G24

| pdf edition | Tuesday June 7 2011 Top stories

Downloaded 22:05 GMT

Mark Kennedy case: CPS accused of

suppressing key evidence
CPS opens inquiry after claims prosecutors withheld undercover
police officer’s surveillance tapes from defence lawyers Page 2

Syrian town empties as government tanks

mass outside
All-out assault on residents of Jisr al-Shughour feared after uprising
against security forces Page 2

Libya rebels frustrated by Nato’s safety-

first strategy
Rebel leaders in Misrata feel prepared for battle but say they have
been told not to cross certain ‘red lines’ Page 3

Oxford University Barack Obama suffers Conservatives alarmed Hitler’s first draft of
delivers stinging shock poll slump as over David Cameron’s the Holocaust: unique
verdict on higher Mitt Romney draws NHS concessions Page 7 letter goes on show
education reforms level Page 5 Page 8
Page 4 Phone hacking: News
Iran’s president admits of the World apologises Stand by the
Spain rejects €150m rift with country’s to Sienna Miller Page 7 standpipes – the
payout offer for farms senior Islamic figures drought is back, UK
hit by E coli fears Page 5 Page 6 told Page 8

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Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396. Registered office: Number 1 Scott Place, Manchester M3 3GG
Page  G24 Top stories Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT

Kennedy was gathering evidence to be used to prosecute

the activists, who police suspected of planning to break into
Mark Kennedy case: CPS accused of Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station two years ago.
suppressing key evidence However, the deployment backfired when conversations
covertly recorded by Kennedy provided evidence likely to
CPS opens inquiry after claims prosecutors exonerate rather than incriminate the six activists.
withheld undercover police officer’s Kennedy speculated earlier this year that the tapes may
have been withheld by his handlers at the National Public Order
surveillance tapes from defence lawyers
Intelligence Unit (NPOIU). The new evidence suggests it was
Rob Evans and Paul Lewis down to the CPS.
Most of the activists were released without charge, but the
Prosecutors have been accused of suppressing surveillance
CPS brought proceedings against 26 campaigners on charges of
[http://tinyurl.com/7elatn] tapes covertly recorded by the
conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass.
undercover police [http://tinyurl.com/yfo7a7s] officer Mark
Twenty defendants, known as the “justifiers” because they
Kennedy [http://tinyurl.com/6x2v87a], the Guardian can
conceded they planned to break into the plant but said their
reveal.
actions were defensible to avert climate change, were convicted
Leaked documents indicate the Crown Prosecution Service
in December last year.
may also have misled the public and even the courts when the
But the six so-called “deniers” who said they did not agree
trial of six environmental campaigners accused of planning to
to join the protest, faced a trial in January 2010. That trial
break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire
collapsed after defence lawyers discovered independently the
collapsed earlier this year.
protesters had been infiltrated by Kennedy.
Two days before it was due to commence, the trial was
The “justifiers” are now seeking to overturn their guilty
abandoned by the CPS, which told the court that “previously
verdicts at the court of appeal, after the director of public
unavailable information” had come to light that undermined its
prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said evidence relating to Kennedy’s
case against the activists.
deployment that was not disclosed at their trial may mean their
However, the supposedly new evidence – the Kennedy tapes
convictions were unsafe.
– had in fact been in the possession of the CPS for more than a
Mike Schwarz, of Bindmans, the lawyer for all 26 activists,
year.
said he hoped the court of appeal case would examine any
Prosecutors had taken part in a number of high-level
failure to disclose the Kennedy tapes. “These allegations open
meetings with police about Kennedy’s potentially explosive
up a new and very serious concern which goes to the heart of
surveillance tapes, but withheld them from defence lawyers.
the criminal justice system,” he said.
Confidential correspondence between senior police and
“None of these allegations appear even to be the subject
prosecutors suggests officers told the CPS about Kennedy’s
of any of the [previous] inquiries ... It is therefore imperative
deployment from the outset. The police say they handed over
that the court of appeal rigorously and openly examines these
a transcript of his secret recording to Ian Cunningham, a senior
serious developments.”
CPS prosecutor, within weeks of the raid.
Activists targeted in the spying operation are demanding a
The CPS confirmed on Tuesday it had opened a “full and
public inquiry, arguing that none of the investigations, which
formal” inquiry, led by deputy chief crown prosecutor, Chris
include inquiries by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary
Enzor, into allegations made by senior police officers who have
and the Serious and Organised Crime Agency, are sufficiently
concerns about how prosecutors managed the case.
independent.
“All the public statements made by the Crown Prosecution
In addition to Kennedy, police officers known as Lynn
Service about this case have been made based on the
Watson, Mark Jacobs and Jim Boyling were given new identities
information that was available at the time.
to live for several years among activists.
“It would be wrong to anticipate the outcome of Mr Enzor’s
Kennedy and Jacobs are both accused of having sexual
formal inquiry. The original police investigation took at least
relations with activists; Boyling married an activist he met
two years and generated thousands of pages of evidence. Mr
while living undercover.
Enzor has no previous knowledge of this case and his thorough
review of the evidence is, therefore, likely to take some time.”
Enzor’s inquiry was described by Cunningham as a potential
“disciplinary” investigation.
Syrian town empties as government
It is the fifth formal investigations launched in response to tanks mass outside
the Guardian’s ongoing investigation into the multimillion-
pound operation to plant police spies in the protest [http:// All-out assault on residents of Jisr al-
tinyurl.com/7u5syy] movement.
