic recovery". Little green men washed down with greenwash may well come to his rescue but only in his dreams. 

"A philosophical man down on his luck and running out of time" is how the headline in the Independent sums it all up, after an interview with Andrew Grice.

Brown's  empty suit was laid bare as he  told the newspaper what everyone knows. The cupboard is bare, the country bankrupt and there ain't room for a further painful fiscal stimulus on borrowed time and borrowed money.

Instead with sleep-inducing naivety, he said the April 22 Budget would be "a job creator, a quality of life improver, and an environment-enhancing measure."

But Brown's greenwash doesn't wash. It reveals a deeper problem as B-day approaches. 

In a refreshing bout of frankness his own hapless chancellor Darling has been forced to back-track on a misguided and misleading pre-budget report forecast and forced to admit what everyone else knew that the recession will be much worse than he expected.

And to top it all, the bank of England governor is breathing down his neck. As the Orange Party noted at the time, that leaves the Brown with little wriggle room on a road to nowhere. 

Brown has previously called for an international "green new deal" to stimulate growth and has said that moving the UK to a low-carbon economy would create 400,000 new jobs over the next eight years. But that is then, this is now.

Trials of electric cars, a roadside network of vehicle-charging points and incentives for environmentally-friendly carmakers are among the whizzo plans churned out in a half-baked eco-daze.

Half a million green jobs over eight years - that's 50,000 a year. A drop in the jobless ocean with 3m unemployed. 

The G20 summit has been exposed as a sham. A clever piece of grandstanding footwork which cut no ice with the Orange Party and many others who saw through the $1 trillion as nothing more than a smoke and mirrors magic trick. 

But one good thing that did come out of that G20 mess was that talk of a global fiscal stimulus is now dead in the water. 

As Simon Jenkins in the Guardian puts it: "It put 'global fiscal stimulus' back in the statist box and said to the citizens of the world: we have made a total mess of your economies and are leaving it to you to get out as best you can. Now those citizens have a chance."

Once again it has to be shouted from the rooftops ad infinitum, ad nauseam. The key to long term UK economic recovery is UK manufacturing, now at its lowest ebb since 1981. 

If Brown can save his banking buddies then why not UK industry and the thousands of jobs which go with it? 

UK industrial output, accounts for nearly one fifth of of the country's economic output. It's now slumped at the fastest rate in nearly 30 years. But UK manufacturing was already on its last legs as the government deliberately switched to the  now discredited economic boom growth based on their greedy pals in  the City. 

Output  slumped by 2.6 per cent in January, compared with the previous month, double the expected fall. This pushed the annual rate of decline to 11.4 per cent, the worst fall since 1981.

But any talk of saving UK manufacturing cuts into political dogma with a nasty whiff of protectionism. 

Exactly the kind of protectionism that's already being practised by 17 out of the 20 countries at the G20 summit and being used effectively by the French and Germans. 

Brown has dug himself into a hole from which there is no escape. Building up false hopes for the G20 summit which could not deliver on a highly spun false promise. Taking his eye off the ball of the domestic economy he strutted around saving the world with his New World Order and plotting his exit strategy with the IMF. 

All that's left now are a few hollow and boring eco-droppings. 

With the last gasp of a dying man, Brown told the Independent: "It is not just what we do to give real help to people and business now, but about setting a path for the future as well ... We always take into account both what we need to do now and what is the best future for the fiscal position."

Hardly the words of comfort and cheer, inspiration or confidence needed now for the thousands of people worried sick about their jobs, their livelihood, their businesses and how they are going to make ends meet.

The April Budget is the last roll of the dice before June's crucial local and Euro elections and the long-awaited general election. With that kind of meaningless grandstanding 'green' rhetoric, Brown has blown it. 

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Smith Must Act Over Police Death Thugs

The home secretary is facing calls for a Scarman style inquiry into the death of bystander Ian Tomlinson after a masked police thug was caught on camera in a sickening unprovoked act of police brutality.  

Police brutality is laid bare in shocking video footage obtained by the Guardian which reveals the newspaper seller, who was not a protester, being viciously attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a masked baton-wielding police officer in riot gear during last week's G20 protests. 

The video raises disturbing questions for the home secretary over police riot tactics and once again calls into question the version of events which differs from the one the police gave to the media at the time. 

What is equally disturbing is that the officer is heavily masked with no shoulder number and only the words "MP" for Metropolitan Police on his helmet. The  tactic of wearing a balaclava to hide the identity of specialist riot control officers from prying eyes, is  increasingly being used and was evident  during the BJ4BW protests. 

The video, obtained by the Guardian, along with eye-witness accounts,  contradict the official version of events given by police and has led to calls from LibDems for a criminal investigation and inquiry into Tomlinson's death.  

