US-UK intelligence-sharing 'vital'

26 June 2013 Last updated at 00:14 ET

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William Hague: "Intelligence work takes place within a strong legal framework"

Britain and the US should have "nothing but pride" in their "indispensable intelligence-sharing relationship", the UK foreign secretary has said.

William Hague, speaking in Los Angeles, acknowledged recent controversy over intelligence gathering by the UK's GCHQ and the US's National Security Agency.

But he said the nations operated "under the rule of law" and used information only to protect citizens' freedoms.

Mr Hague also praised the transatlantic "special relationship" as "solid".

In recent weeks there has been concern over the monitoring activities of the UK's eavesdropping centre, GCHQ.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

In some countries secret intelligence is used to control their people - in ours, it only exists to protect their freedoms"

End Quote William Hague Foreign Secretary

It accessed information about UK citizens from the US National Security Agency's monitoring programme, Prism, documents leaked by American whistleblower Edward Snowden suggest.

He remains wanted for questioning by US authorities, but is currently in the transit area at Moscow airport.

GCHQ has insisted it is "scrupulous" in complying with the law.

"We should have nothing but pride in the unique and indispensable intelligence-sharing relationship between Britain and the United States," Mr Hague said in his speech at the Ronald Reagan Library.

"In recent weeks this has been a subject of some discussion.

"Let us be clear about it - in both our countries intelligence work takes place within a strong legal framework.

"We operate under the rule of law and are accountable for it. In some countries secret intelligence is used to control their people - in ours, it only exists to protect their freedoms."

'Bastion of freedom'

Mr Hague also sought to portray the UK coalition government's policies as an ideological continuation of those espoused by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s.

He said: "Not all countries are willing to exert themselves to defend the freedoms they enjoy, but in the United Kingdom and United States of America we are.

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"Start Quote

We have the soft power and cultural appeal to attract and influence others and win over global opinion"

End Quote William Hague

"There is no greater bastion of freedom than the transatlantic alliance, and within it the special relationship, always solid but never slavish."

Mr Hague added: "Some say it is not possible to build up our countries' ties in other parts of the world without weakening those between us. But I say these things go together.

"The stronger our relationships are elsewhere in the world, the more we can do to support each other and our allies."

On broader policy, Mr Hague said: "We do not need to accept sleepwalking into decline any more than Reagan and Thatcher did before us.

"We have centuries of experience in building up democratic institutions - from our courts to our free media - that other countries wish to draw on and adapt from Burma to North Africa.

"We have the soft power and cultural appeal to attract and influence others and win over global opinion."

Mr Hague went on: "We have not yet exhausted all the means of building up and extending our influence. It is not so much the relative size of our power that matters in the 21st Century, but the nature of it, and how agile and effective we can be in exerting it."

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Direct Line set to cut 2,000 UK jobs

26 June 2013 Last updated at 03:19 ET

Direct Line Insurance has said that it is planning to cut 2,000 UK jobs as it steps up plans to reduce costs.

The firm announced in August 2012 plans to reduce gross annual costs by £100m a year, but now plans to save more than double this target.

The latest cuts affect about 14% of its 14,400 staff. Direct Line has already cut 1,200 jobs since August.

Direct Line said that it had begun consultations with staff and unions over the job losses.

It said the cuts would affect staff across head office and support functions, but it would try to redeploy those affected where possible.

Direct Line Insurance Group - which also owns the Churchill and Green Flag brands - was spun off from RBS last year as a condition for the bank's £45bn government bailout after the 2008 financial crisis.

It operates in 16 locations across the UK including London, Croydon, Bromley, Leeds, Glasgow and Manchester.

Its Teesside call centre is scheduled to close next week as part of of the firm's original cost-cutting plans.

Chief executive Paul Geddes said that the cost savings were "an important part of our aim to regain competitive edge".

"We have not made these proposed changes lightly and understand the impact they will have on our people," he added.

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UK legal high market is EU's largest

26 June 2013 Last updated at 04:07 ET By Bethany Bell BBC News

The UK has the largest market for so-called "legal highs" in the European Union, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

A total of 670,000 Britons aged 15-24 have experimented with the substances at least once, it says in its 2013 World Drug Report.