Shughour feared after uprising against
Senior police officers have privately accused the CPS of
failing to cooperate with at least one other inquiry into the
security forces
Kennedy affair, which is being conducted by the Independent Martin Chulov in Beirut and Nidaa Hassan in Damascus
Police Complaints Commission [http://tinyurl.com/cncy9g]
The Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour was besieged by columns
(IPCC).
of government tanks on Tuesday night as the army massed for
The six activists were among more than a hundred spied on
what is feared will be an all-out assault on residents it claims
by Kennedy, a Metropolitan police officer who had been living
killed more than 120 security force members over the weekend.
deep undercover in the protest movement.
By nightfall most inhabitants had fled to nearby Turkey
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007 guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
[http://tinyurl.com/57glzg] before the expected sharp
escalation in a three-month uprising that has pitched largely
unarmed demonstrators against a regime using increasingly
lethal force to suppress the gravest threat to its four-decade
rule.
Jisr al-Shughour, a town of 41,000 people, was largely
abandoned. The hospital stood empty and the intelligence
headquarters, which had been the scene of an uprising on
Sunday, was now a looted and empty shell, according to three
men who had stayed behind.
Human rights activists in Damascus said 59 civilians had
been confirmed killed. However they feared the final number
was likely to be more than 100.
The prospect of the imminent operation has stirred the
ghosts of an infamous assault on the town of Hama 29 years
ago, in which tens of thousands of residents were killed by the
former president Hafez al-Assad after they launched a failed
challenge to his authority.
Assad’s son, President Bashar al-Assad, is now facing a more
serious threat, with sustained protests in many Syrian towns
and cities that are steadily eroding the iron-clad rule of the
Assad dynasty.
The siege of Jisr al-Shughour appears to mark a turning point
in the popular rebellion, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and
Tunisia. The Syrian information minister, Mohammed al-Shaar,
insisted on Monday night that residents had taken up arms and
turned on security forces.
Exactly what happened is not yet clear, but anecdotal
evidence emerging from the town suggested that armed clashes
did take place. One witness told the Guardian that some officers
from the security headquarters had switched allegiances and
were shot by loyalists from inside the building.
“They were killing the defecting officers,” said one local
speaking by telephone. “The people came to defend them and
then they had to defend themselves. There was a battle.”
Another man, who did not want to be identified, also said
that some officers had switched sides. The Syrian government
refused to acknowledge that any mutiny had occurred.
However, it did concede that forces inside the town had “lost
control for intermittent periods”. Another government official
confirmed that some government weapons were now in the
hands of residents. The haul included five tonnes of dynamite,
the information ministry spokesman Reem Haddad told the
BBC.
Shaar said the military would “not stay silent” and a move to
retake the town was expected before daybreak. “The army will
carry out their national duty to restore order,” he said.
Authorities in Turkey said it had received several hundred
refugees who had crossed the border, many of whom had
wounds. Several thousand more villagers are thought to have
fled south towards Aleppo and east into farmlands. It is not
known how many residents have stayed behind.
“I know that people are waiting for the army,” said one
Syrian exile in London. “I have spoken to people there today
and they are preparing to fight them.”
If claims of an armed rebellion are proven, it would mark the
first time that citizens had taken up weapons in large numbers.
Protests have been taking place at least weekly in many cities,
including the capital, Damascus. Human rights groups claim
that more than 1,000 people have been killed, nearly all of
them demonstrators campaigning for widespread democratic
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
reforms.
Weekly death tolls have risen sharply over the past fortnight,
placing growing pressure on Assad. Damascus has been anxious
to cast the uprising as a series of clashes with armed gangs who
are backed by foreign powers aiming to topple the government.
The US has imposed sanctions on Assad and members of his
inner circle and there are increasing signs that Europe has lost
a one-time belief that Assad is a reformer constrained by the
society he rules.
The UN has stopped short of imposing on Syria [http://
tinyurl.com/4ooew7] the same sort of security resolutions as
those directed at Libya and has ruled out military intervention,
and Russia has indicated it would veto any UN attempt to
increase the pressure on its long-term ally.
Analysts in Damascus said they feared the government was
willing to push the country into a violent struggle as it tried to
cling to power. Their view was backed by diplomats in Beirut,
who said regime figures were likely to further destabilise
neighbouring Lebanon if pressure on them continued to mount.
Israel has accused Damascus of orchestrating protests in the
Golan Heights along the ceasefire line between both countries
to create a diversion from its domestic troubles.
The uprising broke out in mid-March, initially calling for
reforms but escalating into demands for the toppling of the
regime after a series of brutal crackdowns that spread to most
major towns and cities in the country.
“Our line is that protesters either go out peacefully, or they
don’t go out at all,” said one religious man in Damascus who is
supporting the protests.
• Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus
Libya rebels frustrated by Nato’s safety-
first strategy
Rebel leaders in Misrata feel prepared for
battle but say they have been told not to
cross certain ‘red lines’
Chris Stephen in Misrata and Nick Hopkins
Tension between Libyan rebels and Nato [http://tinyurl.
com/66prqs] commanders is growing over the military tactics
being used to put pressure on Colonel Gaddafi’s forces.
Rebel leaders in Misrata say they are being urged not to
launch further pushes against regime troops to the east of the
city, and claim they have been told not to cross certain “red
lines”, even though they feel prepared for battle.
The frustration on the ground has been heightened by their
belief that Gaddafi’s troops are demoralised and depleted after
nearly three months of conflict.
While coalition officials insist they have not issued any
direct orders not to attack, they concede they are worried
about civilians being caught up in further chaotic fighting, and
do not want rebel troops being accidentally hit in bombing
raids by Nato warplanes. These continued on Monday, when
Tripoli experienced what was perhaps the heaviest daylight
bombardment by Nato since the airstrikes began in March.
RAF Typhoon and Tornado jets dropped more than two dozen
bombs, targeting the headquarters of the secret police in the
heart of the city, and a major military base on its outskirts.
