David Davis - Another silly conspiracy theory from Lord Patel

There are many observers, players, commentators, on the Westminster scene puzzled by ;
1. David Davis MP's resignation
2. The response of David Cameron in actively campaigning for and with him
3. The muted response from his Party
4. The total and rapid unwillingness of the Labour Party to field a candidate
5. The total and rapid unwillingness of the Liberal Party to field a candidate
6. The curious case of Shami Chakrabarti very publicly swinging the non - political Liberty behind David Davis's campaign
7. The curious and shadowy role of an expensive and very well connected PR company, Fleishman-Hillard in so swiftly erecting David Davis's website (not to mention the source of funds to do it etc.,)
7 (a) The clumsy attempt to conceal the role of Fleishman-Hillard
8. The extraordinary coverage that the BBC gave to David Davis across the spectrum, Radio 5 Live phone in (1.5 hr), You and Yours (1 hr), Womans Hour (20 mins), Question Time (1 hr), Any Questions (1 hr) (plus repeat and Any Answers), Newsnight ...not to mention endless news items covering the election without any opposing or dissenting views
9. The role of the new Total Politics magazine that has so mysteriously appeared, fully financed by unknown sources, and with the ubiquitous help of Shami Chakrabarti OBE CBE , Governer of the Ditchley Foundation along with Lady Dame Jane Baroness Pauline Neville Jones.

There was however, a curiously congruent and interlocking series of events also going on, which received virtually no coverage and certainly no discussion....Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill.

June 18th The Lords Davis ruling on anonymous witnesses published (but of course known of within Government circles)
June 18th - Also the day when David Davis applies for the Chiltern Hundreds

June 21st (Saturday) war criminal Jack Straw announces he is going to rush through legislation to allow anonymous witnesses

June 23rd Judge Paget halts trial using anonymous witnesses

On BBC June 24th Commissioner Bob Quick, for example, called the ruling “catastrophic” and criticised the criminal justice system for “too much principle and not enough pragmatism”. (This was the guy who with Sir Ian Blair couldn't remember how any terrorist plots there were when asked by MP's. see Counter terrorism Bill ..and the Old Bill... Fiction is stronger than the truth )

June 26th “Chaos as Law Lords ruin trials” (The Sun, 25 June); “Anarchyis unleashed” (The Sun, 25 June); and “Terrorists, murderers and other violent criminals will escape justice unless emergency laws are passed within weeks” (Daily Mail, 26 June).“Britain could witness unrestrained violence like the slaughter in Zimbabwe” ( Sun 25 June). (All these quoted in Liberty brief Page 4 - "Thankfully" says Liberty n contrast to the Press "Thankfully, the response of Government and opposition parties to the decision did not follow suit. It was, in contrast measured and informed."

June 26th the Government makes routine sotto voce outline the plans for legislation with dates for debate in Commons on 8th July and Lords on 10th July (Bill published July 3rd). This after cross party "consultation".

26th June East Riding of Yorkshire council announced the long, long , varied and entertaining list of accepted candidates and date of election to be 2 weeks on Thursday 10th July.

So the Bill is to be debated (?) 8/9/10th July which means press comment could be 9th/10th/11th but curiously enough they were busy looking at Gemma Garretts teeth and tits and Elvis and the Cow girl.

Of course David Davis gets his seat back, without actually having said a fucking thing, except a few mildly critical remarks about useless CCTV pictures, and DNA databases. But he and Shami had very effectively hi-jacked the so called debate on "civil liberties" - and she hen goes on to pat herself and David on the back (see top).

Debate on the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill, somehow, slips by and " 42 days or not 42 days " has monopolised any concern about stealing fundamental liberties and freedoms and the proper conduct of trials. Psyops success, in fucking spades.

What about dear sweet, doe eyed, scarf adjusting, Shami Chakrabarti offering TLC to DD in late at night , heart to heart's on the cellphone? The ex Home Office lawyer whose non-political Liberty winds up supporting a politician's election, one who agrees to 28 days and the loss of habeas corpus.

Shami Chakrabarti the ex Home Office lawyer who leads the non-political Liberty but ends up helping edit Total Politics ?

Shami Chakrabarti the ex Home Office lawyer who leads the non-political Liberty who provided a brief for the Government which agrees in principle to the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill.