It says there has been an alarming increase worldwide in new psychoactive substances, known as NPS.

Mephedrone use, though, has declined in England and Wales since it was banned.

Mephedrone, also known as meow meow or M-CAT, is the most widely used of the new psychoactive substances in the UK. It was banned in 2010.

Drawing on European Commission data from 2011 and United Nations population statistics, the World Drug Report says the UK is Europe's largest market "for legal substances that imitate the effects of illicit drugs".

'Young people misled'

It said the 670,000 Britons aged between 15 and 24 who had experimented with such substances at least once was 23% of the EU total in 2011.

Close to 5% of people aged 15-24 in the EU have used NPS.

The world's biggest market for NPS is the United States, where use of these substances among youth "appears to be more than twice as widespread as in the European Union".

The UNODC said this is an alarming problem, as the substances have not been tested for safety and pose "unforeseen public health challenges".

"Sold openly, including via the internet, NPS…. can be far more dangerous than traditional drugs. Street names, such as spice, meow-meow and bath salts mislead young people into believing that they are indulging in low-risk fun," the report said.

It added that while the use of traditional drugs such as heroin or cocaine is globally stable, new psychoactive substances "are proliferating at an unprecedented rate".

And new substances are being identified all the time.

At the end of 2009, 166 NPS had been identified worldwide. By mid-2012 that had risen to 251.

"For the first time, the number of NPS exceeded the total number of substances under international control (234), " the report said.

The UNODC said authorities are struggling to keep up.

"Given the almost infinite scope to alter the chemical structure of NPS, new formulations are outpacing efforts to impose international control. While law enforcement lags behind, criminals have been quick to tap into this lucrative market."

Many of these new psychoactive substances appear to originate in Asia and are spread via the internet.

The report said the number of online shops offering to supply customers in countries in the EU with NPS increased from 170 in January 2010 to 693 in January 2012.

However the UNODC suggested in Europe, at least, the internet may be used more for the import and wholesale business.

It pointed to an EU survey which says most young consumers in Europe do not tend to buy NPS online, but get their supplies from friends or at parties and nightclubs.

Justice Tettey, from the UNODC, said that while the UK had "a large market in NPS", it had also successfully introduced legislation to bring some of the substances under control.

In 2010-2011, mephedrone was the second most widely misused substance in England and Wales, on a par with cocaine powder, according to the report.

But following an import ban and classification as a Class B substance, mephedrone use has declined, after years of increase.

"We have seen a decrease in use (in the UK) since the legislation got put in place," Mr Tettey said.

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Osborne to outline £11.5bn of cuts

26 June 2013 Last updated at 04:11 ET

George Osborne is preparing to wield the axe in a fresh round of spending cuts that will set the tone for the next general election.

The chancellor is to unveil £11.5bn of cuts for a single financial year - 2015/16 - to help reduce the deficit.

Health and schools in England and foreign aid will continue to be protected, meaning all other department will have to take a bigger hit.

Labour has said it will stick to the plans if it wins the next election.

Mr Osborne will outline the Spending Review in the House of Commons from 12:30 BST.

Intelligence winners

BBC political editor Nick Robinson says there will be no fresh welfare cuts, but there will be more detail of a long-term plan to cap much of benefits spending and a move to limit the payment of winter fuel allowance to pensioners who live abroad.

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Guide to the Spending Review

• Government departments set out spending for set period of time
• George Osborne needs to find £11.5bn in savings
• The 2015-16 timetable is designed to last a little while beyond the next general election
• Mr Osborne will set out details to MPs at 12:30 BST
• You can follow it live on the BBC website and on an extended Daily Politics on BBC2. There are also special programmes on BBC Radio 4 and 5 live

Spending on the NHS, schools and overseas aid will continue to be protected and the intelligence services will be the biggest winners of a spending increase, he adds.

The chancellor will also announce long-term plans to invest more in Britain's infrastructure in building roads, railways and housing.