The Guardian spoke to rebel commanders from the Black
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
Brigade and the Swehdi Brigade in Misrata, who said they
felt constrained from launching pre-emptive assaults. Khalid
Alogab, a section commander in the Libyan rebel Black Brigade,
said the western alliance had given rebel units firm instructions
not to cross into certain areas. “The red line, we cannot cross,”
he said. “If we get the order from Nato we can go. We can
capture Tarhuga [a town to the east] in two hours.” Alogab said
orders had come from Misrata command that the Black Brigade
was to stay put, and that the alliance had designated the eastern
front as a red line. Salem Shneshah, a Black Brigade medic,
added: “We should move, we want to move. But Nato told us
we must stay here.”
On the far side of Misrata, members of the Swehdi brigade
– named after the city’s most famous resistance hero from the
last century, Ramadan Swehdi – told a similar story. “Nato say
we must be behind the red lines,” said Feraz Swehli, one of
Ramadan’s ancestors.
Rebel army spokesman Commander Ibrahim Betalmal
confirmed that Nato orders, rather than tactical considerations,
were preventing his army from pushing forward. “We have
been given instructions to stay on the border,” he said. He
added: “No doubt Nato will help a great deal in clearing the way
forward for us.”
Nato says it has not issued formal red lines to the rebels, but
acknowledges that there is real danger to their forces if they
stray into zones that are being targeted by missile and bombing
strikes. The coalition needs to know the areas that are safe to
bomb and clear of civilians, said a source. “Nobody wants a
return to the kind of confusion there was before. Nato has a
very clear duty to ensure that civilians are not caught up in the
fighting.”
While coalition commanders have great respect for the
courage of the rebels, they also fear they remain relatively
disorganised.
Describing the latest attacks by RAF aircraft in Tripoli, Major
General Nick Pope said jets had used guided “paveway” bombs
to target a police building from which Gaddafi “was engaged in
the brutal repression of the civilian population”.
Oxford University delivers stinging
verdict on higher education reforms
Legislative body reaches near-unanimous
vote of no confidence in policies of
universities minister, David Willetts
Jeevan Vasagar, education editor
Oxford University has formally declared it has “no confidence”
in the policies of the universities minister, David Willetts
[http://tinyurl.com/rdbzxj], in the first sign of a concerted
academic backlash against the government’s higher education
[http://tinyurl.com/cddud3] reforms.
Lecturers passed a motion opposing the coalition’s policies
by 283 votes to five at a meeting of the congregation, Oxford’s
legislative body. The university is the first to take a public
stand against the raising of tuition fees [http://tinyurl.com/
c78c9q] and slashing of the teaching grant, but the rebellion
is spreading. Cambridge is expected to announce a date for a
“no confidence” vote on Monday, while a petition against the
government is gathering force at Warwick University.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
It is the first time a vote of no confidence in a minister
has been passed by an English university, and follows a
no- confidence vote by the Royal College of Nursing in the
health secretary Andrew Lansley’s handling of NHS reforms.
The message of “no confidence” will be transmitted to the
government by Oxford University’s council, its governing body.
Robert Gildea, the Oxford historian who proposed the
motion, described the coalition’s reforms as “reckless,
incoherent and incompetent”. He warned that proposals to
introduce “off-quota” student places, funded privately rather
than through state-backed loans, and AC Grayling’s plan for
a new private university heralded the arrival of a “two-track”
admissions system.
In a two and a half hour debate, he told fellow academics:
“It’s a red carpet for the rich and even more competition for
everyone else. We will be back to Brideshead.”
The debate had added resonance on the day a committee of
MPs published a report warning that student numbers might
have to be cut to meet the soaring cost of student loans, after
ministers underestimated how many universities would charge
the maximum £9,000 fee. Figures compiled by the Guardian
show that 105 universities have declared their fee for next year,
with an average of £8,765.
Karma Nabulsi, a lecturer in international relations who
seconded the motion, urged the academics not to consider the
motion as a negative statement, “but as an affirmation of who
we are and the traditions we wish to observe”.
She said: “Oxford is committed above all to the pursuit of
academic excellence in all its forms, a defence of academic
disciplines without regard for market values, and the idea
of education as a comprehensive, publicly-funded activity
accessible to the widest number of young people.”
One of the few academics to lend support to the government
was Susan Cooper, a physicist and fellow of St Catherine’s
college, who argued that the market in tuition fees needed a
few years to develop. She said: “The difference between [an
average tuition fee of] £7,500 and £9,000 is not a financial
disaster on the scale of the banking crisis. Having embarked on
the experiment, I’d like to see it through.”
After the vote, which was greeted with cheers from
academics gathered in the university’s Sheldonian Theatre,
Gildea said he hoped it would have a “rousing effect” on other
universities and put pressure on the government to think again.
He said: “This government comes across as ideologically-
driven, but actually it is weak and divided. They are weaker
than they think they are and we are more powerful than we
think we are. After all, they have to win the next election. If
they restored the direct funding [for teaching arts and the
humanities] that existed before the cuts, which would keep
students fees where they were, about £3,000 a year, that would
just solve a whole raft of problems.”
David Barclay, president of the students’ union,, who
addressed the lecturers on behalf of students, said after the
vote: “Whatever the pressure from the outside world, we are
an institution living by our values. We are the first university to
take public leadership in opposition to the government.”
The government defended the new fees regime and the
decision to cut direct state funding for teaching, saying the
reforms “put students in the driving seat”.
Acknowledging the public snub, a spokesman for the
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said:
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
“Universities have always been bastions of free speech and
debate.
“However, our student and university finance reforms
are fairer than the present system and affordable for the
nation.”Gareth Thomas, Labour’s universities spokesman, said:
“This is a devastating and unprecedented vote, with Oxford
academics confirming what a series of independent experts and
the Public Accounts Committee have already made clear; that
80% cuts, trebling tuition fees and cuts to research facilities are
unfair, unnecessary and unsustainable.
