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Peter Francis, who says he says he posed as an anti-racism campaigner, served in the Met's now-disbanded Special Demonstration Squad
The prime minister has called for an immediate investigation into reports the police wanted to smear the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Number 10 said David Cameron was "deeply concerned" by the allegations in the Guardian made by former officer Peter Francis.
The newspapers claims Mr Francis went under cover to infiltrate the family's campaign for justice in 1993.
Scotland Yard has refused to confirm or deny the reports.
But a spokesman said the Metropolitan Police shared the Lawrence family's concerns.
Former Home Secretary Jack Straw told the BBC he would be asking the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the allegations.
Mr Francis told the Guardian and Channel 4's Dispatches programme he had posed as an anti-racism campaigner in a hunt for "disinformation" to use against those criticising the police.
'Tarring the campaign'He said the Metropolitan Police were concerned the reaction to the Lawrence murder might result in rioting similar to that following the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles.
Working as part of the Met's now-disbanded Special Demonstration Squad, which specialised in gathering intelligence on political activists, he said he came under pressure to find "any intelligence that could have smeared the campaign" - including whether any of the family were political activists, involved in demonstrations or drug dealers.
Mr Francis, who used the name Peter Black while under cover, says the aim of his operation was to ensure that the public "did not have as much sympathy for the Stephen Lawrence campaign" and to persuade "the media to start maybe tarring the campaign".
A Number 10 spokesman said: "The prime minister is deeply concerned by reports that the police wanted to smear Stephen Lawrence's family and would like the Metropolitan Police to investigate immediately."
Doreen Lawrence said she was shocked and angry at the disclosure. She said: "Out of all the things I've found out over the years, this certainly has topped it."
"It just makes me really, really angry that all of this has been going on and all the time trying to undermine us as a family.
"Somebody sitting somewhere, calculating what, you know, what they'd be doing to look at and infiltrate, our family. It's like, we're treated as if to say we're not human beings.
"Start Quote
End Quote Metropolitan Police spokesmanAt some point it will fall upon this generation of police leaders to account for the activities of our predecessors, but for the moment we must focus on getting to the truth"
"Nothing can justify the whole thing about trying to discredit the family and people round us."
The Metropolitan Police would not confirm or deny the account given by Mr Francis, but admitted "the claims in relation to Stephen Lawrence's family will bring particular upset to them and we share their concerns".
An independent investigation into a number of allegations against former undercover police officers, codenamed Operation Herne is under way.
In a statement the Met said: "Any actions by officers working on or with the Special Demonstration Squad need to be understood by Operation Herne in terms of the leadership, supervision, support, training, legal framework, tasking and reporting mechanisms that were in place at the time."
'Morally reprehensible'But the force gave the same response to allegations that another undercover officer had helped write the leaflets at the centre of the McLibel trial in the mid 1980s.
The statement said: "At some point it will fall upon this generation of police leaders to account for the activities of our predecessors, but for the moment we must focus on getting to the truth."
Stephen Lawrence profile
Brought up in Plumstead, south-east London, the 18-year-old's family life was based on education and religious faith. Friends say he had a good and trusting nature.
He was born on 13 September, 1974 - the first of three children to Doreen and Neville who emigrated from Jamaica in the 1960s.
Neville was a carpenter, upholsterer, tailor and plasterer. Doreen took a university course and became a special needs teacher.
Stephen was studying A-levels in English, craft, design and technology and physics at Blackheath Bluecoat School.
He was keen on becoming an architect, and a local firm had already offered him a job.
He loved athletics and, like many teenagers, liked going out, girls and music. He had never been involved in crime.
Mr Francis told the Guardian he had come forward because of the "morally reprehensible" way in which under cover officers had sometimes worked.
He is particularly angry his role was never discussed by the Stephen Lawrence public inquiry chaired by retired High Court judge Sir William Macpherson. He claims senior officers deliberately chose to withhold the information from the inquiry.
Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager, was killed as he waited for a bus in April 1993.
More than 18 years later, in January 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of his murder by an Old Bailey jury after a review of the forensic evidence.
Dobson and Norris had first been arrested in connection with the murder just weeks after it happened, but the case against them collapsed.
In 1999, the Macpherson inquiry into the killing and its aftermath published a report accusing the police of institutional racism.
Sir William said during the investigation the Lawrences had been patronised, treated with "insensitivity and lack of sympathy", and kept in the dark.
Dispatches is broadcast on Channel 4 on Monday 24 June at 20:00 BST.
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