Thread by @copscampaign

The afternoon session of the #spycopsinquiry is now underway - you can watch it on

#spycops

First we saw a report about the Easter 1980 rally in Skegness
ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

It includes a very long list, running to 50 pages, of names of people who had attended the event. Some of them are listed as entertainers

German confirmed that one didn't need to be a member of the SWP in order to attend the event.

Barr pointed out that it says “No trace” after many of the names – suggesting that the person had not come to Special Branch's attention before.

There is a similar report about the 1982 rally
ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

German confirms that these lists of names would have been confidential.

ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
Another document contains statistics – more information that would have been confidential – for internal Party use only.

ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
This includes a list of the SWP secretariat and the phone numbers they used – again this was for internal Party use only, it shouldn't have gone anywhere else.

Finally, Barr displayed
ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
A very detailed report of the SWP's 1980 National Delegate conference

He asked @LindseyAGerman for her reaction to learning that this information had been gathered by the #spycops

@LindseyAGerman Skegness was a weekend-long event – a combination of social and holiday and political event. Many people brought their partners & children.
Friends who weren't involved in the Party would come along.

She thinks some of them “just went there because they wanted a good time”.

@LindseyAGerman There was no justification for this level of intrusion, and she is amazed to find that these names were handed over - “where would it have ended? It would end with them being blacklisted, not being able to get jobs and suffering detriment in all sorts of ways”

@LindseyAGerman She thinks that “simply they wanted to put the Left in a very bad light, that's the conclusion I draw".

@LindseyAGerman There wasn't such infiltration of the National Front, and that was obviously a political decision.

@LindseyAGerman According to German, “the whole tenor of many of these reports is that the SWP was piggybacking on things, using organisations” yet there is no evidence of this

@LindseyAGerman Asked for her reflections on the #spycops operation:
It represents a big effort put into this for very very little results” - much of the info they collected could have been found in legitimate ways – infiltration on this scale was unnecessary and cost a lot of public money.

@LindseyAGerman There was then another break, to allow questions to be put to @LindseyAGerman (today's only witness in the #spycopsinquiry )

@LindseyAGerman The full list of documents published today is at ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

@LindseyAGerman Scobie – representiing the police - had a question for the witness
Was there a policy of stewarding and discipline in relation to the SWP about approaching these marches?

Yes, of course. We had a very extensive stewarding operation.

@LindseyAGerman We wanted to make sure people could get to marches safely, that they would take place in a collective, disciplined way and not descend to individual fighting. We put a lot of effort into that

@LindseyAGerman What did the SWP mean in terms of 'obstruction'?

She explained that if they didn't want a march to go down a particular route, they would prevent it be sitting/ standing in the road – they sought to prevent the NF from going into areas where they might cause trouble.

@LindseyAGerman There were more than 50 racist murders of black and Asian people in those years – we felt strongly about this issue

We didn't want the fascists here to do what Hitler's gang did in 30s Germany.

@LindseyAGerman He next asked about 'hot heads' - were they expelled from the SWP?

She explained that some people were expelled from – or parted ways with – the Party in the 70s – the Party didn't individual fights to develop, which could have led to gang warfare

@LindseyAGerman Scobie: What could have been done to prevent the disorder in Southall?
German: Ideally, some recognition that these marches were unacceptable.
Nobody wanted them in Southall.
The community there were v clear about that.
The police went out of their way to let that march happen.

@LindseyAGerman Scobie: So, banning the march?

German: That's one option.
Interestingly, in 1981 the Met did ban all NF marches.
“but we also took the view that bans themselves don't necessarily end the situation”

@LindseyAGerman She supplied examples of what she saw as successful community resistance to the NF

@LindseyAGerman eg occupying the space at the top of Brick Lane to stop them selling NF papers there, painting over racist slogans, dealing with racism in 'low-level 'ways, in workplaces etc, not just the 'high-level' ways we've been talking about today.

@LindseyAGerman You talked about people being bussed in to Grunwick and were asked a specific question about that this morning – did you know the legal position at the time? (was what the employers did there lawful or not?)

No, but it shouldn't have been.

@LindseyAGerman Scobie: you used the word "overthrow" this morning - how did you believe the transformation of society would come about?

@LindseyAGerman In all different kinds of ways:
“Mass activity on behalf of the masses, I don't see any alternative to that”

@LindseyAGerman It's a process
– of decomposition at the top of society
of people becoming more aware at the bottom
- and of winning larger numbers of people to take action in order to change society...

@LindseyAGerman Mitting had several minor questions
He asked about “squaddists” and the people who advocated individual violence – wanted to check that she understood this term and that these were the people who were asked to leave?
Yes.

@LindseyAGerman The next question was about electoral candidates being allowed to use public buildings for meetings – even the National Front
“I accept that you objected to it, but you knew that the law of the land actually provided that they were entitled to make use of these places? he asked

@LindseyAGerman I found that out at Haggeston, she replied. But we did object to it, yes.

@LindseyAGerman He thanked her for her evidence, and her time today, inviting her back for Tranche 2 (“health permitting for both of us”, he laughed)
With that, day 4 of this round of hearings closed.
#SpyCopsInquiry

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