“David Cameron and George Osborne should not be
surprised by this vote. It is their economic policy and the
demand for cuts in higher education, far higher than in any
other area of the public sector, which has caused this debacle.”
Spain rejects €150m payout offer for
farms hit by E coli fears
Agriculture commissioner forced to promise
better deal to European farmers who lost
income during public health panic
Peter Walker
The European commission [http://tinyurl.com/albjlq] on
Tuesday promised to pay more than €150m (£134m) to farmers
hit by the E coli [http://tinyurl.com/5rv7kkw] crisis, following
robust lobbying by Spain [http://tinyurl.com/5pjm2a] and
France.
The agriculture commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, proposed
sharing out to farmers affected by falling sales amid the public
health panic the sum of €150m, equating to payments worth
about 30% of the average market price for the unsold crops.
But at the meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg,
representatives from several member states demanded more
help.
Spain immediately warned the €150m would not be enough.
Spain has suffered disproportionately from the economic
impact of the outbreak, in part because it grows a significant
share of Europe [http://tinyurl.com/6eqc8vn]’s salad produce
but also because blame for the bacteria outbreak at first was
attributed to its cucumber crop [http://tinyurl.com/5t5dtch].
“No, Spain does not see €150m as sufficient,” the country’s
agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, said. She was backed by her
French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire.
Ciolos then said he would “come back tomorrow with an
improved proposal”, but warned that Spanish demands for
compensation of 90% or even 100% of market price were
unrealistic. “We have to bear in mind that this is public money,
and we have to account for its use,” he said.
The outbreak, of a newly identified and especially virulent
strain of the E Coli bacterium has killed 23 people, all either
in, or recently returned, from northern Germany, according to
figures compiled by the European Centre for Disease Control.
More than 4,200 people have become ill, almost 700 of
whom have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a serious
complication that affects the blood, kidneys and nervous
system.
The rate of cases is now slowing. Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks,
the health minister for Hamburg, the city thought to be at the
centre of the outbreak, said medical staff believed the situation
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
was gradually improving. “We are seeing the first patients
discharged, others are getting much better, so the first glimmers
of hope are on the horizon.”
However, scientists appear to be no closer to establishing the
source of the outbreak. After Spanish cucumbers were ruled
out, German officials confidently named a bean-sprout farm in
Lower Saxony as the likely culprit, only for bacteriological tests
to come back negative.
German ministers had said there were “strong and clear
indications” that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic
farm, 40 miles from Hamburg, had spread the E coli bacteria.
However, more tests have failed to link the farm to the
outbreak. The confusion has seen many Europeans stop buying
a range of products, while Russia has banned all EU vegetable
imports.
EU farming [http://tinyurl.com/cfaqkp] representatives
said the sector’s losses had exceeded €400m. Spain has been
at the forefront of calls for Germany to pay the bulk of the
compensation, a move ruled out by Ciolos, who said it would
come from central budgets. At a press conference he refused
to speculate on the total bill, saying only that it would be
increased, the revised offer to be approved within the next few
days.
The EU’s health commissioner, John Dalli, has criticised
Germany for its “premature conclusions” on the source of
the outbreak. “I would like to stress it is crucial that national
authorities do not rush to give information on the source of
infection which is not proven by bacteriological analysis, as this
spreads unjustified fears in the population all over Europe and
creates problems for our food producers selling products,” he
said before the farm ministers’ meeting.
He added: “While such intensive investigations are ongoing,
we must be careful not to make premature conclusions.”
He said the outbreak had been contained to a relatively
small area. He told the European parliament: “I stress that the
outbreak is limited geographically to the area surrounding
the city of Hamburg, so there is no reason to take action on a
European level. [EU-wide] measures against any product are
disproportionate.”
Scientists say the longer the wait for a definite source, the
more likely it is that none will ever be identified. “If we don’t
know the likely culprit in a week’s time, we may never know the
cause,” said Dr Guénaël Rodier, an infectious diseases expert at
the UN’s World Health Organisation.
Barack Obama suffers shock poll slump
as Mitt Romney draws level
US president in dead heat with rival as
ABC-Washington Post poll shows public
unhappiness with state of economy
Ewen MacAskill in Washington
Barack Obama [http://tinyurl.com/bznk4o]’s hopes of re-
election to the White House next year took a knock on Tuesday
with the publication of a poll showing him in a surprise dead
heat with one of his Republican rivals, Mitt Romney [http://
tinyurl.com/ydlkea8].
The bounce in the polls that Obama received after the death
of Osama bin Laden in early May has disappeared. The new poll
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
shows public unhappiness with the slow pace of recovery from
recession.
Romney’s jump to parity with the president is remarkable
given that, until now, there has not been much enthusiasm
even among Republicans [http://tinyurl.com/3lynav] for him.
Only last Thursday did he formally declare that he will be
seeking the party’s nomination to take on Obama.
During a press conference at the White House with German
chancellor Angela Merkel, Obama played down the prospect
of a double-dip recession but acknowledged concern about
unemployment and petrol prices.
The latest unemployment figures show a jump to 9.1% and
Obama said he did not know if this was a one-month aberration
or reflected a long-term trend.
“I’m not concerned about a double-dip recession,” he said.
“I am concerned about the fact that the recovery we’re on is not
producing jobs as quickly as I want it to happen.”
He admitted the economy remained “skittish” and that
“recovery was going to be uneven”.
Although Obama remains favourite to secure re-election,
he could struggle if he goes into next year’s election with
unemployment still high.
The ABC-Washington Post poll showed Obama and Romney
on 47% each among all Americans surveyed, and Romney on
49% and Obama on 46% among registered party members, who
are among those most likely to vote.