In a completely different version of events to that given by police, the video clearly shows the man sauntering home, hands in pockets, in a submissive pose, not making eye contact, before he's viciously attacked.

Police then stand round making no attempt to help and only a protester comes to Tomlinson's aid. Moments after the assault was captured on video, Tomlinson suffered a heart attack and died.

In an official statement on the night of Tomlinson's death, Metropolitan Police made no reference to any contact with officers and simply described attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed.

In a staggeringly toothless and useless gesture, the police complaints watchdog, the IPCC is only 'monitoring'  an investigation by City of London police.

At the time, IPCC commissioner, Deborah Glass, said: "Initially, we had accounts from independent witnesses ... who told us that there had been no contact between the police and Mr Tomlinson when he collapsed."

"However, other witnesses who saw him ... have since told us that Mr Tomlinson did have contact with police officers.

As in the Jean Charles de Menezes shooting, police seem to have briefed the media before establishing the full facts and made claims which simply do not stand up to eye-witness accounts and video scrutiny.

A precedent for a judicial inquiry is well-founded. In 1975 a Labour home secretary set up a judicial inquiry under Lord Scarman into the riots in Red Lion Square that led to the death of student Kevin Gately, the  first demonstrator to be killed on the UK mainland for half a century.

A coroner's inquest concluded Kevin's death was the result of a blow to the head from a blunt instrument. The Orange Party like many journalists was convinced his death was due to an attack by mounted baton-wielding riot police. 

The circumstances surrounding Tomlinson's death must be investigated, criminal changes brought and a full jury-led inquest held, if only to restore some confidence in the police who have taken a severe battering by their disgraceful actions.

The shocking video is a terrible indictment of police brutality and unwarranted riot control tactics. On this matter the home secretary cannot bury her head in the sand. As was the case over the death of Kevin Gately, it is the duty of a responsible home secretary to order a full judicial inquiry. 

UPDATE 5pm: According to Guardian the IPCC has finally decided to reverse its earlier decision and will now "independently investigate" the brutal attack as a criminal investigation. Meanwhile it is still "trying to identify" the mystery masked 'officer'. The home secretary has been noticeable by her absence of any meaningful comment.

Picture Stills and Video: Guardian

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Masked Police Thug's Sickening G20 Brutality

A masked police thug has been caught on camera in a sickening act of brutality during last week's G20 protests in which London man, Ian Tomlinson, died. 

In a disgusting spectacle of unprovoked violence, the video footage reveals newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson, who was not a protestor, being viciously attacked from behind by a masked baton-wielding police officer. 

The video, obtained by the Guardian, along with eye-witness accounts, directly contradicts the official version of events given by police at the time.

Exclusive footage obtained by the Guardian which can be seen here, shows Tomlinson was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a masked baton–wielding police officer in riot gear.

Moments after the assault was captured on video, he suffered a heart attack and died.

In a completely different version of events to that given by police, the video clearly shows the man sauntering home, hands in pockets, in a submissive pose, not making eye contact, before he's viciously attacked.

What is equally disturbing is that the officer is heavily masked with no shoulder number and only the words "MP" for Metropolitan Police on his helmet. The  tactic of using balaclavas to hide the identity of specialist riot control officers from prying eyes, is recent and was also evident during the BJ4BW protests. 

Police then stand round making no attempt to help and only a protester comes to Tomlinson's aid. 

In a frame by frame account of the attack the Guardian reveals: 

• As he walks, with his hands in his pockets, he does not speak to the police or offer any resistance.
• A phalanx of officers, some with dogs and some in riot gear, are close behind him and try to urge him forward.
• A Metropolitan police officer appears to strike him with a baton, hitting him from behind on his upper thigh.
• Moments later, the same policeman rushes forward and, using both hands, pushes Tomlinson in the back and sends him flying to the ground, where he remonstrates with police who stand back, leaving bystanders to help him to his feet.
  

The video footage and eye-witness accounts contradict the official version of events given by police and strengthens calls for a criminal investigation and full jury led inquest into Tomlinson's death.  

In an official statement on the night of Tomlinson's death, Metropolitan Police made no reference to any contact with officers and simply described attempts by police medics and an ambulance crew to save his life after he collapsed.

The police complaints watchdog, the IPCC is only managing an investigation by City of London police into the circumstances of Tomlinson's death after the Guardian published photographs of him on the ground and witness statements indicated he had been assaulted by police officers.

At the time, IPCC commissioner, Deborah Glass, said: "Initially, we had accounts from independent witnesses ... who told us that there had been no contact between the police and Mr Tomlinson when he collapsed."

"However, other witnesses who saw him ... have since told us that Mr Tomlinson did have contact with police officers.

The Guardian is due to hand a dossier of evidence to the police complaints watchdog along with a full report and investigation in tomorrow's newspaper. 

Pictures: Stills taken from Guardian video footage

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