Lies And Cover-Ups Over Tomlinson Death

Shocking results of a second post mortem into the death of G20 bystander Ian Tomlinson were held back for a week by a police watchdog, leaving the family to suffer knowing he did not die of a heart attack. 

Tomlinson's death is leaving behind a disgraceful trail of lies, deceit and cover-ups which is slowly unravelling bit by bit. 

Now a Territorial Support Group (TSG) officer suspended over the death of Tomlinson has been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter after the second post mortem, known for a week but only revealed today, showed the newspaper-seller died from internal bleeding. 

The disturbing development, which would never have come to light without the Guardian footage showing an unmarked balaclava-clad TSG officer striking and pushing him, calls into question why a home office pathologist carried out the first post mortem without the involvement of the IPCC. 

The family's solicitor, Jules Carey, said they had been aware of the results of the second post mortem for a week. They had reluctantly held the information back because the IPCC initially opposed its publication: "The family ... have had to endure the holding back of this information despite continuing reports in the press that Ian died of a heart attack."

The disturbing development will renew calls for the home secretary to hold a Scarman-style full and independent public inquiry into the death of Tomlinson, after a masked police thug without a shoulder ID number was caught on camera in a sickening unprovoked act of police brutality.

Like many, the Orange Party was taken back by the swiftness of the 'natural causes' result of the first post mortem - the result was too quick.

The video raised disturbing questions for the home secretary over police riot tactics at the G20 summit and once again calls into question the version of events which differs from the one the police gave to the media at the time. 

Wind back one week and if an American tourist had not caught on camera that crucial stage of the unprovoked police assault on Tomlinson, the original falsified post mortem report of a heart attack would have remained. 

So far police statements have been a pack of lies, a view shared by former UK ambassador and legal-eagle Craig Murray, who calls for heads to roll over the increasing roll-call of 'official' lies:

There was no police contact with Mr Tomlinson. Mr Tomlinson died of a heart attack. Protesters rained missiles at police rescuing and treating Mr Tomlinson. There were no CCTV cameras covering the assault on Mr Tomlinson. There were CCTV cameras, but they were not working.

This delayed second post mortem result raises disturbing questions about the government pathologist who carried out the original post mortem examination and the police spokesmen who told lies that there was no police contact with Tomlinson and that protesters threw missiles at police treating him.

Moreover the home secretary has some explaining to do. Why were unmarked and masked TSG officers deployed at the G20 protest and why were senior police officers given the authority to use inhuman 'kettling' tactics and cordons?

The new post mortem was carried out by Dr Nat Cary at the request of Tomlinson's family and the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) who sat on the results for a week.

A statement from City of London Coroner's Court said Dr Cary's preliminary report contradicted the initial findings.

Tomlinson's son Paul King said: "First we were told that there had been no contact with the police, then we were told that he died of a heart attack. Now we know that he was violently assaulted by a police officer and died from internal bleeding.

"As time goes on, we hope that the full truth about how Ian died will be made known." 

Many will share that view, not least the family of Jean Charles De Menezes with disturbing echoes of the lies and cover-ups  thrown up by that shocking killing. 

Picture: Still of Tomlinson assault from Guardian G20 footage

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Where Were We Before Smeargate Saturday?

Smeargate seems to have run its course for now as Downing Street tries to nail down the lid of sleaze, spin and corruption, trying desperately to change the agenda and move on. But Smeargate is not the only nasty haunting Brown and the spinners as they slither down the slippery slope and dig themselves into a deeper hole. 

Smeargate exposed the rotten heart of a government spinning out of control as Number Ten battled against the odds to keep a lid on their four day nightmare. Today there's some banging on about McPoison and a defence of the SpAds - just part of the spin to deflect and close it down. 

The sordid saga has run its course because no hard evidence has emerged linking to government cyber minister Tom Watson and hence to Brown. The Orange Party along with the Sun, Tory Francis Maude and some others got in quick yesterday, before Watson's lawyers moved in, repeating his denial of involvement.  

But the Times has managed to nudge it on a bit today with reports the planned scurrilous New Labour 'Red Rag' was registered to the House of Commons. 

Now civil service chief, Sir Gus O'Donnell, co-author of a book with Brown boy Balls, has apparently refused calls by Tories for a smear inquiry into whether Watson was involved in a dirty tricks operation that cost the job of Brown's henchman, McBride. No surprises there then. 

Many were caught on the hop. The Orange Party was thankful not to have set off for a regular Easter holiday to IT starved Cuba, which thankfully bears no resemblance whatsoever to the knocking picture painted by David Aaronovitch in the Times. 

The Orange Party believes this rotten matter should be settled in the commons with a no confidence vote. But for now it seems the public has had enough of Smeargate already, already. Time for a reality check. 