Another poll published by Public Policy Polling shows
Romney in the lead in the early key states of the Republican
nomination battle. Romney was widely predicted to take New
Hampshire and Nevada but struggle in social conservative Iowa
and hardline rightwing South Carolina.
But the PPP poll shows him on 27% in South Carolina against
Sarah Palin’s 18%. Earlier PPP polls showed him with a 6% lead
over rivals in Iowa, 15% in Nevada and 23% in New Hampshire.
Obama has dropped a long way from the heady days after
his 2009 inauguration, when he enjoyed poll approval ratings
of 70% to 80%. Over the last year, he has been struggling to get
above 50%. The death of Bin Laden gave him a modest bounce,
to around 55%.
He won in 2008 partly because of a backlash against George
W Bush and partly because of his rhetorical skills, backed by a
strong campaign organisation and high levels of fund-raising.
But some of the states he took last time were only by slim
margins, and he could struggle to repeat victories in states
in the west and midwest and in places such as Virginia. He is
already building up his campaign team, setting up organisations
in many more states than in 2008, and is hoping to double his
campaign funding to $1bn.
The ABC-Post poll suggests Romney has solidified his
position as Republican frontrunner.
When Obama was matched against other potential
Republican rivals, the president enjoyed a lead. Obama was six
points ahead of Newt Gingrich among registered voters, nine
points head of Tim Pawlenty, 10 points ahead of Jon Huntsman,
11 points ahead of Michelle Bachmann and 15 points ahead of
Palin.
As well as unemployment and petrol prices, Americans are
expressing concern about the size of the federal deficit, the size
of the country’s debt held by China and continued falling house
prices. Six out of 10 of those surveyed said they did not believe
recovery had yet begun.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
And 66% said they thought the country was going in the
wrong direction economically.
Iran’s president admits rift with
country’s senior Islamic figures
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces he is
on ‘opposite side’ to those who accuse him
of revolutionary deviancy
Saeed Kamali Dehghan
Iran [http://tinyurl.com/5xls8e]’s president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad [http://tinyurl.com/mwhcsr] has admitted for the
first time that a rift [http://tinyurl.com/5ugwkt2] has developed
between him and some of the most senior figures of the Islamic
regime.
In a press conference in Tehran on Tuesday, the first since
news emerged of his power struggle with the supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei [http://tinyurl.com/ld6cac], the
president said: “It is very clear now that we are 180 degrees
away from them – we are actually on opposite sides.”
He pointed the finger at ruling conservatives, who have
accused the government of “revolutionary deviancy”, while
playing down suggestions that he has been at odds with Ali
Khamenei.
In recent months, conservatives close to the supreme leader
have launched an extensive campaign against the president and
his allies, who they believe are undermining the supremacy of
the leader.
Senior figures in the powerful revolutionary guards and
some of the most prominent clerics in the country who
have supported Ahmadinejad in the past are now distancing
themselves from him.
Those who remain in his camp have faced accusations
of “sorcery”, “deviancy” and even espionage, and some
presidential aides have been arrested.
“They arrested those people. Good for them,” Ahmadinejad
said.
“Now they should let us continue our job. The government is
seeking for nothing rather than serving the people and fulfilling
the revolutionary aims.”
He refused to answer further questions about the power
struggle and said: “Our position at the moment is to stay silent.
An inspiring unity silence.”
Ali Khamenei’s supporters believe Ahmadinejad has
not publicly given his full backing [http://tinyurl.com/
3o7dzts]to the supreme leader after they clashed over cabinet
appointments in April.
Asked about Iran’s nuclear programme, the president
denied recent allegations made by the chief executive of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [http://tinyurl.com/
ykq8px8], Yukiya Amano, that the country may be working on
developing nuclear weapons [http://tinyurl.com/c8bz3o].
“With America’s orders, the IAEA has written some things
in a report that are against the law and against the agency’s
regulations. These have no legal value and aside from
harming the agency’s reputation it will have no other effect,”
Ahmadinejad told reporters.
He also said no offer from world leaders could stop Iran
enriching uranium and accused the US and its allies of meddling
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
in Syria and Bahrain.
Conservatives alarmed over David
Cameron’s NHS concessions
Tory MPs concerned that prime minister
has abandoned key elements of Andrew
Lansley’s radical NHS blueprint
Nicholas Watt
David Cameron [http://tinyurl.com/5ahsnf] is facing a battle to
reassure anxious Conservative MPs after he announced a raft of
changes to the government’s NHS [http://tinyurl.com/644pwf]
reforms to win over the Liberal Democrats [http://tinyurl.
com/5smefu] and members of the medical profession.
As Nick Clegg told his parliamentary party last night that
the time was fast approaching for the Liberal Democrats to
swing behind the reforms after securing major concessions,
Tories voiced concerns that the prime minister had abandoned
key elements of Andrew Lansley [http://tinyurl.com/ks5syl]’s
original blueprint.
Cameron alarmed his backbenchers after he moved to
meet the demands laid down by the Lib Dems at their spring
conference in March by announcing the shelving of Lansley’s
2013 deadline, changes to the role of the health regulator,
Monitor, and the opening up of GP-led consortia.
A senior Tory MP, who warned last month that core “red
lines” must not be crossed, warned shelving the 2013 deadline
could threaten £5bn of spending on frontline health services.
Nick de Bois, who was involved in the committee stage of
the health and social care bill, said: “It would be a mistake to
lose 2013 as a statutory date for completion of countrywide GP
commissioning. Yes, we will need to help GP commissioners get
there. But if we don’t achieve that date we could end up with a
two-tier health system much as we had under GP fund holding
and we could threaten the potential £5bn savings over the
lifetime of this parliament to put back into frontline services.”