Shami Chakrabarti the ex Home Office lawyer who leads the non-political Liberty who provided a brief for the Government written by Jago Russell & Michael Spencer which agrees in principle to the Criminal Evidence (Witness Anonymity) Bill.

Prior to his post at Liberty, Jago Russell worked as a legal specialist in parliament where he advised select committees on a range of matters including counter-terrorism laws and corporate accountability. He has particular expertise in international and comparative human rights law, the UK government’s anti-terrorism policy, constitutional and criminal justice issues and has written and spoken on these and other matters for parliamentary and wider audiences.

Nu Labour has an eye for colourful ladies they can promote Baronesses, Vadera, Amos, Scotland .... arise Baroness Shami Chakrabarti of the Pashminas .... you have earned it.... and who knows maybe to join her soulmate and phone-sex pal David will reluctantly pass on his seat at the next election to a Tory hopeful and pass onwards and upwards as Baron Davis of the Blinding Diversion

Of course Liberty will need a new leader ... someone with the right ideas.. step forward Jago Russell.

PS : Here's a nice summertime job for a media studies student .. and god knows there are plenty of them... A good detailed annotated Timeline, fleshed out with details of all press coverage / comment , of the above.

Video surveillance - would that be with Time / Date stamp or without Sir ?

UPDATE 24th April 2008 - the CCTV "Terror walk" video has been removed from the Met media website as have the stills from it and pic of "ausmann" bedsit. @6.30 BST they have the 2 "Terror" videos of Mohammed S Kahn shown to the Jury today.The BBC have one here with stills and a narrative.



Court sees footage of 7/7 bombers
A jury has seen previously unreleased surveillance footage of the 7 July suicide bomber Mohammed Siddique Khan. See the video amd story here BBC Online

The police footage from March 2004, 16 months before the bombings, shows Khan with fellow bomber Shehzad Tanweer, outside a London kebab shop.

One of the men in the pictures is Waheed Ali. He and two others deny helping the 7 July bombers.......

Mr Ali and the bombers were on Green Street, Upton Park, with another man described in court as a terrorist.

You can if you wish also access the image WITHOUT a Time and Date stamp.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44593000/jpg/_44593739_bombertrial_512.jpg

In response to the suggestion of Anon in comments here is the nearest frame from the video cropped... Mysteriously it is impossible to re-create the frame as the frames show a greater amount of the shop sign at the top of the frame.. curiouser and curiouser



Notoriously the CCTV pictures at Luton Railway Station of the 4 "suicide bombers" on 7/7/05 is /was available both with and without the Time / Date stamp.

Anyone out there got an explanation ?

UPDATE : Wednesday 11.30 BST

A far better quality video than the BBC version is available is available at Court News UK co.uk - called "terrorwalk!".http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/home_page/ This can also be accessed and down loaded here http://www.courtnewsuk.co.uk/site/video/terrorwalk.flv Enlarged images are available on the J7 Forum pages http://z13.invisionfree.com/julyseventh/index.php?showtopic=2655&st=168

a mirror to the enemy points out that Green Street was also the site of Al-Muhajiroun gatherings in 2000.

16 September 2000 (ALM) 'The United Nations - Promoters of Kufr'56 Green Street, Upton Park, E7. 0956124278 [07956124278]. abuazzhar@hotmail.com
Speaker: Anjem Choudrey
2000, every saturday (September 2 2000 posting) (ALM) 'The Green Street Circles' Public Circle for Brothers56 Green Street, Upton Park, E7 8BZ. Iftikhar Ali (0956124278). abuazzhar@hotmail.com

The kebab shop in the background is Lahori Baba takeaway - 78, Green Street, London, E7 8JG which is just down from Upton Park Tube Station.

As Al Muhajiroun was heavily infiltrated if not actually run by MI5/6 spooky spooks it is easy to imagine that the area was under constant CCTV / sound surveillance - evidently this camera (s?) was under power control , presumably remote.

Here is a little bit of interesting History printed the following day 24th March 2005

Daily Mail Met chief warns of election terror attack

Last updated at 16:22pm on 24th March 2005 Britain faces a threat more significant than anything since the Cold War and the Nazi tyranny, Sir Ian Blair, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner warned today.

And potential terrorists would see the forthcoming general election as "a real opportunity to launch an attack on the United Kingdom", he said.

Sir Ian spoke out in an interview with Whitehall and Westminster World, a newspaper which circulates among civil servants.

He said the terrorist threat facing the UK was as dangerous as ever.

