Peer urged crack down on Palestine Action at request of US arms firm
But only after the firm – which the peer has been a paid advisor for since 2022 – asked him to do so according to The Guardian.
Four activists were convicted of conspiring to damage Teledyne's factory in Wales after they broke in and caused an estimated £1m ($1.33m) worth of damage, according to prosecutors.
READ MORE: Kate Forbes doesn't rule out return to politics after shock decision to stand down
Dannatt wrote to then Home Secretary Suella Braverman after speaking with the factory's general manager and another senior Teledyne member on December 22 2022, reportedly warning that 'the threat from Palestine Action has more widespread implications for security and the economy within the United Kingdom'.
He added: '[I] would be very grateful to receive assurance that the threat from Palestine Action is fully recognised by our security services and appropriate action [is] either planned or being taken'.
Dannatt then went on to say that he had 'undertaken to brief the Teledyne main board in the United States that the threat from Palestine Action in the UK is being suitably addressed'.
In court in May 2023, Alex Stuart of Dyfed-Powys police – who was in charge of the investigation into the activists – expressed concerns that Dannatt was seeking to have input into in the case.
'Lord Dannatt was chief of the army general staff. He's now a life peer. He has an invested interest [sic] in this aspect of UK trade and investment, particularly military projects,' Stuart wrote in an email to his superiors at the time.
He said that Dannatt 'wants to have some input' in the investigation, adding: 'it would not be wise to have a member of the House of Lords poking around in a live criminal case'.
The prosecution denied there was any evidence Dannatt had tried to 'influence' the investigation, saying he was 'just asking for information', The judge agreed with that assertion.
The Guardian also reported that Dannatt contacted the government again in September 2024 after 'attacks on Teledyne facilities continued and the company asked [him] to raise their concerns again'.
In a letter to Dan Jarvis, the Labour security minister, Dannatt once again disclosed his role. Under the same letterhead, he said he would be 'very grateful to receive assurance from the current government that the threat posed by Palestine Action continues to be fully recognised by our security services and that appropriate action is being taken.'
Dannatt is currently under investigation by the Westminster authorities over two separate sets of allegations that he broke parliamentary rules that forbid lobbying.
The move to ban Palestine Action came after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on June 20, an incident it subsequently claimed, which police said caused about £7 million worth of damage.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action three days later, saying the vandalism of the planes was 'disgraceful' and the group had a 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage'.
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The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Thursday briefing: How the far right is being allowed to shape the immigration debate in the UK
Good morning. Just how many migrants in the UK are undocumented? Tabloid headlines can make it seem like the number is huge, so perhaps a new YouGov poll suggesting a significant gap between public perception and reality should be no surprise. Nearly half of Britons (47%) believe there are more undocumented migrants living in the UK than those here legally. Meanwhile, 45% of respondents said they support stopping all immigration and carrying out deportations of people who have arrived in recent years. Tensions are playing out on the streets, with protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers attracting national attention, including in Epping, Essex, where hundreds of people gathered over several weekends after the arrest of a resident on suspicion of sexual assault. More protests are expected over the next few days. Adding to the pressure, police are also preparing for possible protests in support of Palestine Action over the weekend, despite the group's recent proscription as a terrorist organisation. Officers have warned that anyone carrying placards or banners expressing support could face arrest and incarceration in our already overcrowded prisons. So who is behind the anti-immigration protests, and what's driving them? And could this weekend become a flashpoint? To explore this further, I spoke to the Guardian's senior reporter Ben Quinn, who has spent years reporting on the far right. US immigration | A new report found hundreds of credible reported cases of human rights abuses in US immigration detention centres. The alleged abuses uncovered include physical and sexual abuse of detainees. Protest | Naomi Klein and Angela Davis are among dozens of international scholars and writers who have signed a letter to the Guardian calling on the UK government to reverse the ban on Palestine Action. Russia | Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff have held talks in Moscow, two days before a Friday deadline the US president set for Russia to reach a peace deal in the Ukraine war. Spain | A local authority in south-east Spain has banned Muslims from using public facilities such as civic centres and gyms to celebrate the religious festivals Eid. The ban in Jumilla, in Murcia, is a first in Spain. UK news | The Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates on Thursday despite a growing divide between its policymakers over the dangers to the economy from high inflation and rising unemployment. Estimates of the population of undocumented migrants living in the UK range from 120,000 to 1.3 million, with