David Miliband and William Hague are implicated in three entirely new Adam Werritty/Matthew Gould meetings admitted by the FCO in response to one of my FOI requests. Gould’s meetings with Werritty, in his capacity as Principal Private Secretary to first Miliband and then Hague, were entirely left out of Gus O’Donnell’s “investigation” into Werritty’s activities.
I have now received the following FCO response to my Freedom of Information request on Gould/Werritty:
Thank you for your email of 24 November 2011 asking for “all communications in either direction ever made between Matthew Gould and Adam Werritty, specifically including communications made outside government systems”. I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested.
I can confirm that the FCO does hold some information relevant to your request.
There are entries in diaries indicating that there were two meetings at which Mathew Gould and Mr Werritty were both present while he was serving as Principal Private Secretary to the Foreign Secretary on 8 September 2009 and 16 June 2010.
Since Mr Gould was appointed as HM Ambassador to Israel on 11 September 2010 there were three further instances on 1 and 27 September 2010 in London and a dinner on 6 February 2011 in Tel Aviv. The meeting on 1 September and the dinner on 6 September are already matters of public record as they are included in the report by the Cabinet Secretary “Allegations against Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP” published on 18 October 2011. Mr Gould attended the Herzliya Conference in his official capacity. Mr Werritty was also a participant. This is already a matter of public record.
The FCO holds no information relating to written communication (either electronic or mail) between Matthew Gould and Adam Werritty at any point.
So Gould attended one meeting with Werritty as David Miliband’s Principal Private Secretary, and one as William Hague’s Principal Private Secretary. Private Secretaries in the civil service do not hold meetings on their own account. It would be very peculiar indeed for a Private Secretary to meet an outside lobbyist on his own, or to formally meet on business anyone outside the civil service without his minister’s permission. Even then, I cannot stress too much how rare this would be; the FCO has batteries of civil servants covering all subjects and geographical areas; private secretaries do not normally meet outsiders except when accompanying their minister.
What was Miliband’s business with Werritty? Does it relate to the later meeting between Werritty, Gould, Fox and Mossad at the Tel Aviv meeting? Does David Miliband’s involvement with Werritty explain the ludicrous charges of anti-semitism levelled at Paul Flynn from within his own party when he tried to dig deeper into what Gould and Werritty were up to?
Those who can count will realise that the FCO letter refers to two instances where Gould met Werritty before he became Ambassador to Israel, and three after being appointed Ambassador, but actually lists four not three – 1 and 27 September 2010 and 6 February 2011, plus the Herzilya Conference from 4-6 February 2011 (this is not the same event as the Tel Aviv dinner as it took place in a quite different town).
Either the meeting on 1 September or 27 September is a new admission. The O’Donnell report refers to only one September meeting, the infamous “briefing meeting” for Gould in the MOD between Gould, Fox and Werritty. Just before Christmas, Caroline Lucas obtained a parliamentary answer that stated there was no MOD official present at that meeting and no record was taken. The FCO letter above is the first admission of a second September meeting.
The FCO list omits the “social occasion” in summer 2010 to which Fox invited both Gould and Werritty, despite the fact that this had already been revealed in a parliamentary answer to Jeremy Corbyn. Presumably it is omitted from this Freedom of Information request because there is no written record of it within the Foreign Office. That might also explain the extraordinary omission of the “We Believe in Israel” conference in London which Fox, Gould and Werritty all attended shortly after the Herzilya Conference in Israel. In this context, am I the only one to find the formula: “The FCO holds no information relating to written communication (either electronic or mail) between Matthew Gould and Adam Werritty at any point” somewhat unconvincing. Have they even asked Gould about communications outside the FCO system?
We now have these Gould/Werritty meetings:
1) 8 September 2009 as Miliband’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
2) 16 June 2010 as Hague’s Principal Private Secretary (omitted from O’Donnell report)
3) A “social occasion” in summer 2010 with Gould, Fox and Werritty (omitted from above and omitted from O’Donnell report)
4) 1 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
5) 27 September 2010 in London (only one September meeting in O’Donnell report)
6) 4-6 February 2011 Herzilya Conference Israel (omitted from O’Donnell report)
7) 6 February 2011 Tel Aviv dinner with Mossad and Israeli military
8 15 May 2011 “We believe in Israel” conference London (omitted from above and omitted from O’Donnell report)
Only two of these eight were recorded by Gus O’Donnell in his pathetic “investigation” into the Fox Werritty affair.