"We must be aware that al Qaeda will see the opportunity this year for a world wide statement - terrorists might just remember the bombings in Madrid.

"We are facing a threat more significant than anything we have faced since the cold war and the Nazi tyranny before it.

"Of course the IRA was a credible threat, but it was not capable of or willing to carry out mass-casualty attacks without warning."

Sir Ian also defended his stance on the controversial ID card scheme.

He said: "If you are looking for co-conspirators of al Qaeda the chances are you are looking for someone of Asian appearance - but this is not a World War II 'show me your papers' procedure."

"If you are looking for co-conspirators of al Qaeda the chances are you are looking for someone of Asian appearance " ... well they were certainly looking at people of Asian appearance. This remark was picked up and discussed by the Metropolitan Police Authority at their meeting on 31st March 2005. They also mentioned Home Office minister Hazel Blears who had said it was the "reality" that Muslims were more likely to be stopped and searched by police.

Bob Bennett and Northern Rock - a pattern emerges -Après moi le déluge

Those who heard Bob Bennett on Radio 4 "Today" programme yesterday may well be inerested in this interview he gave when he announced his retirement. We have not heard the last of Mr Bennet or his relationship with Mr Applegarth.

He described the then-chief executive Adam Applegarth as "an energetic, youthful, growth-orientated individual"."He was difficult to deal with and he was difficult to handle," said Bennett who described himself as a "safe pair of hands" in the City's view.

Northern Rock should never have gone to the Bank of England for emergency financing in August, Bennett said, suggesting it should have taken action to scale back its lending.
Asked if the management was to blame he replied: "Partially, .... yes".

Interview: Moving On – Bob Bennett, group finance director at Northern Rock
Clare Bettelley Finance Week - 18-Sep-2006
Northern Rock group finance director, Bob Bennett announced his early retirement today. He tells Clare Bettelley the reason behind his decision and his plans for life after Northern Rock.

Finance Week: You told Finance Week last year that you would “definitely” not retire before your 60th birthday, next May. What changed?

Bob Bennett : I will continue to be employed until May (He was then 60) . If you think about the results, it makes sense to do the year-end and for the new guy to start as early as possible in the New Year.

FW: Were you forced to go? (now why ask that ?)

BB: No. If we had recruited an external candidate, then possibly I would have gone earlier. Some new people do not always want the old guy around.

FW: How many internal and external candidates did the bank consider?

BB: Dave Jones was the only internal candidate - he was always seen as the clear internal candidate. Northern Rock has a fairly static strategy about what it wants to do. Dave is completely conversant with this.

FW: What have been the highlights of your 13-year tenure?

BB: I am a forward-looking kind of guy, not a nostalgic one. It is not the end of Bob Bennett.

FW: But what would you consider your achievements?

BB: I always wanted to be an accountant. If someone had said I would be a finance director of a FTSE 100 company, I would have been happy.

FW: Will you consider extra non-executive director roles in addition to your post at Greggs?

BB: If people see me of use, then of course I would.

FW: What projects will you leave unfinished?

BB: I will not leave anything unfinished; it is not my style. The Basel II project will continue. One of the things that I am pleased about is that I am not a megalomaniac. I see it as a relay race, and have ensured that Dave’s been involved with all big projects.

JC Flowers wo looked at a take over of NR briefly, included Bob Bennett in their managment team for ther take over.

See also Accountancy Age the Daily Telegraph also had what will be seen as a very prescient article on September 19th 2007 which mention BB's departure and the consequences.

The worst of all possible worlds = Northern Rock Directors allowed to carry on regardless

Resolutions 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 were carried and resolutions 2, 3, and 4 weren't.

Consequently all the Directors proposed for re-election have been elected.

SRM and RAB Capital and their supporter's (?) resolutions were defeated with the exception of Resolution 1 (which only required a simple majority unlike the other proposals which needed a 75% majority vote) - so the Board cannot allot shares with a nominal value above £5 million without the approval of shareholders in a general meeting.

The three (narrowly) defeated resolutions therefore mean that the Directors are not hindered from selling more than 5 % of its assets,nor an imposed £5 Mn. annual limit on equity fundraising and an obligation to preserve the company's current share capital structure.

A perfect recipe for more prevarication, obfuscation, delay, confusion, payment of excessive fees to "advisors" loss of retail depositors and a virtual certainty that funds cannot be raised in the market either as straightforward loans or funny money bonds as proposed by Sacks of Gold wizards of City Finance.

