Saturday, May 02, 2009
The continuing politicisation of the civil service
It would be frankly naive to think that the Police have not be monitoring campaign groups and protestors so this morning's Guardian report about information being collected on groups opposed to the expansion of Heathrow airport should be no surprise.
The extra dimension though is that it is civil servants who are collating information and passing it onto the forces of law and order:
The latest documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal how the comms directorate at the DfT was monitoring campaign groups in the consultation period leading up to the announcement about the planned expansion of Heathrow airport.
A typical entry in February 2008 states: "Strength of opposition to expansion at Heathrow leads to direct action during the consultation period." Under measures in place it states: "Comms directorate to continually monitor protest groups and brief staff/police accordingly."
Another entry in May 2008 states: "Strength of opposition to expansion at Heathrow leads to direct action before and around time of ministerial considerations thereby delaying final policy decisions."
The document rates the "inherent risk" as medium or high and states: "Comms directorate to continuously monitor protest groups and brief staff/police accordingly."
The only natural conclusion that one can come to about this activity is that it is the further politicisation of the civil service. As the Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson, David Howarth says:
"The fact that the monitoring was being undertaken by a communications and public relations team, rather than by the police or security service officials, strongly suggests that the government's real concerns about protests are political and nothing to do with national security or public order."
It is difficult to see how the government can justify this continuing abuse of power.
The extra dimension though is that it is civil servants who are collating information and passing it onto the forces of law and order:
The latest documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal how the comms directorate at the DfT was monitoring campaign groups in the consultation period leading up to the announcement about the planned expansion of Heathrow airport.
A typical entry in February 2008 states: "Strength of opposition to expansion at Heathrow leads to direct action during the consultation period." Under measures in place it states: "Comms directorate to continually monitor protest groups and brief staff/police accordingly."
Another entry in May 2008 states: "Strength of opposition to expansion at Heathrow leads to direct action before and around time of ministerial considerations thereby delaying final policy decisions."
The document rates the "inherent risk" as medium or high and states: "Comms directorate to continuously monitor protest groups and brief staff/police accordingly."
The only natural conclusion that one can come to about this activity is that it is the further politicisation of the civil service. As the Liberal Democrat Justice spokesperson, David Howarth says:
"The fact that the monitoring was being undertaken by a communications and public relations team, rather than by the police or security service officials, strongly suggests that the government's real concerns about protests are political and nothing to do with national security or public order."
It is difficult to see how the government can justify this continuing abuse of power.
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