“Britain’s vital intelligence-sharing relationship with the United States has been seriously damaged by leaks of sensitive material from the Manchester bombing investigation to the American media, police warned last night. Senior officers authorised an unprecedented public statement on the normally secret intelligence world after crime scene pictures from the Manchester Arena were published in The New York Times. Police chiefs believe that the publication of the images is unnecessarily distressing for the public and could impede the live investigation and any future prosecutions… The photographs emerged hours after Amber Rudd, the home secretary, revealed that she had protested to Washington about the leak of the bomber’s identity to the US media on Tuesday and said: “It should not happen again.” Theresa May will raise the matter directly with President Trump when the two leaders meet at the Nato summit in Brussels today.” – The Times (£)
More NATO:
Comment:
“Police were hunting for the mastermind of the attack last night as it emerged that the suicide bomber was part of a wider network and the bomb maker is still at large. Investigators believe that Salman Abedi, 22, may have just been a ‘mule’ and that the specialist who prepared his sophisticated device is plotting further bloodshed. Yesterday armed police and the military stormed a series of addresses in Manchester, arresting a number of Abedi’s family members. Three people were held, following the arrest of Abedi’s brother, Ismail, the previous day. It is understood that no bomb-making equipment was found at Abedi’s home, and intelligence officials now believe he either made the bomb elsewhere or was given the device and trigger mechanism by an accomplice, possibly during his visit to London in the days before the attack.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
Editorial:
>Yesterday:
“SAS soldiers joined counterterrorism police on raids in Manchester yesterday as almost 1,000 regular troops were deployed across the country. Photographs showed special forces with assault rifles, jamming gear and specially adapted helmets after they burst into a flat in the city centre. It was the most dramatic demonstration of a heightened military presence nationwide that was triggered by Monday’s suicide bombing and fears of a second attack. A team of SAS troops was deployed to Manchester in the immediate aftermath of the carnage.” – The Times (£)
Analysis:
Comment:
>Yesterday:
“All ages are doubtless hubristic, but ours takes the biscuit. We have almost all convinced ourselves that history has ended, that we have broken the age-old pattern of civilisational rises and falls. We act as if our current societies, with their astonishing living standards, their incredible life expectancies, and their remarkable liberties, are normal, and that all that came before them were aberrations. We assume that progress is linear, that what is learnt once cannot be unlearnt, and that going backwards is simply not an option. Yet such a view is laughably ahistorical: the West is an unprecedented, breathtaking experiment in human liberation, one that requires constant, unceasing nourishing if it is to survive.” – Daily Telegraph
Editorial:
>Today: Daniel Hannan’s column: The Manchester suicide bombing wasn’t “cowardly” – it was far, far worse than that
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: These terrorists are fanatics – not just “losers”. Or simply “evil”. Until we grasp this, we won’t beat them.
“The Tories and Labour will restart the election campaign on Friday after a three-day break – but Ukip will break the truce a day early. However, Ukip will launch its manifesto with an attack on Theresa May on Thursday morning. A party source last night told the Mail they would ‘expose her record as home secretary and highlight the cuts she has made to the police and border force’. Following a UK-wide one-minute silence at 11am today, the Tories and Labour will resume low-key local canvassing before their national campaigns return tomorrow. Jeremy Corbyn last night declared that terrorists cannot be allowed to ‘derail’ British democracy. He said: ‘The British people are united in their resolve that terror will not prevail.'” – Daily Mail
Comment:
“A radical reform to the benefits system promoted by Labour leaders would bring sweeping tax rises while only worsening poverty, an authoritative international report has warned. The findings are a blow to the dream of Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell that a ‘basic income’ system would leave no family at risk of penury and hunger. Both the Labour leader and Shadow Chancellor have raised the idea of a universal basic income, which would see most means-tested state benefits abolished and replaced with a taxpayer-funded handout paid to everyone.” – Daily Mail
Comment:
“Ministers may be forced to reveal details of their private diaries after a ground-breaking ‘cover-up’ defeat for the Government in the courts. Judges yesterday ruled the Government should disclose details of meetings documented by former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley in the run up to his controversial Health and Social Care Act five years ago. A journalist made an application to see the ex-Minister’s diary contents for May 2010 to April 2011 given claims he had been heavily lobbied by private healthcare giants while drafting the bill. The Information Commissioner in 2013 agreed he should but the Government only produced a ‘redacted’ version – and then blasted moves to produce more.” – The Sun