It is simply impossible that Matthew Gould, a senior British diplomat, attended all of these meetings and events, yet no formal minute or note of any of them exists. Yet that is what the FCO appears to be claiming. In particular the meetings as Principal Private Secretary on 8 September 2009 and 16 June 2010 simply must have been minuted. The FCO admit they hold diary entries detailing participation, but so far have not responded to my request to release them.
I have no doubt that the near total blackout on serious media investigation into what Werritty was really up to, relates directly to the fact that he was meeting with Gould as Private Secretary to both Miliband and Hague, in this sense. There is a silent cross-party agreement among the political establishment to ally the UK strongly with the interests of Israel (and thus against the interests of the Palestinians). Werritty’s activities were therefore countenanced by both New Labour and Conservative leaderships, and the nebulous “Establishment”, including the mainstream media, have closed ranks around this.
My sources within the civil service remain adamant that the purpose of all this activity was diplomatic preparation for an attack on Iran. When those sources first contacted me, and told me to look at Gould Werritty, I genuinely had no idea that Gould and Werritty had any connection. Getting the information has been extremely difficult, but I have proven that the Gould/Werritty connection was indeed far more extensive than the Establishment were prepared to admit, and directly implicated Miliband and Hague with Werritty. It was deliberately underplayed by Gus O’Donnell’s report, in a blatant act of political lying by the then Cabinet Secretary.
I still do not have positive evidence that the purpose of this activity is an attack on Iran, but I trust my source and his or her tip-off that the place to dig was the Gould-Werritty relationship has proven to be entirely accurate. It ties in with information I have received from another source, this time a senior journalist whom again I trust, that Werritty met with Robert Gates on two occasions. I would be grateful if any of my US-based readers could try to track that down using FOI.
http://govermentterrorism.blogspot.com/2012/01/iran_8466.html
Brits are ready to attack Iran if…
Rocki,
Debkafile?
Is there not enough disinformation floating around already?
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Why would US deploy to Isreal to fight Iran?
Hi Craig,
First time on your site.
Seems that Turkey, with several US air bases, a pipeline taking Iranian oil, and planning its own reactors, would be an important asset to either side. What do you reckon it will do? And what do you base this on? Remember its senior military is plotting against the state, although in some disarray because of discovery, and may not do what the government wants it to do.
all best Kate
Very good points kate, Turkey’s reluctance to play the same game with Israel could just be a politcal opportune face saver, in which case the Palestinians will know of it first, when Turkey swings behind its NATO partners.
If on the other hand there is a large public outcry over the prospect of going to war with a neighbour that matters much to Turkey’s economy, and the PM decides to not takle part in routing Iran, then this will play into the hand of Israel. Syria, its neighbour, most definately in the firing line of US troops moving to Israel, is tied up by internal strife, but would still mobilise a considerable force.
Cutting off Iranian oil in Turkey would be futile and OPEC would have to guarantee Turkey supplies, so Turkey is being put on the spot.
These troop movements point to a larger much wider flagration, one that has global implications and which will stir Far eastern voices. Strategically this was a very bad move by Obomber, to announce a shift to the far east has put the cat amongst the pidgeons.
Turkey with its twin relationships could easily be destabilised like Pakistan. Its history and ties with Iran and Persia are as old as history itself and we will will see a cultural cataclismn, strains and break ups reflected in the coming month.
@ arsalan – It’s important to have hard evidence, and this FoI material counts as fairly hard.
Can I make a point which may will find fantastic. Nuclear weapons are probably a fraud; certainly Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not ‘nuked’. [mod: sentence struck out] Countries like Iran, Pakistan, India and China arguably are in a better position to check than the prostituted technicians in the ‘west’. Please bear all this in mind.
