Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report

Emily Thornberry Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd March 2022 Commons Chamber

[Kit Malthouse]

The process and appointment of the Met commissioner are established in law, and we cannot obviate that, but we are all, I hope, committed to making sure that the person we appoint will bring about the changes that we are all seeking as well as continue the fight against crime in the capital. In the meantime, as the current commissioner exits, I believe that in the proposed acting commissioner and current deputy commissioner we have an individual of integrity and commitment who has already made very welcome public statements about driving forward change.

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker, for allowing convention to be waived so that I can speak from the Back Benches on this matter. Alastair Morgan, Daniel’s brother, has been campaigning for some justice for his brother for 35 years and I have stood alongside him for the past 17. The Minister referred to the “original report”. It was not the original report. There have been many, many inquiries. There have been inquiries into inquiries. This has been going on for years and years, with corruption layered upon corruption and nobody ever telling the truth. It is no wonder, in those circumstances, that Alastair has said that the Metropolitan police

“cared more about its own tatty reputation than solving my brother’s murder.”

Now what do we see? We see an official report that states that it has

“found no evidence that someone, somewhere, had adopted the view that this must never happen again.”

Nobody even cares if it happens again. What is the Minister going to do about that? What are we going to do about the Met?