Reform UK's Zia Yusuf recently putting the figure at 1.2 million. Regardless, that number doesn't come close to those living in the UK legally: the 2021-22 census (pdf) put the entire foreign-born population of the UK at 10.7 million. But lies travel fast on social media – especially if they chime with existing worries or prejudice. The news last year that three girls attending a dance class in Southport were stabbed to death sent out shockwaves. As the local community gathered to mourn, a piece of disinformation – that the attacker had come to the UK on a small boat – quickly spread on social media. That sparked protests, which were very quickly exploited by far-right activists. The protests exploded, with anti-migrant rioters attacking mosques, setting fire to asylum hotels, and assaulting black and minority ethnic people. It's been a year since, but the anger has not dissipated. Instead, it is slowly hardening into a movement. Anti-immigration protests have taken place across the country and while most have remained peaceful, some have not. The BBC reported that 15 people across the country have been arrested in recent days while protesting outside hotels used to house asylum seekers. 'We're in what Joe Mulhall of Hope Not Hate calls the 'post-organisational era' of the far right,' says Ben. 'It's not about formal parties and memberships. It's about individuals loosely linked via social media, people who might never meet in person but have significant influence, especially on platforms like X. That all feeds into gatherings and protests, which then spill over into violence, as we saw after Southport.' He added that protests outside asylum hotels have always happened. The Bell Hotel in Epping, which has seen recent large scale protests, has actually been targeted since 2021. But these protests, once considered fringe events, are becoming a fixture. 'If you place Reform UK as a hard-right populist party, the groups we're seeing at the protest sit further to the right,' Ben told me. 'For a while, Patriotic Alternative was the main far-right group, but it's in decline now, as a result of infighting. A newer group, Homeland Party, was set up by former far-right members and has drawn people away from Patriotic Alternative.' But he warned that we have to be careful when discussing who is involved. 'They are clearly organised far-right activists who are attempting to exploit local grievances and are using misinformation to whip up feelings, but in some cases, such as Epping, the protests have included local people who are unaffiliated with organised far-right groups. There is a grey area which is difficult to determine in some cases.' He added that the big shadow over all of this is Tommy Robinson. 'He's the epitome of that post-organisational far right. He's an influencer and clearly an activist, and he's got a universe of people around him, who in many cases include football hooligans.' Robinson tried to amplify protests in Islington and Canary Wharf, targeting hotels thought to house asylum seekers, Ben explained. There are also other figures forming a constellation of newer far-right influencers who have attached themselves to this. Are all the protesters far-right agitators? While notable far-right figures have been spotted speaking at the protests, Ben has spoken to many who wouldn't align themselves with those groups, but are still frustrated with the country's asylum policies. 'It's really important to not discount the fact that people in these communities have agency of their own to go and protest and they can feel very strongly about things. They have views on the asylum system, they have views on events in the news,' Ben said. 'There is a debate to be had, and many media organisations will be having it, about how these protests should be described. I spoke to a local woman in Essex who said 'we're turning up here because a teenager was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man who was in this hostel. We want to turn up and show we're not happy with this'. Are they far right purely for taking part in that protest? They would say of course not. But should they turn away from a protest when it becomes clear that it is being hijacked by neo-Nazis and far-right groups? Some would say, yes, they should.' Will this weekend be a flashpoint? There is widespread reporting of a 'no asylum day of action' today, but Ben believes it is not clear whether it's a real national action or a meme that has taken on a life of its own. He pointed to an incident last year where someone published a list of immigration advice centres across the country, but the protests didn't materialise. There is some evidence to show that momentum around some of these protests is beginning to slow down. 'It feels like the heat has come out of Epping a little bit. At the last protest, anti-racism activists and trade unionists outnumbered the protest against that hotel. And that was a place far-right activists had very clearly wanted to turn it into pilgrimage every weekend. But now it seems that perhaps the focus has shifted. It might be because lots of local people were turned off by the violence which erupted on the sidelines of those protests. But the problem is, we now have lots of others elsewhere,' Ben said. There is now widespread attention in Nuneaton because of another alleged sexual assault case there, involving a 12-year-old alleged victim. Reform council leader George Finch made comments that may be in contempt of court and have inflamed tensions, Ben said. Protests are planned at the council HQ. Other hotspots include Cannock and Waterlooville, which recently saw a thousand people protesting, he added. 