The next general election is scheduled for May 2015 and the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition has to set out its budgetary plans for the final few weeks of its time in office, irrespective of the outcome of the poll.

Labour has said that it would match the coalition's current spending totals for the full one-year period.

On Sunday, Mr Osborne announced that the Ministry of Defence would have to shed civilian staff, but the UK's military capacity would not be affected.

'Out of intensive care'

The last department to reach a settlement on its budget was Vince Cable's Department for Business and Skills.

Continue reading the main story

Analysis

This year the government is planning to spend about £720bn - just over £32,500 per UK household.

Because there is more money going out of the Treasury than coming in, from tax, there is a deficit. The Treasury is about £5,000 short per household.

About a third of government spending goes on welfare and pensions - about £10,000 per household.

That will not be touched in today's Spending Review.

The second biggest cost is health, about £6,200 per household, then education, which costs each household almost £4,500 a year.

Debt interest payments cost us all an average of £2,300 a year.

The NHS and schools in England are both protected from budget cuts - meaning other departments will have to take a bigger hit in the Spending Review.

So all eyes will be on departments like defence, local government and the home office to see how much pain they will suffer.

The agreements followed weeks of arguments with ministers.

The chancellor had initially hoped to eliminate the structural deficit - the portion of borrowing that is not affected by changes in the economic cycle - entirely by 2014-15.

But the timeframe for this has slipped to 2017-18 and Mr Osborne will have to borrow £275bn more than he expected in this parliament than at the time of his first Budget in 2010.

The government says it has cut overall borrowing by a quarter since coming to power and by a third as a share of GDP.

Revised official figures released on Friday showed that borrowing rose slightly to £118.8bn in 2012-13 from £118.5bn the year before.

Mr Osborne has indicated the coalition is determined to stick to its austerity plan, saying: "I'm confident we are coming out of intensive care and we can turn this country around. There's certainly a chance of a relapse if we abandon our plan."

But shadow financial secretary to the Treasury Chris Leslie said: "This Spending Review is happening because David Cameron and George Osborne's economic plan has failed.

"Three years of falling living standards and a flat-lining economy has led to billions more borrowing to pay for economic failure. Far from balancing the books by 2015, as the government promised, the chancellor is being forced to make even more cuts."

Ministers will also set out plans to invest billions of pounds in transport, science and other capital projects on Thursday.

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Street evacuation 'false alarm'

26 June 2013 Last updated at 04:25 ET

Police have said the evacuation of 50 people from a Derbyshire town because of fears of a bomb is "expected to be a false alarm".

An Army bomb disposal team was called to Broadleys, near Victoria Street, in Clay Cross earlier this morning.

Residents were taken to the Sharley Park Leisure Centre in the early hours of Wednesday.

Roads within 100m (328ft) were closed but Derbyshire Police said they expect to get the all-clear "very soon".

'Absolute pandemonium'

Residents said the inquiries related to a Vauxhall Astra which was parked near Victoria Street.

Darren Murray, operations manager at local business SDL Minorfern, said: "We arrived at 07:00 BST to absolute pandemonium.

"There are police cars, vans and bomb disposal cars everywhere."

He added staff from the company, which distributes car parts, had advised the bomb disposal team how to get into the vehicle.

"The car is parked behind the back of our head office and it's believed to be full of petrol cans," he said. "We lent tools to the army disposal unit and showed them how they would get into the vehicle.

"It's been a big surprise to all our staff - it's been a big shock."

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Ex-Time Team expert Mick Aston dies

24 June 2013 Last updated at 20:17 ET

Mick Aston, a former resident academic on Channel 4's Time Team, has died at the age of 66.

He appeared on the show, which sees experts carry out archaeological digs, from its inception in 1994 until 2011.

Professor Aston lived in Somerset and taught at a number of UK universities.

Time Team's official Twitter account tweeted: "It is with a very heavy heart that we've been informed that our dear colleague Mick Aston has passed away. Our thoughts are with his family."

The exact circumstances of the death of Prof Aston, who was born and raised in Oldbury, in the West Midlands, and was known on the show for his colourful jumpers and unruly white hair, are not yet known.