The backbencher spoke out after Cameron outlined four
key changes to the NHS reforms. In a speech to members of
the medical profession at the clinical neurological centre at
University College London Hospital, the prime minister said:
• The health and social care bill will be amended to make
clear that the primary role of Monitor is not to promote
competition but to promote the interests of patients. It will
“use competition as a means to that end”.
• The 2013 deadline for the creation of new GP-led
commissioning consortiums, due to take charge of 65% of the
NHS budget, will be shelved.
• Clinical commissioning will be opened up, with hospital
doctors and nurses involved. New clinical senates will
be introduced to allow groups of doctors and healthcare
professionals to “take an overview of the integration of care”
across a wide area.
In a key declaration, Cameron said: “Our changes will
now secure clinically led commissioning, not just GP-led
commissioning.”
• The 18-week limit on waiting times, enshrined in the NHS
constitution, will be kept.
Baroness Williams of Crosby, the former member of the
Gang of Four who has been one of the main Lib Dem rebels,
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
welcomed the changes. “What we are now seeing , partly owing
to tremendous efforts on the part of my own party, not least
Nick Clegg, is a real change in the shape of what is going to be
proposed. I think we will see really very substantial changes.”
Phone hacking: News of the World
apologises to Sienna Miller
Paper offers ‘sincere apologies’ in high
court for intercepting voicemail messages
intended for actor
James Robinson
The News of the World [http://tinyurl.com/5umjt2] on Tuesday
issued a detailed formal apology for phone hacking [http://
tinyurl.com/6zzgk4m] for the first time, to actor Sienna Miller
[http://tinyurl.com/6fkz4vm].
A lawyer for News Group Newspapers [http://tinyurl.
com/9ceax3], the News International [http://tinyurl.com/
4ghspf] subsidiary that publishes the News of the World, read
a statement in the high court expressing regret for intercepting
voicemail messages intended for Miller.
NGN’s QC, Michael Silverleaf, said his client offered its
“sincere apologies” to Miller for “the distress caused to her by
accessing of her voicemail messages, the publication of the
private information in the articles and the related harassment
she suffered as a consequence”.
Silverleaf added that NGN “acknowledges that the
information should never have been obtained in the manner it
was, the private information should never have been published
and that the first defendant [NGN] has accepted responsibility
for misuse of private information, breach of confidence and
harassment”.
Miller, who was not present to hear the statement, accepted
an out-of court-payment of £100,000 in damages last month
[http://tinyurl.com/3kv42fr] plus her legal costs. Her solicitor
Mark Thomson, a partner at Atkins Thomson, said she would
not be making a statement.
David Sherborne QC, for Miller, reminded the high court that
she had changed her mobile phone number three times in as
many months in a bid to avoid being successfully targeted by
the News of the World and Glenn Mulcaire, a private detective
who formerly worked for the paper.
Sherborne added that the News of the World had published
“numerous articles” in 2005 and 2006 that used private
information.
By admitting to this, the paper has conceded that it used
information obtained by intercepting messages about Miller’s
former partner Jude Law and ex-boyfriend Daniel Craig, as the
basis for stories.
In her statement of claim, the actor cited 11 articles that drew
on private information, including details of her relationship
with Law and with Craig, and Miller’s discussions with the
former about the possibility of them having children. Miller
is the first celebrity to settle a claim since the tabloid, part
of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, in April admitted
hacking the phones of several public figures and offered to pay
compensation [http://tinyurl.com/66ch3v7].
NGN has also said it will tell Miller privately about the full
extent of the phone-hacking scheme.
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
Sherborne said: “The claimant did not know whether
someone close to her was leaking information or whether
her mobile telephone was somehow being hacked into. Both
possibilities were extremely distressing.”
Notes found in Mulcaire’s notebook, which was seized in a
police raid in 2006, included three of Miller’s mobile numbers
and their related account numbers, pin numbers, the numbers
she dialled to access her voicemail services and the passwords
she used to discuss her accounts with her mobile phone
provider.
He had also made a note of the fact that the first two
numbers were “dead” by 22 November 2005. He had obtained
and written down the address and home telephone number of
Miller’s mother and similar mobile phone data relating to Law’s
account and that of Ciara Parkes, Miller’s publicist and friend.
Mulcaire also had details of who had left messages on her
mobile, the time they had done so and the caller’s telephone
number.
He had written the name “Ian” in the top left hand corner
of some of the pages in his notebooks which contained that
information.
Miller claimed that was a reference to Ian Edmondson, the
former assistant editor (news) at the News of the World, who
was suspended in January and subsequently sacked. He was
arrested and questioned by police in April.
• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile,
follow MediaGuardian on Twitter [http://tinyurl.com/65h6xqg]
and Facebook [http://tinyurl.com/65gd8yr]
Hitler’s first draft of the Holocaust:
unique letter goes on show
Army document is only written statement
detailing Hitler’s wish for systematic
removal of Jews from Germany
Ed Pilkington in New York
A document understood to be the only existing written
statement by Adolf Hitler [http://tinyurl.com/lex925] in which
he set out his belief in a systematic removal of Jews from
society has been acquired by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in
Los Angeles.
The four-page letter, typewritten on faded brown paper and
bearing Hitler’s signature, was shown in public for the first time
in New York, in what is likely to be seen as a key artefact in the
historical record of the Holocaust [http://tinyurl.com/npxne5].
It will go on display at the centre’s Tolerance Museum in Los
Angeles.
The centre’s founder, Rabbi Marvin Hier, said it was one
of the most important documents of the period, showing the
development of Hitler’s antisemitic thought, and proved he
had in mind a governmental solution to the so-called “Jewish
Question”. “This is the most important item we have in an
archive of more than 50,000 objects,” Hier said, adding that it
would be used to educate future generations and to counter
Holocaust denial.