'In places like London and Essex, anti-racist activists can mobilise very quickly in large numbers and also draw some local support and outnumber the far right. But you also have other places where there are large groups of local people who are unattached with the far right, gathering in large numbers and then you have the far right exploiting them.' How has the government responded? There has been a notable difference in the government's response to this year's protests outside asylum hotels. 'After Southport, Keir Starmer called them 'far-right riots'. He hasn't done that this time, even though the far right is heavily involved. Labour seems worried about alienating voters on immigration,' Ben said. He added that many are also critical of Starmer and Yvette Cooper for failing to condemn the racist language heard at some of these protests. And the possibility of further national riots loom. 'There's potential,' said Ben, 'because we're in August. The weather's hot and rain is always one of the things that keeps people off the street. You have misinformation, the far right and others colonising local Facebook groups, with Nigel Farage and Reform amplifying many of the messages from the protests. 'And then you have a stretched police force as well' – stretched not only by anti-migrant protests, but by a wave of demonstrations this weekend, with hundreds expected to defy terrorism legislation to rally in support of Palestine Action. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The two protests will paint a stark picture of modern Britain. On one side, police in soft caps are expected to make mass arrests, mostly of elderly people or students, with little anticipation of violence. On the other, riot vans and officers in full gear will line the streets at anti-migrant demonstrations, prepared for the possibility that unrest could erupt once again. As many as 80,000 people in Hiroshima were killed instantly when the US dropped the first nuclear bomb this week in August 1945. A year later, John Hersey published an astonishingly accomplished and shocking account of life for six survivors in the immediate aftermath. In these dark times, it is vital, devastating reading – as are Justin McCurry's conversations with survivors (above) today. Craille Maguire Gillies, newsletters team This jaw dropping joint investigation by the Guardian's Harry Davies and +972 Magazine's Yuval Abraham reveals how the Israeli military stored a giant trove of Palestinians' phone calls on Microsoft's servers in Europe. Aamna Ian Sample sorts fact from social media fiction to look at whether sunscreen is toxic and how it actually works. Craille Sense and Sensibility returns to UK cinemas three decades after it first premiered. I loved this review by the Guardian's Peter Bradshaw and I will definitely be catching it on the big screen. Aamna I enjoyed Jason Okundaye's account of his first trip to the Caribbean, for The Long Wave (sign up here). He gleaned a 'thrilling education in its heritage and history' – and made time for some fun, admitting the Foreday Morning Jam in Bridgetown, Barbados, 'completely unravelled me'. Craille Football | News that the former Arsenal midfielder Thomas Partey, who appeared in a London court on Tuesday charged with rape and sexual assault, is poised to join Villarreal has upset fans, with hundreds signing a petition urging a halt to a deal. Football | Everton have completed the signing of midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Chelsea for a fee that could rise to £28m. Cricket | An unnamed former county cricket coach has been suspended from the sport for nine months after admitting charges of sexual misconduct. The independent cricket discipline panel has declined to identify the individual due to a 'serious risk of harm' if his name were made public. The Guardian print edition leads with 'Leading academics call on UK to reverse ban on Palestine Action'. The Times has 'Wealthier areas face big rises in council tax' while the Telegraph says 'Starmer's pledge on tax thrown into chaos' (by the black hole). The Express claims 'Labour's tax war is harming economy', citing poll results. 'I'm a doctor, get me out of here!' – the Metro reports one in five want to emigrate. The i paper runs with 'Labour's minister for homelessness ejects her tenants – and hikes rent'. The Financial Times hauls on an oft-tolled alarm bell: 'Company directors' exodus gathering pace after non-dom tax breaks halted'. The Daily Mail brings us 'HMRC staff hold class on 'guilt of being British'' and adds that 'Kemi' is against it. 'Cosmetic cowboys crackdown' – dodgy surgery will be stamped out after a 'Mirror campaign' says that paper. Has the digital nomad dream turned sour? Alex Holder loves her new life in Lisbon but has become increasingly uneasy that people like her might be damaging the cities they love. A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Last week, the award-winning environmental journalist Alec Luhn set out on a four-day solo walk in Norway's remote Folgefonna national park, home to one of the world's biggest glaciers. On Monday, Luhn, a seasoned mountain walker, was reported missing after he didn't turn up for his flight home to the UK. A volunteer search and rescue team from the Red Cross, police, dogs and drones searched throughout Monday for Luhn but were hampered by poor weather. The search continued and on Wednesday, Luhn – a Pulitzer Center fellow – was found alive after surviving almost a week with a seriously injured leg. 'I can't remember us finding someone alive after so many days,' said Stig Hope, head of the operations leadership team at Folgefonna and a Red Cross volunteer. Luhn's sister, Drew Gaddis, thanked the many rescuers involved in finding him: 'We can breathe again!' Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
The Herald Scotland
20 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Kate Forbes should be chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise
First though, I should say there is absolutely no reason to doubt the primary reason for her departure. Standing again means another five years as an absentee parent. I have filled that role and know that there is really no way round it. Politics, particularly with serious responsibilities, is not a family-friendly occupation. Read More: Dingwall, for practical purposes, is as distant from Edinburgh as from London. Ms Forbes is surely right to criticise the modesty of creche facilities at Holyrood but the reality is that attentive parenthood and seven, or even six, days a week of heavy political duties do not really mix. A choice has to be made and I respect her for making the one she has. No matter who is taking such a decision, there are always other factors in play. If independence was round any foreseeable corner, would she stay? If the party dynamics were more congenial would it make a difference? These are all hypotheses which can be speculated upon but should not detract from straightforward acceptance of the reason given. Why am I sorry to see her go? There are two principal reasons. First, she is patently head and shoulders above those around her in terms of ability and, heaven knows, Scotland needs people of ability – regardless of party affiliation – to be involved in its devolved affairs, whether in government or opposition. The second runs a little deeper and more personal. There are very few at Holyrood who has any ingrained knowledge of, or care very much about, causes to which I have devoted a disproportionate part of my own political life – the land, the language and the people of our fragile periphery. Ms Forbes was a clear exception. To most of Scotland, never mind the wider world, these are arcane matters. There is no particular reason why Ecclefechan or Easterhouse should concern themselves with crofting or ferries or Gaelic or land reform or fishing or depopulation of places which could, with wiser interventions, be lively, flourishing communities. This is, quite reasonably, reflected in those they elect which in turn means that government as it relates to these complex, minority matters is in the hands of politicians with no particular interest or empathy. This void is eagerly filled by civil servants who share the same lack of qualifications. The result is insipid legislation and decision-making which displays no awareness of a bigger picture. Kate Forbes was very different in these respects and I would have been very pleased to see her elected two years ago as First Minister for the duration of this Parliament. Her competence and the ability to make a difference on matters she personally cares about would have been two welcome breaths of fresh air. The people who now sit around the Bute House table with her thought differently, from Swinney downwards, and rallied to the standard of Humza Yousaf. In other words, they did what they were told. This is the Sturgeon clone-ocracy continuing; cheer-leaders for all the wokery and Greenery that Ms Forbes stood against, from Highly Protected Marine Areas through Deposit Return Scheme to a convicted rapist in a women's prison and the madness that ensued. Much was made of Ms Forbes' religious affiliations as if the Free Church of Scotland was some outlandish cult which ate its young, rather than having its roots in radical resistance to the power and patronage of landlordism. The irony was that those who reviled her were themselves much more cultish and gender politics was their false god until that tide turned. McAllan, Gilruth, Constance and indeed Swinney…. When has any of them demonstrated capacity for an original thought or strain of resistance to whatever orthodoxy was prevailing at the time? In these respects, Ms Forbes was significantly different and she paid a political price. I doubt if she will look back with regret at being out of it. Anyway, I have a suggestion which, as ever, is intended to be helpful. I cannot help noticing that there is currently a vacancy for a chair of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. It is a three day week job based in Inverness. Personally, I would have absolutely no complaint if Ministers cut through the bogus quango appointment system and offered it to Ms Forbes. This would serve three purposes. First, it would give her a role to which her talents are well suited. Second, it would give that agency a strong voice in corridors of power, whoever happens to occupy them. Third, it would signal a return to days when people appointed to these jobs were expected to be free spirits, rather than servants of the Scottish Government. It is 60 years this month since the incoming Labour government fulfilled a manifesto commitment to establish the Highlands and Islands Development Board, HIE's predecessor, with wide-ranging social and economic powers. For decades, one of its qualities was that the people who led it, quite irrespective of party politics, were serious public figures, expected to be thorns in the side of governments. Under the dull, centralising mentality of SNP rule, all that has gone and HIE is, like all the other quangos, required to maintain a low profile on a shrunken budget. I doubt if Ms Forbes would settle for that which is exactly why I would recommend her appointment. I'm sure the incumbent could be persuaded to hang on for another few months. I have no insight into Ms Forbes intentions but suspect she would be happier in a role where she can make a real difference without the encumbrance of party politics. Better still indeed if, this time next year, it is a Labour-led government she can be a thorn in the side of while the remnants of the Sturgeon-Yousaf regimes contemplate five long years of opposition. Brian Wilson is a former Labour Party politician. He was MP for Cunninghame North from 1987 until 2005 and served as a Minister of State from 1997 to 2003.
