Biodun.BBC: Sir Kim Darroch

Sunday, July 14, 2019

BREAKING: UK police identify suspect behind leaked envoy memos

July 14, 2019 14H:33 GMT/ZULU

by Selina O'Grady and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, London

LONDON - The suspect behind the leak of confidential memos from Britain’s Washington ambassador, which sparked a major diplomatic rift with the United States, has been identified, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.

FILE PHOTO: Britain's ambassador to the United States Kim Darroch (C) listens as U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May hold a joint news conference at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 27, 2017. Picture taken January 27, 2017. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo

Last week, Britain’s Mail on Sunday newspaper published memos from Kim Darroch in which he described Donald Trump’s administration as “inept” and “dysfunctional”, prompting an angry response from the U.S. president and causing the envoy to announce his resignation.

British officials have launched an inquiry to find the person responsible for the leak and counter-terrorism police said on Friday they had launched a criminal investigation.

According to the Sunday Times, which cited unnamed government sources, a suspect had been identified and suggestions that it could be the result of a computer hack by a foreign state had been ruled out.

“They think they know who did the leaking,” an unnamed government source told the paper. “It’s now a case of building a case that will stand up in court. It was someone with access to historical files. They went in and grabbed a range of material. It was quite crude.”

Both the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday reported that intelligence officials from the GCHQ eavesdropping spy agency were about to join the investigation to find the suspect by scouring email and phone records.

The Mail also published further memos from Darroch, defying a police warning that media which did so could be committing a criminal act.

The paper said Darroch had written to the British government in May 2018 that Trump had decided to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with major powers for “personality reasons” because it had been agreed by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Darroch had said in the cable that the Trump administration was “set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism”, the paper said.

Britain’s most senior counter-terrorism police officer had warned the media not to print any more leaked documents, saying it could breach the Official Secrets Act.

However, he was widely criticized by editors and politicians including the foreign minister Jeremy Hunt and ex-London Mayor Boris Johnson, the two men battling to replace Theresa May as prime minister when she steps down in just over a week’s time.

“It cannot be conceivably right that newspapers or any other media organization publishing such material should face prosecution,” Johnson, the frontrunner, said.

BREAKING: New leak claims Trump scrapped Iran nuclear deal 'to spite Obama'

by Rachel Rubin and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Washington

Donald Trump abandoned the Iran nuclear deal to spite Barack Obama, according to a leaked memo written by the UK's former ambassador in the US.

Sir Kim Darroch described the move as an act of "diplomatic vandalism", according to the Mail on Sunday.

The paper says the memo was written after the then Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson appealed to the US in 2018 to stick with the nuclear deal.

The latest leak came despite the Met Police warning against publication.

The first memos criticising President Trump's administration, which emerged a week ago, prompted a furious reaction from the US president and resulted in Sir Kim resigning from his role.

What have we learnt from the latest leak?

The Mail on Sunday reports that Sir Kim wrote to Mr Johnson informing him Republican President Trump appeared to be abandoning the nuclear deal for "personality reasons" - because the pact had been agreed by his Democrat predecessor, Barack Obama.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions.

However, President Trump said he did not think that the deal went far enough in curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions and reinstated US sanctions after withdrawing from the deal in May 2018.

The British ambassador's memo is said to have highlighted splits amongst US presidential advisors; he wrote that the White House did not have a "day-to-day" strategy of how to proceed following withdrawal from the deal.

President Donald Trump and Sir Kim Darroch — Image captionMr Trump had said we would "no longer deal with" Sir Kim Darroch

According to the paper, in his memo to Mr Johnson, Sir Kim wrote: "The outcome illustrated the paradox of this White House: you got exceptional access, seeing everyone short of the president; but on the substance, the administration is set upon an act of diplomatic vandalism, seemingly for ideological and personality reasons - it was Obama's deal.

"Moreover, they can't articulate any 'day-after' strategy; and contacts with State Department this morning suggest no sort of plan for reaching out to partners and allies, whether in Europe or the region."

Why did the police warn the media?

Scotland Yard's Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu warned media organisations against publishing leaked government documents, saying it "could be a criminal matter".

His comments came as a criminal investigation was launched into the initial leak of Sir Kim's emails.

The warning prompted a backlash from newspaper editors and MPs on Saturday, defending the freedom of the press.

The Met Police then released a second statement making clear journalists who released further details of the former ambassador's communications could be in breach of the Official Secrets Act, in which case there is no public interest defence in law.

Media captionTrump: 'I wish the British ambassador well'

What is the Mail on Sunday's defence?

The newspaper said it was in the public interest to publish the memos, arguing it revealed "important information" on the UK's attempts to stop President Trump abandoning the Iran nuclear deal.

A spokesman for the paper said: "What could be more in the public interest than a better understanding of how this position was reached, which may have serious consequences for world peace?"

In response, a Foreign Office spokesman called it a "totally unacceptable leak" of "sensitive material" and called for the source of the leak to "face the consequences of their actions".

He added that it was "not news" that the UK and US differ in their approach to preventing Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.