'Unique man'

Close friend and former Time Team colleague Phil Harding said he had received the news from Prof Aston's son, James Aston.

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"Start Quote

He had incredible knowledge and an effortless way of making archaeology accessible to people"

End Quote Phil Harding Time Team archaeologist

Mr Harding, 62, said that although Prof Aston had suffered health problems, his death had come as a shock.

"It just seems so incredible, like a bad dream, but unfortunately this is no dream," he said.

The archaeologist said Prof Aston was a "unique man" who "everybody loved".

"He just had a way with people. I cannot believe there was anybody who disliked him, he just had such a relaxed way," he said

"He had incredible knowledge and an effortless way of making archaeology accessible to people."

Francis Pryor, who also worked on Time Team, said Prof Aston had been a "remarkable archaeologist who could really dig".

Professor Pryor said: "I will remember him fondly - [he] was a warm, loving, nice man.

"He did very good work on original British towns... and he was an authority on monastic church archaeology and early medieval archaeology."

'Passionate believer'

Prof Aston had appeared as the senior archaeologist in 19 series of the programme, in which specialists carry out an archaeological dig in the space of three days.

"In fact he was partly responsible for its creation after telling Tim Taylor, series producer, that it would be possible to evaluate a site in only three days," a biography on the Time Team website says.

It says he had worked in archaeology for more than 40 years, adding: "Mick had a childhood love of archaeology, despite his school's best attempts to dissuade him."

It adds that Prof Aston was a "passionate believer in communicating archaeology to the public".

Prof Aston studied geography with a subsidiary in archaeology at Birmingham University.

He joined the University of Bristol in 1979, organising and promoting lifelong learning and continuing education in archaeology.

'Dumbed down'

From 1996 to 2004, he was professor of landscape archaeology at the university, later becoming an emeritus professor in the same subject.

The university says on its website that alongside Time Team, Prof Aston worked on a major research project that investigated the origins of the English village at Shapwick, Somerset, and researched monastic and landscape archaeology throughout Europe.

He was also an honorary visiting professor at Exeter, Durham and Worcester universities, and had published a number of books relating to archaeology.

Continue reading the main story

"Start Quote

He loved Time Team and it would be very fitting that they could do one more dig at a location Mick would have loved"

End Quote Lee Brady Time Team fan

In July 2012, he received a lifetime achievement award at the British Archaeological Awards, a showcase for the best in UK archaeology.

Mark Horton, professor in archaeology at the university, said at the time that Prof Aston had made "the past accessible to all".

In February 2012, Prof Aston, writing in the Western Daily Press, explained his decision to quit Time Team a year earlier, saying it was because Channel 4 had altered its format and the show had been "dumbed down".

"There is a lot less archaeological content and a lot more pratting about. I was the archaeological consultant but they decided to get rid of half the archaeological team, without consulting me," he wrote.

Time Team fan Lee Brady, who set up a tribute group on social-networking site Facebook, said: "The Time Team crew and Channel 4 should commission a 'one-off' special dig in memory of Mick.

"He loved Time Team and it would be very fitting that they could do one more dig at a location Mick would have loved."

In October last year Channel 4 announced that the 20th series of Time Team would be the show's last.

The final series aired earlier this year but a number of special episodes are planned for next year.

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Play 'pushed aside' in nurseries

24 June 2013 Last updated at 22:53 ET By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter

The role of play is being sidelined in England's nurseries because of government shifts towards more formal learning, experts say.

Nursery teachers and other child carers will no longer need training in how children learn through play under two key qualifications being drawn up.

Play is central to learning for under-fives and should feature heavily in the criteria, nursery groups say.

There is no contradiction between teaching and play, the government says.

The Department for Education has been consulting on two new flagship qualifications, the Early Years Educator (EYE) and the Early Years Teacher (EYT), designed to increase the skills of those working with babies and young children. They will be required by nurseries in England from September 2014.

