Commons report finds British spies complicit in US torture
If the secret services really are, as John Le Carré once wrote, “the only real measure of a nation’s political health, the only real expression of its subconscious”, then the conclusions of today’s report into possible British collusion in rendition and torture by the Commons intelligence and security committee make for deeply troubling reading.
And although the report found that there were only “two cases in which UK personnel were a party to mistreatment administered by others,” it illustrated a broader culture of wilful blindness when it came to intelligence procured through torture. The report concludes that British security personnel knowingly passed on information obtained through torture 232 times.
We shouldn’t rush to conclusions – this isn’t quite the stuff Robert Harris’ thriller The Ghost, (*spoilers*) in which a CIA agent works as a ‘mole’ in the British government, but this, without qualification, shows that we were complicit in torture, somewhere, at some point and, as Roger Boyes put it so well in the Times today, “torture is a breach of civilised values. Britain should not be complicit in its use.”
England meet Belgium tonight to decide who will top their World Cup group. This arrogant Belgian team has had its day – it’s time to … take back control! That’s right, Gareth Southgate is here to beef up the midfield, develop a more attacking mindset, and create some much-needed squad harmony. That’s football lingo for no hard border, Max Fac customs arrangements and no more ECJ, I think. Iain will be sending live updates of the game on Twitter, genuinely the best way of following the game.
If you’re interested in some more World Cup content (Reaction has done pretty well at masquerading as a sports site of light), do listen in to our podcast where we talk English nationalism, football, Brexit, Putin, Trump, but mostly football. Follow the link below.
Riding high on the propaganda triumph of his World Cup, Putin is to meet Trump in Helsinki on July 16.
So will it be nothing more than an own goal for the Donald?
But seriously, it will be fascinating to see the personal relationship develop between a pair, especially as Trump has openly signalled his dissatisfaction with the Western alliance in its current form, having attacked both NATO and the EU in recent weeks. For Putin, with both the World Cup and a major diplomatic triumph in the space of a month, he must be pleased that the international community is giving his gangster-led autocracy a veneer of legitimacy.
Alastair Benn
News editor