Different Blair Same Old Story

By sizemore Last edited 223 months ago
Different Blair Same Old Story
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Doesn't look like they get the Evening Standard in Brazil. Despite Ian Blair's denials in yesterday's rag the Brazilian government are sending their own team to investigate the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes. Not that the Met's reputation is in tatters or anything - they just want a little clarification as to how things went so spectacularly wrong on the 22nd of July.

There are also a few questions about how the investigation following the killing was handled. It's all very well for Ian Blair to insist that "At that stage I and my officers thought the dead man was a suicide bomber and we were in the middle of the biggest counter-terrorist operation.", but how does that ignorance and a full plate somehow excuse outright lies?

Alex Thomson from Channel Four News last night pointed out that "the coroner who carried out the post mortem was misinformed that Mr Menezes had leapt the ticket barrier and tripped at the tube train. Surely, by then, the police knew this information was false?" Lying to a coroner is never a good idea. Don't these idiots watch Quincy?

Now that it looks like the person responsible for leaking the Independent Police Complaints Commission papers has been suspended we are back to trusting the processes already in place to help the truth win out. Hands up everyone that that fills with confidence.

Ian Blair is refusing to resign. An innocent man died on his watch in an obvious fuck up of colossal size. If there was no formal attempt to cover up some of the mistakes then there was definitely a distortion of events put into play that has poured doubt on everything that followed. One of our readers suggested recently that the "taking a leak" story and the absence of video is intended to cover up the fact that Menezes was never under surveillance until he arrived at Stockwell. Debatable for sure, but the mere fact that the tide of support for the police in very difficult times has swung so far away from them under Blair's command is a disgrace. We're now at the stage where foreign governments are concerned enough to send their own judicial officials to ensure we don't fuck up anymore.

Could the police muddle on without Blair? Dare say. Blair insists that "My job is to stay here looking after London". Actually that was your job a few months ago. Your job now is to spin what happened to the point that no one trusts you, your police officers or the results of the investigation that you refused to hand over to the IPCC until five days after the killing.

Knighthoods used to mean something. If you're big enough to take the praise when things go right to the point of having the Queen throw titles at you then you should damn well have the guts to go when you screw up. Not the best end to a career perhaps but it beats being shot to death in fucking Stockwell.

Last Updated 19 August 2005