Continue reading the main story

I have this fear that we are moving to a position where we are not wanting our children to be children any more"

End Quote Neil Leitch Pre-School Learning Alliance

The A-Level-standard EYE qualification says the worker should "deliver children's early education and development from birth to the age of five" and "have an understanding of how children learn and develop".

It also requires them to "deliver effective teaching and learning" enabling children to progress and be ready for school.

While the EYT requires the teacher to have a clear understanding of synthetic phonics in the teaching of reading and appropriate strategies in the teaching of early mathematics, there is no mention of theories underpinning structured play.

The Department for Education said: "There is no contradiction between teaching children and play. Good nurseries do both - education and enjoyment go hand-in-hand."

But the three major bodies representing nurseries, pre-schools and childminders say not mentioning play is a major omission.

Pre-School Learning Alliance chief executive Neil Leitch said: "Learning through play is the cornerstone of good practice in early years because play is how young children learn and make sense of the world.

"The ability of practitioners to support children's play in this way is an essential skill in promoting children's development and should be recognised in these qualifications. We are very disappointed that it is not."

He said the role of the childcare practitioner was to create the right environment for young children to explore and learn in a way which extends their interests at their own pace.

"This is why we have concerns about the top-down pressure from government that could lead to the 'schoolification' of early years as a result of developmentally inappropriate practice such as having young children sit in rows and hold pencils."

'Explore and develop'

He added: "I have this fear that we are moving to a position where we are not wanting our children to be children any more."

There was a growing culture of "rushing children" to a point where they could produce a return for the economy, instead of following academic evidence that learning through structured play and self-development was the best way to prepare children for a successful education, he said.

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said "play should be there in every line" of the criteria.

"Children and babies are learning all the time and they are learning through play - even when they go on to schools. You just can't separate it," she said.

While a spokesman for Pacey, the Professional Association for Childcare and Early Years, said: "These qualifications contain no requirement to have an understanding of play theory or practice."

This was of particular concern as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), the official guidelines on how children under five are cared for and educated, is meant to be based on play, it said.

"Early Years Teachers (EYT) must be required to know that children learn through well-structured play, when they have opportunities to explore and develop their own ideas.

"The expectation that teachers will be able to provide adequately for play, without being given any formal knowledge or understanding during their qualifying years, will only set them up to fail children in their early years, when learning through play is a crucial part of their lives."

And Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Play is a fundamental and appropriate part of the early years phase of education and it is therefore disappointing, not to say incomprehensible, that the government has excluded it from their draft framework.

"Structured play is valuable to children in so many ways. Principally, it allows them to develop confidence and enjoy learning new skills. The government should stop sending a message that play does not contribute to child development."

The National College for Teaching and Leadership, which has drawn up the criteria, said educators and teachers would be expected to meet the requirements of the EYFS.

"The EYFS has a requirement for planned, purposeful play and so is already included within the score of the standards and criteria."

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Killer Ian Brady to address tribunal

25 June 2013 Last updated at 00:08 ET

Moors Murderer Ian Brady is expected to speak publicly later, as a tribunal over his mental health draws to an end.

It would be the first time he has spoken publicly for nearly 50 years.

The 75-year-old argues he is no longer mentally ill and should be moved from a high-security hospital to prison.

Brady, along with his accomplice Myra Hindley, tortured and murdered five children aged from 10 to 17, burying some of their victims' bodies on Saddleworth Moor in the Peak District.

The last time Brady was heard in public was in 1966 at Chester Assizes, where he denied the murders.

He was eventually found guilty of three and jailed for life. He and Hindley later confessed to the other two. Hindley died in prison in 2002, aged 60.

Brady has been held in Ashworth Hospital, a high-security psychiatric hospital in Maghull, Merseyside, since 1985.

'Makes toast'

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Brady's legal team say he has a severe personality disorder but is not mentally ill and could be treated in prison rather than hospital.

But staff at Ashworth say he remains a paranoid schizophrenic who should stay at the hospital.

His reasons for wanting to return to prison remain unclear, although it is thought he might try to starve himself to death in prison.

He has been on hunger strike since 1999 but doctors at Ashworth can force-feed Brady through a tube in his nose under mental health law.