Northern Wreck shares eventually closed 16 pct lower at 69-1/4 pence, valuing Northern Rock at about at 291 mln stg.

How anyone can say that a regular market in the shares is available is delusional , dishonest and mad - rumours swept the meeting before it started that Adam Applegarth (ex CEO and staff shagger) was present , dressed in drag , whilst this can be believed it cannot be confirmed.

Northern Wreck try to gag the Press, Comment, and knowledge of their Memorandum of Sale.

On Tuesday we reported that FT Alphaville had posted the memorandum sent to potential purchasers of Northern Wreck.

As a result of this posting the High Court ruled at around at around 6.50pm on Tuesday 14th for Northern Rock Directors, that the FT are injuncted against revealing the contents of this memorandum. This temporary injunction runs until Tuesday when full evidence in the case will be heard.

Initially Northern Rock sought an injunction which would prevent the whole of the media from reporting anything about the sale memorandum.

Northern Rock wanted the injunction to prevent publication of the names of those who had been provided with the sale memorandum, notwithstanding the fact that names of potential bidders have already been widely published.

Northern Rock also sought an order that would have prevented disclosure of the fact that it had obtained an injunction. The FT resisted this and the order was refused.

Northern Rock intended that an injunction should be obtained anonymously, but this was also unsuccessful.

In view of the fact that the hearing went on so late, the judge granted a temporary injunction lasting seven days in order to preserve the position until he could hear full evidence. The FT argued that there was a substantial public interest in the story and that it was extremely important that shareholders were entitled to know where they stand. The Judge took the view that at an emergency hearing he would give priority to the fact that the sale memorandum contained a written confidentiality undertaking entered into by the original recipients of the document, and that he would protect this pending a full hearing of all the evidence.

Northern Wreck published the following on their website...

NORTHERN ROCK ANNOUNCEMENT

Northern Rock Plc (the “Company”) announces that it is aware that a confidential memorandum sent to parties with a potential interest in all or part of the Company under strict confidentiality obligations has unfortunately been leaked to a newspaper group. The memorandum appeared on a website controlled by that group.In order to protect the integrity of the information which has been provided to potential purchasers and to help ensure it can implement its strategic review in a way designed to achieve the best outcome for the Company and its stakeholders, including shareholders, creditors, customers and employees, the Company has obtained an injunction restricting publication of the information contained in the memorandum.

The Company believes that further speculative reporting based on the illustrative information in the memorandum may jeopardise the complex discussions and negotiations taking place in connection with its strategic review.It has been reported that the memorandum included certain illustrative transaction structures and financial information prepared in connection with the Company’s strategic review.

As was made clear by the memorandum the financial information was prepared solely to illustrate the potential financial impact of these transaction structures on the Company’s business.None of the information reported as being in the memorandum should be viewed as guidance to the market as to future outcomes of the strategic review or as an accurate representation of future results.

The memorandum was not prepared with a view to public disclosure or in compliance with rules, guidelines or policies relating to public disclosure.Announcements regarding the outcome of the strategic review will be made as and when appropriate and any information that is material will be published at that time. There can be no certainty that the discussions taking place with interested parties will lead to an offer for the Company or for all or any part of its business.

The Company confirms that the existing deposit guarantee arrangements announced by HM Treasury and the revised facilities agreed with the Bank of England announced on 9 October 2007 remain in place.

Lord Patel has copies of the memorandum and will shortly post them. The significant parts were dealt with in the post on Tuesday. However the whole thing is available we now discover as a pdf file at http://www.banks-implode.com/NR-Secret-Memo.pdf

If you are still foolish enough to own shares, get rid.... Now at all time low of 133p.

The behaviour of the Directors of NR , the BOE, Darling FSA is outrageous and in many respects criminal . The market in NR shares is totally false and dishonest.

Northern Rock - a Turd by any other name

FT Alphaville have posted the "confidential details " of the BOE memorandum about the sale of Northern Wreck (Codename "Blackbird" AKA Turdus merulus of the Family Turdidae - someone at the BOE with a keen sense of ornithological humour ?)) for prospective buyers.
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2007/11/13/8870/project-wing-the-northern-rock-briefing-memorandum/

The document is curious - it says the Wreck expects to have a credit line of £24bn from the taxpayer (AKA BOE) as at 1/1/08 - although by most people's reckoning it stands at £30Bn. today.