Slowly cabinet ministers were being picked off one by one as the disgrace of commons two homes expenses fiddle was being exposed, with two homes secretary Smith in the front-line. 

The quick departure of Smith favourite copper, bungling Bob Quick, raised a few eye brows, not least the amazing coincidence when an alleged terror plot to blow up Britain was played out in the full glare of the media spotlight. 

Now it seems most of the alleged plotters will end up with a ticking off and deportation back to their Pakistan tribal homelands. 

That raises questions about just how real the threat was and whether police were trying to cover up embarrassment over Quick's quick departure. 

The outrage of a masked and unidentified TSG police thug over death of G20 bystander Ian Tomlinson pales into insignificance compared with the brutal assault by a second TSG officer caught on camera (right side-bar). 

With no shoulder number, beating the hell out of a defenceless woman with what can only described as an armoured gauntlet, there's no word on this outrageous thuggery from two homes secretary Smith. A high price to pay for deluded Brown's G20 glory moment.

And then there's the budget, put back until next week so Brown could bask in the glory of his G20 save the world summit sham. A greenwash budget for green people. Brown's army of little green people creating a New World Order - not now when it's needed but in years to come.

The B-day message is still being worked on. The 'green' budget may turn into an austerity budget. Only time will tell. The cupboard is bare. Bankrupt Britain up to its eyes in debt. Without a loan from his IMF pals dragging the country deeper in debt, a non-budget is the likely outcome. 

Smeargate had its moments of car-crash TV. But at the end of the day it was just the final nail in the coffin of a fag-end of a rotten government spinning out of control. 

Thank goodness for journalists not part of the New Labour media elite like Peter Oborne, Martin Bright and  Fraser Nelson - and a guy called Guido.  

No doubt there'll be plenty more instalments from 'Gordon's reservoir dogs' in the relentless round of sleaze, spin and corruption in the weeks to come, leaving decent rank and file Labour Party supporters "staring into the abyss" and the rest of the country wondering when it will all end.

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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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Brown On A Wing And A Prayer

Three homes Hoon has joined two homes secretary Smith exposed with their snouts in the trough of the MP's expenses scandal. Brown's G20 summit swindle is being unpicked and unmasked as a con. And his hapless chancellor has admitted he got it wrong about the recession. Brown 'bounced' but now he's fallen flat on his face and hanging on by a wing and a prayer. 

It's starting to look dangerous for a beleaguered Brown as his cunning plans backfire and he faces the wrath of voters. It's all down to trust. Something that is sadly lacking in every twist and turn of the dying days of the now defunct and discredited New Labour brand. 

The Orange Party was among a few brave souls on Thursday/Friday who put their heads above the parapet and slammed Brown's $1 trillion boast as a smoke and mirrors sham. His deceitful G20 promises were exposed as a lie. 

That was reinforced in a devastating demolition job by Peter Oborne which came with a stark warning to the PM that you always get caught out in the end: "Hubris, hoopla and claims that were false, cynical and very, very dangerous".

Today it's the turn of Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times: 'Gordon Brown's Gang pulls $1 trillion con trick'.

Despite all the hype and spin and the combined might of the White House, Downing Street and the BBC, Brown could only manage a pathetic little itsy bitsy 'bounce' - and that was at the expense of the LibDems not the Tories. 

The YouGov poll was the first test of public opinion since the G20 meeting. Public opinion that was blinded by the spin and hype of the news headlines and often fawning coverage, as Brown basked in his artificially created glory. 

The sad old tired Mirror stands alone milking it for all it's worth but all that happened was some Labour voters who protest against the government when in trouble, returned when, thanks to some of the media, Brown and the gang seemed to be doing OK.

A baby Brown 'bounce' but very short-lived. More importantly, despite all the spin, there wasn't a significant bounce at all. Now that does look bad. 

This was the first poll taken after Smith’s two homes expenses racket and her husband’s penchant for taxpayer porn, not forgetting unemployment minister McNulty. 

The Orange Party reckons the disillusionment with the government because of that sleaze would have been much higher and only the media manipulation of the G20 sham pulled it back from the brink. 

Now, to cap it all, another of the government's  greedy ministers has been exposed in a cheap second homes swindle in another nice 'n sleazy Sunday. This time old greybeard Geoff Hoon. 

In what must take the biscuit of bare-faced cheek, Hoon claimed a second home allowance for his Derby home while letting out his London home and, here's the rub, at the same time the transport secretary was living in a taxpayer-funded Whitehall flat which came with his then job of defence secretary. 

You can't make it up. It just all beggars belief. And the only question remaining is how long will the country have to suffer this fag-end of a government? 