On Monday, a nurse told the tribunal that, despite his hunger strike, Brady often took the food made available to him, and he "makes himself toast every morning".

The serial killer looks likely to be the final witness at the tribunal, which is sitting at Ashworth Hospital and will be relayed to the press and public on TV screens at Manchester Civil Justice Centre.

The judgement of the panel will be released at a later date yet to be fixed.

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Women offered NHS breast cancer drug

25 June 2013 Last updated at 03:03 ET By Michelle Roberts Health editor, BBC News online

Thousands of women across Britain with a family history of breast cancer are to be offered drugs on the NHS to help prevent the disease.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence says tamoxifen or raloxifene taken daily for five years can cut breast cancer risk by 40%.

Its guidance for England and Wales means 500,000 women now have a choice other than mastectomy.

The Scottish government says it will offer tamoxifen to women at risk.

However, experts say women still need to carefully weigh up their options.

One in every five breast cancers has a family link.

Having close relatives - a mother, sister or aunt - with breast cancer increases a woman's chance of getting the disease, as does inheriting certain genes such as BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie revealed last month that she had undergone a preventative double mastectomy to cut her own chance of developing breast cancer because she carries one of these risky genes.

Risk reduction

The new guidelines from NICE are the first in Europe to recommend that healthy women are given drugs to prevent breast cancer. It is likely that Northern Ireland will soon follow suit.

The Scottish government says women with two or more family members who have had breast cancer will be offered the treatment for five years.

Continue reading the main story

• Women in general have a 1-in-8 chance of developing breast cancer
• But some are at higher risk than this because of their family history
• Having a mother or sister diagnosed with breast cancer doubles your risk of breast cancer, for example
• If several members of your family have had particular types of cancer, or if a relative was diagnosed with breast cancer at a young age, your risk of developing breast cancer may be increased further
• Moderate risk means you have at least a 1-in-6 risk of getting breast cancer by the end of your life, while high risk means you have a 3-in-10 risk
• Inherited genes - like BRCA1 and BRAC2 - increase your lifetime risk by up to 90%
• Most breast cancers have no family link

It was announced last month that genetic testing was also to be offered in Scotland to those with a 10% risk of a faulty gene.

NICE says women in England and Wales who are aged over 35 and at "moderate" or "high" risk of breast cancer as a result of their family history or genes should be considered for preventative drug therapy.

By this they mean women with at least a one in six chance of developing the disease.

The Welsh government said it welcomed the updated guidance and expected local health boards to make the drugs "available to patients who meet the clinical criteria".

Taking a tamoxifen or raloxifene tablet every day for five years could nearly halve their breast cancer risk and this protective effect should last for at least a decade, studies suggest.

While this sounds like a good and simple choice, experts say women need to carefully weigh up their options.

Surgery to remove both breasts would bring a woman's lifetime risk down to virtually zero.

And tamoxifen can be unpleasant to take, causing side-effects such as hot flushes and blood clots.

Up to half of breast cancer patients prescribed the drug as a treatment for their tumour give up taking it, research suggests.

'Leap forward'

Wendy Watson chose to have a preventative double mastectomy at the age of 37 because she knew of nine relatives who had breast cancer.

Ms Watson, who runs a helpline for those at high risk of breast cancer, told BBC Breakfast she received many calls from people who "don't quite fit the criteria and yet they know they've got a huge family history but they can't get a genetic test".

"So this lowering of the threshold is one of the most exciting bits to me."

Dr Andrew Cuthbert, who has previously worked on guidelines for the institute, said tamoxifen was "a very inexpensive drug".

"I believe the cost of an annual treatment is a matter of a few hundred pounds," he told BBC News.

"That's very much cheaper than some of the cancer drugs we hear about - which are tens of thousands of pounds for a course of treatment - and it's taken for five years only but the reduction in risk is very long-lasting."

NICE said the decision about the best treatment should be a joint one between the patient and the medical team.

Dr Caitlin Palframan, of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said the guidelines were a game-changer.

"Our strongest tool in the fight against breast cancer is prevention, and these new guidelines are a fantastic leap forward in the way we prevent breast cancer developing in those at highest risk," she said.