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[Jon/mod – I’ve removed a reference I judged to be racist. Please make your contributions without discriminatory references to people’s race/religion]
@ Rerevionist…
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Yes we do find it fantastic.
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Byeeee……
60 members of Al Shabab in Southern Somalia have just been annihilated by ‘air strikes’ the Kenyan government according to this.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16455039
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Reading the words ‘sir strikes’ and finding them familiar in reports of attacks by Israel on Gaza, I googled Israel Somalia Kenya and came up with this November report.
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‘Kenya said in a statement that Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised the East African nation help in securing its borders with Somalia.
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A statement from the Odinga’s office said Netanyahu promised to help build “a coalition against fundamentalism,” bringing together the countries Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania. Kenya said that Peres said Israel was ready to make “everything available to Kenya” for internal security.’
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http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/11/16/177485.html
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The above was repeated on the BBC website and in the Telegraph. Where there’s killing, it’s often Israel involvement.
And now of course warnings of threats of terrorist attacks in Kenya are being issued. The usual Israeli modus operandi. Stir up the hornet’s nest, create the chaos and obtain the desired reaction. Why is Israel interfering in Africa?
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16455802
“Why is Israel interfering in Africa?” Mary.
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China and Saudi Arabia.
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There is a scramble for Africa (again). That is why the US/NATO is also intensely interested in Africa again.
It’s not an axis of evil, it’s a triangle of terror.
The “Yehuda Triangle”
New York – London – Tel Aviv
There is so much background information missing from this discussion it is hard to know where to start.
The part of Turkey, for instance,would be complicated by secret Mafia connections to the NATO drug trade which is protected by `The War on Drugs`. I understand Turkey does in fact run much of black ops insurrection for NATO Colour Revolutions utilizing mujahideen commonly misrepresented as Islamic Extremists but more properly thought of as western Mercenaries : which is why they are front and centre of regime change of puppet dictators in Lybia and Syria.
Ex FBI translator Sibel Edmonds was brought to the attention of the online community by BradBlog : she is on Twitter and blogs at Boiling Frogs. Turkisn spying and access in Washington was her original concern.
Iraq was in fact stabilized by Saddam and destabilized by both his removal and the discharge of Army, Police…..any Baathists with administrative experience ( which is analogous to the Taleban in Afghanisan ) which is all part and parcel of destroying government in oil bearing regions of the `middle East` according to the plans of The think tank Project for a New American Century ( usually just PNAC ) comprised in great part of members of the fraudulently elected GW Bush administration….who are well represented in Washington still in the corridors of power. BradBlog covered electoral fraud as well – in great detail.
If you don`t know this background and the importance of the destruction of the Brewster Jennings CIA network`s expertise on nuclear use in the midEast and the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame-Wilson ( her husband Ambassador Joe Wilson made that ridiculous assignment to evaluate possible Iraqi purchase of Yellowcake – something quietly removed from by Iraq by the megaton ) in the Scooter Libby case out of Dick Cheney`s office ( which cooked up the WMD threat ) the importance of the NPT TRAP will not be known either.
I`ll run out of room soon. opitslinkfest.blogspot.com is Searchable – and has an unused Topical Index helping you find my blogs,posts and tagfiles, etc.
Post Saddam Iraq ( 1999 wargame – see Documents )
Look what just popped up
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2012/01/06/behind-the-deepening-crisis-with-iran-the-real-story-versus-the-cover-story/
“Why is Israel interfering in Africa?” Mary.
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Who do you think owns the south Sudanese oilfields? the long march to oilfields
so UK is sending a carrier to the Persian Gulf, along with the US fleet , the AL observers have as yet not produced the quick condemnation required by the USA/UK so US has sent their man to Cairo for the desired outcome.
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Israel is welcoming US soldiers
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the uk media is almost silent in reporting this build up of military hardware and personnel in the region
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appears that we’re pretty close to that pre summer time table for a war.
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would appear journos are being briefed as pre Iraq.
UK is sending a type 45 destroyer – a wishful missile defence asset(?). We have no carriers whatup!
Phil Shiner on torture and the Iraq war.
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http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/phil-shiner-uk-iraq-policy/