It was and always will be the domestic economy stupid, not grandstanding on the world stage, so now all eyes are on the April 22 Budget.  

But chancellor Darling has told the Sunday Times: "You must not build up any false hope." Too right. But it was Darling who built up the false hope in last autumn's pre-budget report, egged on by a deluded Brown who had the audacity to continue the build up and exactly that "false hope" at his G20 save the world summit sham. 

The Orange Party takes one crumb of comfort. Darling has admitted he sees no green shoots and played down the recent Nationwide 'house price recovery' as a blip. More than a blip old chap. That was a priceless piece of shameless Housepriceballs, deliberately talked up on the day of G20. 

Both Brown and Darling are running out of wriggle-room. The April 22 Budget was put back to allow the spin of G20 to take centre stage. But they'll have to face the music sometime. 

The Budget had been billed as a jobs budget. But the cupboard is bare with just a large IOU note inside and the Bank of England boss is breathing down Darling's neck. There'll be no big deal about a New Deal so there will be no real deal. 

It's looking increasingly like the Budget is the last throw of the dice on the pre-election grid and that, like everything else, will turn out to be a damp squib. 

Brown could well feel the hand of history on him. 'Sunny Jim' Callaghan returned from an economic summit to a vote of no confidence in the commons. He lost the vote, his premiership and the trust of country. 

UPDATE 9pm: Putting angry taxpayers firmly in their place, an arrogant Brown says he has more important issues than MPs' expenses to deal with, according to the BBC. 

  

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Brown's Smoke And Mirrors Magic Trick

The spin over Brown's summit swindle is in overdrive. Media handlers must be feeling chuffed. But the $1 trillion masterstroke is an economic sleight of hand trick from the master conjurer of smoke and mirrors accounting. 

The G20 charade had to be a huge success and the brow-beaten public had to get used to Brown's $1 trillion sham to save the world. The big media manipulators at the White House and Downing Street would make sure of that. He may have a spring in his step now but any Brown 'bounce' will be short-lived.

The summit was a pointless and meaningless waste of time and money. The Franco-German split with the US and UK much deeper than some would wish to believe. 

Sure the beginning of a thaw between the US and Russia was tremendously significant. But that happened well away from the summit at another time and in another place. 

But this was blown up by Brown as an economic summit. That's how it was billed and that's what deluded Brown was pinning his hopes and dreams on for an election victory. 

The build up to $1 trillion has been hailed as some kind of 'victory' but it is simply not true. At best it's window dressing of old promised money, dressed up as new. 

The problem with a promise is that it can raise false hopes. There's a huge difference between what's promised and what's delivered to people worried about homes, jobs and businesses. That will be laid bare only in Darling's budget in a few weeks time. The jury will be the voters. A point made by an astute Peter Riddell over at the Times.

This is not the $1 trillion 'fiscal stimulus' Brown had been wandering around demanding over the last few months. In fact 'fiscal stimulus' barely gets a mention at all. It's a funding increase for the IMF and World Bank - something that had already been agreed by world finance ministers.

Burningourmoney  dubs it 'funny money'. Frazer Nelson over at the Spectator has also produced a detailed forensic analysis concluding: "The world is about to learn how illusory a Brown promise really is." The Orange Party reckons it's all a big fat lie.

Not a penny of cold hard cash has been pledged. The  IMF would print this money. No one has stumped up any new cash. It’s printing money for the cash-strapped countries on the verge of going bust after their borowing boom binge left them with crippling debt. All part of the "pure Brown-style fiscal conjuring."

A crack-down on tax havens is not a G20 initiative, it's been kicking around for a while. Banning trade barriers has already been agreed but most countries have actually increased trade barriers as the recession depression kicked in. Hedge funds should be regulated. We know that already but not a word on how.

Brown’s gold selling advice to the IMF is the most mischievous to get him off the hook. After all this was the man who single handedly sold the UK's gold reserves at a knock-down price.

Both Brown and Obama had staked their reputations on trying to get the world to sing to their hymn sheet and cough up new money. Both failed. No wonder it's been spun as a huge success. 

It all looked and sounded so good on the telly but it was supposed to. That's what media managers are for. And it looks good in some of the newspaper headlines. That's what the spinners are for. 

When reality kicks in, people struggling in a rotten economy will ask: Whatever happened about that G20 summit and the $1 trillion? What's in it for us?  The  Paul Daniels magicians answer is - not a lot. 

It was all a con. The $1 trillion sham won't save the world, won't save Brown's skin and won't save him from the unforgiving wrath of voters.  

As the clear-up begins and taxpayers are left to pick up the massive tab, Brown is just left facing the same old piles of trials but with more practised smiles. It's still the domestic economy, stupid. 

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