The loan rate and other terms, length, termination triggers etc., are not available but ..."any potential purchaser/investor... will need to have discussions with the Bank of England and its advisers before concluding any proposal."


The business is unsaleable without this loan and this is tacitly accepted - in 2010 the Rock will require at least £6bn from ..er..." a Replacement Facility"

3 outlines scenarios are given ... all demanding BOE support and evidence that they just want this mess off the doorstep of Threadneedle Street.

• sale of the whole company; (In two words Im Possible, you could not GIVE the company away)

• sale of the basic physical infrastructure of the business, viz. the branches, IT and call centre, - the loans from the remaining stupid, short siighted retail lenders who haven't even now moved their funds to higher and safer ground.

• sale of above plus those securitised mortgages, and a "run off" of the rest - in which case the Credit Rating agencies are left withj a problem to rate and this could leave to a "trigger" by which the holders can demand their money back. (The Credit Agencies are remaining remarkably silent re the value of "Granite" etc.,

Anyone who still holds shares is a mug.

Northern Rock - BOE Borrowings now exceed £25 Bn. and rising - Is there an alternative to calling in the administrators ?

The funding of Northern Rock becomes even more bizarre as Simon Ward, of New Star Asset Management in London,has examined the Bank Book at the BOE and concluded that borrowings by Northern Wreck W/E October 24th exceed 21 Bn. Pounds... and the rate of borrowing is accelerating ..£4.7 BN this last week compared with £3 Bn. last week. (You can probably add another £4 Bn at least this week so the ttal today is probably £25 Mn.!!!)

The shares mystically stay supported at 180-odd pence (ish) as bottom feeders JC Flowers claim they are nearer a buyout claiming a line up of heavyweights - Richard Pym 58,former head of Alliance & Leicester Plc, and Chairman of Halfords plc, as prospective CEO (see pic) , Paul Myners 59 , a former chairman of Marks & Spencer Group Plc, as chairman -he was voted public company non-executive director of the year by readers of Sunday Times in 2006. Hugh Scott-Barrett, former CFO of ABN Amro Holding NV, to take the same position . Bob Bennett, the former CFO of Northern Rock, Peter Birch, former CEO of Abbey National Plc, and Martin Jacomb, former chairman of Prudential Plc, have also been asked to advise the buyout firm, J.C. Flowers said yesterday.

Northern Rock plc is also being advised by the Credit Suisse Group and JP Morgan Cazenove.

The problem is that the retail lenders have fled and are continuing to flee, (a City guesstimate £5bn outflow of savings is probably underestimate says Simon Ward) borrowers cannot be forced to pay more yet borrowing costs (not to mention the horrendous legal / advisory fees the City will be milking) now exceed potential income.

Surely there can be no other route than administration and an effective nationalisation and run-off of the mortgage book. Continued support by the Government of the Board is absurd if not criminal.

Speaking earlier this week to MPs at a hearing of the Treasury Select Committee, Alastair Darling said there were lessons to be learned from the banking fiasco. He added that Northern Rock could have handled the situation better. "There are certainly great lessons to be learned from the interface of the Bank of England and FSA," he said. "There needs to be clarification between the two bodies about their roles. Clearly there is some overlap between the two."

...and this is the clever structure that the twat who is now Minister of Education, Mr Ed Balls constructed. It failed at the first jump.

The first lesson to learn is to sack the whole Board, call in the Administrators, refund the retail lenders immediately and face the folks who funded Granite and all the other specious SIV's with their criminal schemes which all hung on a slemder leagl thread that the structure was determined to benefit a charity - the The Down's Syndrome North east who were unaware of their part in this whole fraud.

PS : Richard Pym when at the A & L shared the dubious distinction of (with surprisingly) Northern Rock of having the highest "redemption fee" of £295 for moving your mortgage... so he is not unused to chiselling the customer.

Is there an alternative to calling in the administrators ?

In one word - Absolutely fucking not.

PS Sir John Gieve (happily refreshed from his holidays whilst the ordure hit the air conditioning) has ben unaccountably silent as the Director responsible for Market Stability.Sir John readers will recall left the Home Office accounts in such a state that the Government Auditor refused to pass them.... he also let Sir Ian Blair spend a weekend fending off the IPCC collecting evidence of the nurder of Charles de Menezes.