Spectator
7 hours ago
- Spectator
Portrait of the week: Migrant treaty kicks in, car finance claim kicked out and a nuclear reactor on the moon
Home A treaty with France came into operation by which perhaps 50 small-boat migrants a week could be sent back to France in exchange for asylum seekers in France with family connections to Britain. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, could not say when the returns would begin. The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 4 August was 1,047; the total for the year reached more than 25,000 at a faster rate than ever. The population of England and Wales rose by 706,881 in a year, the Office for National Statistics estimated, to 61.8 million by June 2024, of which only 29,982 was by natural increase, the rest being net migration. The Guardian reported that 2.99 million of the 6.23 million patients in England awaiting care have not had either their first appointment with a specialist or a diagnostic test since being referred by a GP. The government would miss its borrowing target by £41.2 billion, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research; the answer was to raise taxes. The Supreme Court ruled that millions could not claim compensation for car dealers having received hidden commission from lenders when customers signed up for car finance before 2021. But the court upheld one type of claim, so the Financial Conduct Authority will consult on running a compensation scheme, to cost between £9 billion and £18 billion. The Charity Commission rebuked all parties to a dispute between the Duke of Sussex and the chairwoman of Sentebale, the charity he founded, but found no evidence of systematic 'misogynoir'. Civil service internships will be offered in future only to students from 'lower socio-economic backgrounds', based on the occupations of their parents when the applicant was 14; butchers and dustmen would do, and even train-drivers. LNER warned passengers not to travel north of Newcastle on the day of Storm Floris. A failure at the Swanwick air traffic control centre cancelled hundreds of flights. Heathrow airport said it would spend £49 billion on improvements, including £21 billion on a third runway. Two men appeared in court charged in connection with the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton; Warwickshire Police said: 'Once someone is charged with an offence, we follow national guidance. This guidance does not include sharing ethnicity or immigration status.' Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, aged 20, was convicted of assault and actual bodily harm against two policewomen at Manchester airport last year. Tommy Robinson was arrested at Luton airport in connection with an alleged assault at St Pancras station last week. Dame Stella Rimington, the first woman director-general of MI5, died aged 90. Lord Desai, the economist, died aged 85. India won the fifth Test by six runs. Abroad President Donald Trump of the United States enjoyed another bout of throwing tariffs around: 39 per cent for Switzerland, 35 per cent for Canada, 50 per cent for Brazil. He then said he was sacking the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Erika McEntarfer, after estimates of job growth in May and June were revised. Mr Trump said two nuclear submarines would 'be positioned in the appropriate regions' in response to 'highly provocative' comments by the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Trump had said: 'Russia, I think it's disgusting what they're doing,' after more drones and missiles were launched against Ukraine than ever. After street protests, MPs in Ukraine overturned legislation passed a week earlier that had removed the independence of two anti-corruption agencies. A big oil depot fire near Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi was blamed by Moscow on a Ukrainian drone attack. Eight countries of Opec+ (including Russia) agreed to produce more oil. BP announced its biggest discovery in 25 years: an oil and gas field off Brazil. Nasa hatched plans for a nuclear reactor on the moon. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, resolved to reoccupy the Gaza Strip fully. Hamas declared that it would not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state was established. Canada said it would recognise Palestine as a state in September. The International Committee of the Red Cross was 'appalled' by videos of two emaciated hostages in Gaza. A boat with 157 migrants from the Horn of Africa sank off the coast of Yemen and only 12 were rescued. The Pope said mass for a million young people at Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome. Aalborg Zoo in Denmark appealed for guinea pigs and horses, to feed its lions and tigers. CSH
