21st Century Wire says…
With little fanfare or acknowledgement of its existence, the new secretive arm of central government – the National Crime Agency (NCA), was given birth in October of last year.
The NCA is believed to be the brain child of one political party – the defacto ruling Conservative, or Tory Party in Britain, as part of their party manifesto in 2010.
This latest secretive layer of the United Kingdom’s burgeoning police state has been laid on top of a number of already established law enforcement and security agencies: MI5, GCHQ, Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Serious Fraud Office, the Metropolitan Police, British Transport Police, Force Reconnaissance Regiment, other ‘forces within the force’ and various local Constabularies nationwide.
The NCA have courted controversy this week following a story in the Daily Mail about the NCA’s apparent ‘arrest’ of a high-profile Tory Party and No. 10 Downing Street policy advisor and close friend of David Cameron, Mr Patrick Rock (image, below) – on child pornography charges, alongside a sexual harassment claim from a female gov’t co-worker . Rock, 62, was deputy director of the No 10 policy unit, but suddenly resigned and was arrested three weeks ago – only no one outside of a privileged party few even knew this had happened. Rock has not yet been charged with any offense, and the government has also refused to discuss any of details of the claim against him or whether he faced any formal censure. Questions regarding transparency are now rife.
Was Rock questioned and investigated properly, or as thoroughly any other ‘civilian’ would? Is this how the government will be using the agency to “deal with its own”?
Ruling Government Are ‘Mocking British Law’
Despite calls from MP Tom Watson and others – that No. 10 Downing Street should initiate a serious investigation into pedophile rings which are said to encircle Westminster, the government has instead failed to come forward with any serious plans for an inquiry – and for obvious reasons, not least of all the damage any revelations would cause with public opinion and confidence in the government’s ability to regulate itself, and might also highlight the thorny issue of pedophiles being blackmailed by third parties in order to influence voting and foreign policy positions – which is a national security calamity.
What’s key here is that the announcement of Rock’s ‘arrest’ was done in secret with full knowledge of No. 10 and was only acknowledged by government after they were pressed by the Daily Mail to make some kind of official statement. Only because of the media was this development made public – and bear in mind that any arrest or investigation regarding a member or advisor to government – is most certainly in the public’s interest.
Comparisons of this new NCA secret policing agency with the FBI in the US are not exactly flattering, especially considering how the FBI had spent at least the first half of its life as a politicized and corrupt central market for political blackmail and cover-ups between the 1930’s and the 1970’s. Presently the FBI is able to override any existing police investigations under the banner of ‘classified’, and many critics have accused successive governments of using the bureau as a political sword and shield.
Read the Daily Mail’s full report here…
Why did No10 cover up aide’s child porn arrest? Downing Street only confirmed details when pressed by Mail as further sex allegations against PM’s friend emerge
- Patrick Rock resigned and was arrested nearly three weeks ago
- But No10 only confirmed it after being questioned by the Mail on Monday
- It also emerged that he was accused of sexual harassment by a colleague
- Officials face quiz as to why Rock was allowed to resign before his arrest
- And there are questions over silence as Labour MPs faced pressure over PIE
James Chapman
Mail Online
Downing Street was last night facing allegations of a cover-up over the child porn arrest of one of David Cameron’s oldest friends.
Patrick Rock, 62, deputy director of the No 10 policy unit, resigned and was arrested almost three weeks ago.
But Downing Street said nothing, only choosing to confirm his arrest and departure after being questioned on Monday by the Daily Mail.
Not even senior ministers had been informed.
Officials yesterday confirmed Mr Rock had also previously been the subject of a formal sexual harassment complaint understood to involve a high-flying woman civil servant.
She moved out of No 10 to another department after the case had been examined by Mr Cameron’s chief of staff Ed Llewellyn.
Yesterday, Labour insisted it was extraordinary that a senior figure could resign in such circumstances without any public announcement.
No 10 faced also awkward questions about why Mr Rock was confronted with the child pornography allegations and allowed to quietly resign hours before the police were called in.
Incredibly, outside Mr Cameron’s close circle, only Home Secretary Theresa May was informed of Mr Rock’s resignation.
On a dramatic day in the affair:
- David Cameron said he had been ‘profoundly shocked’ by the charges against Mr Rock, who he has been close to for decades;
- Mr Rock was said to have been ‘top of the list’ in the next tranche of Conservative nominations for the House of Lords;
- It emerged he had been at an election manifesto meeting with Theresa May and Chris Grayling very shortly before his arrest;
- Senior officials at the shadowy National Crime Agency – Britain’s answer to the FBI – still refused even to confirm or deny the arrest as a row raged about why it had been kept under wraps.
Downing Street was first made aware of a potential offence on February 12, when the matter was apparently brought to Mr Cameron’s attention.
Mr Rock – who has been closely involved in drawing up Government policy on internet porn filters – resigned later that day and was reported to the National Crime Agency. He was arrested at his home in West London in the early hours of February 13.
Police were also invited into Downing Street to examine IT systems and the office used by Mr Rock.
Continue this story at Mail Online
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