Sean Duffy, national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, said: "It is earth-shattering for women who find out they are at high risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

"As a health service, it's our duty to provide the best possible evidence-based advice on the options that are available, focusing on the patient's personal circumstances.

"[The NICE guidance] adds a further dimension to the options available for women who are at risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer."

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, with about 50,000 women and 400 men diagnosed with the condition each year.

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Inquiry 'needed into police ethics'

25 June 2013 Last updated at 04:30 ET

A Leveson-style inquiry is needed to investigate the ethics of the police, according to a lawyer who represented the family of Stephen Lawrence.

The home secretary has said claims that police tried to smear the family will be looked at by two existing inquiries.

But Michael Mansfield QC said broader issues of "accountability and transparency" must be examined.

Met Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said if the government began a public inquiry he would support it.

Black teenager Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack by a gang of white youths as he waited at a bus stop in south-east London in April 1993.

A number of suspects were identified soon after the attack but it took more than 18 years to bring his killers to justice. An inquiry accused the police of institutional racism and found failings in how they had investigated the murder.

Undercover officer Peter Francis told the Guardian and Channel 4's Dispatches programme that after Stephen's killing he posed as an anti-racism campaigner in a hunt for "disinformation".

Working as part of the Metropolitan Police's now-disbanded Special Demonstration Squad, he said he had come 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.

'Not good enough'

Mr Mansfield told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's a squad that existed for a very long time. A squad of that size, involving those numbers, involving public expenditure of this kind does not go without authorisation from a very high level.

Continue reading the main story

We need a laser-focused investigation to come up with answers quickly"

End Quote Brian Paddick Former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner

"I think that's why the public need to have something like the Leveson Inquiry in relations to the ethics of the police in a so-called democracy.

"It can be achieved provided you have the right judge with the right focus and the right resources. This can be done quickly."

And he added: "Where was Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary throughout all these years? Why weren't questions being asked?"

Home Secretary Theresa May said Mark Ellison QC - who successfully prosecuted Gary Dobson and David Norris for Stephen's murder in 2012 - would look into the smear allegations are part of his ongoing examination of police corruption during the original investigation into the killing.

She said they would also be looked at as part of Operation Herne, which is an investigation into undercover policing at the Met Police, being led by the chief constable of Derbyshire police, Mick Creedon.

'Layers of independence'

But Stephen father, Neville Lawrence, said "nothing short of a judge-led public inquiry will suffice".

Sir Bernard told radio station LBC there were "two or three layers of independence" in the inquiries already set up, but he understood why Mr Lawrence wanted a wider probe.

"I think a public inquiry is possible, I don't think it's for me to call that," he said.

A public inquiry could "take a long time", he said, and any discovery of wrongdoing would still have to be investigated further by the Independent Police Complaints Commission or the police themselves in order to take criminal or disciplinary action.

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But he added: "If the government or Parliament decides they would prefer a public inquiry, of course we would support that."

The commissioner said he had ordered a review of undercover operations after taking charge two years ago and was confident things were "running correctly now".

"I have to make the case for undercover officers. They are very courageous and where they are deployed properly and according to the law they go out and target serious organised crime.

"The only thing we have to be careful about is what relationships undercover officers are forming day to day."

Lord Condon - who was Met commissioner from 1993 to 2000 - has said he was not aware of any order to smear the Lawrence family and any such attempts would be "clearly wrong".

Pressure for a public inquiry has come from other sources too, including former Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick and former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord MacDonald.

Lord MacDonald told the BBC: "Chief Constable Creedon, who is running the police inquiry, said the public need to understand that the best people to investigate officers are police officers. Well, no, they are not."

Meanwhile, the Guardian has published fresh claims that Met officers infiltrated political groups protesting about police corruption in the 1990s.

One operative was said to have penetrated the Colin Roach Centre, an organisation named after a 21-year-old black Briton who died in the foyer of Stoke Newington police station, which campaigned on behalf of those who believed they had been mistreated or wrongly arrested.

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