Though Hitler alluded to his plans to exterminate Jewish
people in speeches and indirectly through his closest
henchmen, his thoughts on the subject can be found nowhere
else committed to paper.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
Such is the prevalence of fraud in Hitler memorabilia that
some experts remain to be convinced of the document’s
authenticity. But the Wiesenthal Centre said it had
authenticated the letter.
Long known by historians of the Third Reich as “the Gemlich
letter”, the original signed copy has never before been seen in
public. An unsigned copy exists in the state archives in Munich.
Hitler wrote the letter in Munich on 16 September 1919.
Then aged 30, he was as yet unknown but was starting to show
interest in politics. Shortly before writing the letter he attended
a meeting of the German Workers’ party, which later he took
over and converted into the National Socialist German Workers’
party.
At the time he was in a propaganda unit of the German
army that tried to counter Bolshevik influences among soldiers
returning from the Russian front at the end of the first world
war. His commanding officer, Captain Karl Mayr, told Hitler to
respond to an inquiry from one Adolf Gemlich, who wanted to
know the army’s position on the “Jewish Question”.
In his reply, Hitler spouted an antisemitic diatribe, in
which he said Jews were “pure materialists in thought and
aspirations” and that their effect was “racial tuberculosis on the
nation”.
Crucially, he went on to set out his vision for a calculated
antisemitism that would operate through strong governments
rather than the emotion of the people. Emotional antisemitism,
he wrote, merely ended in pogroms.
“The antisemitism of reason must lead to a struggle for the
legal battle to abrogate laws giving [Jews] favoured positions,
differentiating the Jew from other foreigners. The final goal
must be the uncompromising removal of Jews altogether. To
accomplish these goals, only a government of national power is
capable, and never a government of national weakness.”
The signed letter was bought by the centre for $150,000
from a trader in historical artefacts. It was said to have been
obtained by an American soldier in 1945 from a Nazi archive
near Nuremberg and was held privately until now.
The centre had a chance to buy it in 1988 but was doubtful
about its provenance, particularly the fact that it was composed
on a typewriter – a rare and expensive object Hitler could
personally not have afforded in 1919. Hier said their doubts had
been assuaged when they realised that Hitler was working for
the army and would have had access to its typewriters.
Stand by the standpipes – the drought is
back, UK told
Four regions to be given official drought
status and have controls applied to water
supply
Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent
Four major regions of the UK will be officially declared drought
[http://tinyurl.com/5zcbr6]-stricken this week, in a move that
is likely to see special powers introduced over water [http://
tinyurl.com/6c6nfd] supplies on farms and businesses across
large swaths of the country.
Wales, the south-west, the Midlands and East Anglia will be
raised to official drought status, enabling the government and
water companies to invoke extra controls over water supplies
guardian.co.uk
Page  G24 Top stories
as a lack of rain afflicts a huge band across the middle of the
country.
However, regions that have suffered drought in the past,
such as Kent and the south-east, will be spared many of the
restrictions as rainfall has been at normal or almost normal
levels there in the past six months. Scotland and the north of
England are also drought-free.
Paul Leinster [http://tinyurl.com/6h34dap], chief executive
of the Environment Agency, said this year would not see a
repeat of the scenes of 1976, as some commentators have
predicted [http://tinyurl.com/6dlvjnt], as last winter there was
enough rain and snowfall to fill reservoirs.
But he added: “It depends on what we see this winter – next
year could be the crunch year.”
The drought of 1976 followed a dry autumn and winter,
during which stocks in reservoirs were severely depleted.
“We are in a much better position this year,” he said. “Then
one of the big issues was that the previous year had been so dry,
so you did not get a ground water recharge.”
Leinster added that the UK’s water supply system had been
made more resilient in the intervening decades. “We have
learned lessons since then,” he said.
Although at present there are no domestic hosepipe bans
in force in reaction to the drought, consumers may face
restrictions if the dry weather [http://tinyurl.com/69by97]
continues.
Recent rainfall has not been enough to make up for the last
six months, after the warmest [http://tinyurl.com/6kha6ul]
spring since 1659 and the second driest since 1910 [http://
tinyurl.com/3styjo6]. East Anglia was the worst afflicted region,
receiving only a fifth of its average rainfall.
Businesses and farms in the worst hit areas are already
suffering [http://tinyurl.com/62h4fp9], as the Environment
Agency has brought in changes to 70 licences to abstract water.
The agency is also looking closely at a further 200 licences
to remove water from rivers [http://tinyurl.com/693udf4] and
underground sources as the drought takes hold. Businesses
affected are likely to include power generators, food processors,
breweries and manufacturers, though the agency was unable to
pinpoint specific companies.
One of the changes brought in that could become permanent
is that farmers, especially in East Anglia, have been asked to
irrigate their crops at night instead of during the day.
The Environment Agency said this made sense as irrigating
fields in daytime leads to much of the water evaporating off,
whereas at night the crops get the full benefit.
Farmers have resisted this change to their working practices
as it is less convenient and they may have to rearrange staff
working patterns. Most modern irrigation systems can be easily
switched to different timings, however.
So far, farmers have made the move voluntarily, but Leinster
did not rule out compulsion in future.
The Environment Agency is also helping to set up co-
operatives to share water among farmers and other businesses
that have licences to remove river water.
As oxygen levels in some rivers have fallen along with
water levels, the agency has brought in special measures to
save wildlife, including moving fish trapped in pools in the
river Teme and river Lathkill, and putting in place pumping
equipment to replenish oxygen levels, to protect fish and other
aquatic life which could otherwise be in danger.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT
The agency said it was closely monitoring fish stocks such as
migrating salmon and sea trout, both of which can be affected
by low river flows.
Measures including water rationing in extreme conditions,
could be brought in by ministers through drought order and
drought permits if water companies demonstrate they need to
conserve stocks and have followed all reasonable measures to
avoid the restrictions.
