Wednesday, January 10, 2007

A Letter To Tony Bair

It never ceases to amaze me how very few facts regarding the events in London on 7th July 2005 have ever made it into the public domain. The few facts that have, though, are inconsistent, muddled and contradictory. Trying to assemble these facts into any kind of cohesive account is like trying to put together a jigsaw-puzzle and wondering why the pieces don't fit.

On behalf of the July 7th Truth Campaign I have sent the following letter to Tony Blair and a FOI request to the Home Office:
10/01/07

Dear Mr Blair

In your statement to the House on July 11th 2005 in respect of the London Bombings and as reproduced on the No. 10 website you stated the following:

“I will now try to give the House as much information as I can. Some of it is already well-known. There were four explosions. Three took place on underground trains - one between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street; one between Russell Square and Kings Cross; one in a train at Edgware Road station. All of these took place within 50 seconds of each other at 8.50 a.m.”

Mr Blair, this statement was made some 4 days after the events and yet the information that you gave is contradicted by other official versions.

According to the Official Report published by the Home Office on May 11th 2006, the explosions took place:

“... at about 8.50am there were 3 almost simultaneous explosions – the first in a Circle Line tunnel between Liverpool Street and Aldgate stations, the second on the Circle Line just outside Edgware Road and the third in a Piccadilly Line tunnel between King’s Cross and Russell Square.”

As you can see this information differs from the information that you gave the House and we would like to know why there is such a major discrepancy between these two statements.

If you then contrast both your statement and the official report's version with that given out by the Metropolitan Police in their One Week Anniversary appeal news conference:

  • Circle Line train travelling from Liverpool Street to Aldgate station. The device was in the third carriage of a train approx. 100 yards into the tunnel.

  • Westbound Circle Line train coming into Edgware Road station, approx. 100 yards into the tunnel. The explosion blew a hole through a wall onto another train on an adjoining platform. The device was in the second carriage, in the standing area near the first set of double doors.

  • Piccadilly Line train travelling from Kings Cross to Russell Square, approx 600 metres into the tunnel. The device was in the first carriage, in the standing area near the first set of double doors.

You will notice that there are even more discrepancies here with the statement that you made to the House on the 11th July 2005.

Could you please clarify why you stated:

That a train was travelling between Aldgate East and Liverpool Street

That a train was travelling between Russell Square and Kings Cross

That a train was in the station at Edgware Road.

We find it hard to understand how such basic information such as which train and where that train was, should appear so muddled, if what we are being told is actually a true and factual version of these events,

Regards

Ms Bridget Dunne

July 7th Truth Campaign



On 1th July 2006, Dr John Reid announced to Paliament that the Offical Report's claim that the 4 accused travelled on the 7.40 from Luton was wrong. To date, there has been no explanation for this error:

Dear Sir/Madam

On July 11th 2006 Dr John Reid made the following announcement to the House:

...I have assured the House in the past, and assured the families of the victims of the 7/7 tragedy, that we would inform if, at any point, new information on anything came to light. In that context, I tell the House tonight that, at the end of last week, I was told that a discrepancy had indeed come to light. The official account that we provided to the House states that the train on which the bombers travelled left Luton station at 7.40 am. The police have now told us that that is incorrect—the train in fact left Luton station at 7.25 am. It did, however, arrive at Kings Cross at 8.23 am, as recorded in the official account. Although that does not appear to affect anything else in the official account, it is nevertheless an error, which is why I report it to the House. I can understand why this may be of concern to some. I have asked the police, as Members would expect, for a full report on how that discrepancy came about. I will ensure that the official account is amended and will write to the survivors and to the families of the victims on this matter.

Despite the assurance from Dr Reid that the report would be amended, the pdf download on the Home Office website still has the accused travelling on the 7.40 from Luton.

1. We would like to know why the train time of 7.40 has not been amended in the Official Report.

2. We would like to know if a full report has been received from the police explaining how this discrepancy came about.

3. We would like to know when this information will be made public.

Regards

The July 7th Truth Campaign

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aren't there more important questions to ask?

Bridget said...

Hi lsf

Thanks for your comment, and I agree there are many more important questions to ask, and many of them are found on the July 7th Truth Campaign website.

I started this blog in an effort to ascertain the 'facts' which were either woefully lacking in reports from the day or inconsistent and erroneous in official statements. Such as this one on the Downing Street website. After all, it can't be that difficult to know within an hour or so which trains were affected that day and which direction they were travelling in. Important information I'd have thought, if only for those who were concerned for the safety of their loved ones.

The Home Office has failed to respond to the FOI request on how the Luton train time was given as 7.40 in the Official Report, every 28 days we receive a reply asking for another 28 day extension.

What questions would you like answered, lsf?