| "My Meeting With Former Met. Commisioner" |
Posted on 9th February 2010 @ 15:53:09 |
George Ashcroft
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Today I attended a lecture with the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Ian Blair. Blair rejected criticism that he "politicised" the police during his term of office, arguing that the Police and politics have become inseperable. He nevertheless argued against the Tory idea of directly elected Chief Constables claiming that this would lead to a "political dictatatorship". Blair was critical of London Mayor Boris Johnson and his actions upon becoming the Chair of the Metropolititan Police Authority and claimed that, despite Boris asking him to step down, the two could actually get on "quite well".
I managed to ask Ian Blair a question concerning terrorism: "I live in Shropshire (Blair, who attended Wrekin College quipped 'Someone's got to') and we have letters in the local paper from ordinary people arguing that the threat from terrorism is talked up, that it is almost imaginary, posing little threat and used as an excuse to justify 'repressive' legislation and 'illegal' wars. Just how serious is the threat posed to the citizenry from Terrorism and, if it is a significant threat, how do we communicate that to a skeptical public?"
Blair's reply was that the terrorist threat is absolutely "lethal" and that it is highly significant. He cited the recently thrawted Detriot airliner bomb plot which he said not only had the potential to cause substantial loss of life but, had it been successful, would have quite realistically meant that NO ONE would be flying in or out of Britain, except perhaps naked, for 12 months or more. Blair said that the devestation to the economic and social fabric of the country caused by a successful attack of this nature would be catastrophic.
As far as communicating the threat to the public is concerned, Blair was cautious. He said that the public should be free to go about their business as normal and not have to think about terrorism at all, save for the Police and the security services having sufficient powers in order to successfully counter the threat. Blair dealt with the question of 90 days, arguing that a degree of "political cross dressing" had taken place with Labour seen as being on the authoritarian wing and the Tories on the libertarian wing of British politics and the Police caught up in the middle. Blair challenged those who argue that the Police should not be given powers to deal effectively with Terrorist suspects to come forward with viable alternatives.
Blair was skeptical of the notion of a "War on Terror" arguing that the real threat comes from elements within our own society. "How do you declare war on your own people and how do you know when the war is won?" Blair admitted that, after September 11th 2001, the assumption had been that it was now war, in a more traditional sense, and that the threat would come from without. He stated that the Met. had underestimated the seriousness of the threat from within. Referring to the 7/7 and 21/7 bombings and the aftermath: "Some of the suspects were doctors, professionals - how could we have forseen that?" Blair reminded his audience that when three British Muslims were sentenced last September to life in jail for plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners with liquid bombs in suicide attacks on the scale of September 11, the judge said that the planned terrorist outrage was "the most grave and wicked conspiracy ever proven within this jurisdiction'.
Blair was also asked about the various conspiracy theories surrounding terrorist attacks such as the notion that it was our own security services that were behind the 7/7 bus bombing. He dismissed these notions as "incredible". He said his favourite conspiracy theory was that the Duke of Edinburgh gave the order to MI6 to assasinate Princess Diana. Despite his somewhat light-hearted rebuttal of these allegations, the point was not lost on Blairs' audience that these notions are all-too readily believed by many.
All in all, a very interesting and informative meeting with the Met.'s former Commisioner.
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