Leinster said the key to protecting against future droughts
was to use water more efficiently. This will mean preventing
losses, for instance from leaking pipes, but could also mean
greater use of metering in future.
But one of the problems with managing water use, he said,
was the variation in rainfall across the UK. In regions where
there has been a lot of rain, consumers are unsympathetic
to concerns over shortages elsewhere, and unwilling to
countenance water-saving measures.
“If you go to the north of England, to talk about the
sustainable use of water, you would have a different
conversation than if you went to Cambridgeshire,” he said.
Leinster said the spread of drought this year showed the
extent of annual variation in the UK.
“Kent and Sussex have both held up well in terms of rainfall,
unusually,” he said. “The pattern we are seeing this year is
different to patterns seen in past years.”
The variation showed how difficult it was to make plans for
water provision in the decades ahead, when climate change
is also expected to wreak further damage on water supplies
– water flows in rivers in the south of England are predicted to
be reduced by half or even 80% by 2050.
Flooding patterns remain equally unpredictable, with severe
floods afflicting nearly all of the country’s regions in the last
decade, in both winter and summer.
Latin America’s former first ladies bid to
break macho presidential mould
Supporters of female candidates in
Guatemala, Honduras and Argentina
hail successes but critics fear entrenched
dynasties
Rory Carroll in Guatemala City
Hillary Clinton failed to make the transition, but former first
ladies across Latin America are following in her footsteps and
campaigning to become presidents, in what may become a fresh
wave of female heads of state in the region.
Former “primeras damas” in Guatemala [http://tinyurl.com/
oruy8m], Honduras [http://tinyurl.com/ln4qrh] and Argentina
[http://tinyurl.com/9y32gy] have waded into traditionally
macho Latino politics in the hope of staying in, or returning to,
presidential palaces.
Their ambitions have provoked excitement and controversy,
with supporters acclaiming a breakthrough for women
– and critics concerned at the prospect of entrenched
political dynasties.
In Guatemala, Sandra Torres divorced her husband,
President Alvaro Colom, in order to run in September’s election
and circumvent a constitutional ban on relatives succeeding an
guardian.co.uk
Page 10 G24 Top stories Tuesday June 7 2011 22:05 GMT

incumbent [http://tinyurl.com/44kv658]. “I am getting married with the disappearance of an activist in 1976, but fended off
to the people,” she tells rallies. extradition and remained in Spain. Several “presidentas” have
Some first ladies are depicted as proxies for husbands made it to the top without riding their husbands’ presidential
constitutionally barred from running again — but not even coat-tails: Nicaragua’s Violeta Chamorro, elected in 1990, Chile’s
her harshest critics accuse Torres, 56, of that. She was widely Michelle Bachelet, elected in 2006, and Costa Rica’s Laura
viewed as the dominant character in the marriage and built up Chinchilla and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, both elected last year.
a political base while heading the government’s anti-poverty Former first ladies inherit political machines but also their
programmes. husbands’ enemies. In April, a revolt in the ruling party of the
The Catholic church condemned the divorce, saying the Dominican Republic’s president, Leonel Fernandez, forced his
institution of marriage was not negotiable, and election rivals wife Margarita Cedeno to abandon presidential ambitions.
called it electoral fraud. Otto Perez, a retired general who Peru’s Keiko Fujimori – who became first lady in the 1990s
leads her in the polls, mockingly calls her “señorita” rather after her father Alberto divorced her mother – lost last Sunday’s
than “señora”. presidential election after failing to shake off memories of
In Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, a former president ousted in corruption and human rights abuses during her father’s
a coup and freshly returned from exile, has tipped his wife administration.
Xiomara Castro to succeed him.
“The one who is engaged in politics is the first lady, I’m just a
simple citizen,” he told a news conference.
The announcement delighted supporters who were
frustrated that Zelaya is constitutionally barred from standing
again. The former first lady hinted she was ready to run. “Before
the coup, I always thought that once the term finished, I would
return to the house and dedicate myself to my family,” she told
AFP. “But I have talked about it with my children and things
have changed.”
Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner, who succeeded her husband
Nestor in 2007, is expected to win a landslide re-election in
October thanks to a robust economy, a fractious opposition and
sympathy over Nestor’s death earlier this year.
“I’m not dying to be president, I already gave all I had to
give,” she said last month, suggesting she may not run again.
But analysts said it was a ruse to build up “clamour”. One senior
ally said Cristina, as she is almost universally known, will
confirm a re-election bid later this month.
It is a remarkable comeback for a combative veteran written
off as a lame duck just last year after losing control of congress
and, it seemed, the political agenda.
That so many first ladies were running for the presidency
showed the hybrid nature of democracy in Latin America, said
Michael Shifter, head of the Washington-based Inter-American
Dialogue thinktank. “Opportunities in the political realm are
clearly opening up for women, which is very heartening. At
the same time, the first lady option reveals the fragility of
institutions and the temptation to perpetuate oneself in power
though a circuitous path.”
The trend was not restricted to Latin America and was
partly inspired by Hillary Clinton’s 2008 bid for the Democratic
nomination, said Shifter. “The phenomenon is self-reinforcing
and is bound to spread as ‘success’ stories appear, such as the
case of Cristina [Kirchner] in Argentina.”
Women were kept largely on the sidelines of Latin American
politics for centuries, not least by traditionalist leaders.
Argentina broke the mould first in the form of Eva Peron, who
was never president, but became a role model for first ladies by
championing social programmes and mobilising support for her
husband Juan’s presidency until her death in 1952.
When Peron himself died in 1974 his third wife and vice-
president, Isabel, was sworn in as his successor at Argentina’s
seat of government, the Casa Rosada. It was not a successful
stint: she failed to control violent extremists from the left and
right and lost power two years later. In 2007, she was charged

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