The Madeleine Foundation letter to Gordon Brown in support of a

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government and is commonly used by them following disasters. It is possible that the British government may have paid for these counsellors - we need to know if they did, and, if so, why. An enquiry needs to establish who exactly co-ordinated and organised this overwhelming level of assistance to support the McCanns’ claim of abduction, when, as it turned out, within a few months there was significant, some would say overwhelming, evidence pointing to Madeleine having died in her parents’ apartment. iii) The despatch of a Cabinet-level official to oversee public relations in the case One of the British government’s most highly-paid ‘spinners’ of information, Mr Clarence Mitchell, was despatched almost immediately to Portugal to conduct and oversee public relations for the McCanns. His job at the time was the high-level position of Head of the Media Monitoring Unit for the Central Office of Information - a post established primarily to ensure that the government’s line on any particular issue was promoted in the media. Indeed, on one occasion Mr Mitchell openly boasted that his role at the MMU was ‘to control what comes out in the media’. In May 2007, he was seconded to the Foreign Office for the special assignment of proactively handling press relations about the ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann. He was apparently later allowed to retire prematurely from the civil service - in September 2007 - in order to become employed exclusively by the McCanns to act as their PR spokesman, at a salary said to be £75,000 a year. It is noteworthy also that he continues to act as the McCanns’ media adviser even over two years after Madeleine’s disappearance, and that he now works for Freud Communications, owned by Matthew Freud, who is married to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter. Freud Communications is known to have strong links with your government at the very highest levels. An independent enquiry needs to establish what role Mr Mitchell has played in connection with the ‘disappearance’ of Madeleine McCann and why the British government felt it necessary to despatch such a senior public relations figure and civil servant to work with the McCanns full-time. It should be added that a video exists of Mr Mitchell, in a TV interview, openly boasting that it was he who, though his contacts, arranged for the McCanns to meet the Pope on 28 May 2007. Once again, it is clear that it was the British government that arranged this unprecedently high-profile event to assist the McCanns. Similarly, the British government appears also to have facilitated Dr Gerald McCann’s visit to the White House where he met U.S. Attorney- General Alberto Gonzales. iv) The despatch of another top government official, Sheree Dodd, to help with the McCanns’ PR The former Daily Mirror journalist and long-serving senior government spokeswoman, Ms Sheree Dodd, was also deployed in the early days as an additional ‘media liaison officer’ for the McCann family in addition to Mr Mitchell (see also next point). This appointment added to the already truly 22
exceptional level of help being given by the British government to the McCanns. Within days of Madeleine’s ‘disappearance’, a top-level team of up to a dozen, maybe more, lawyers, PR professionals, Foreign Office and Consular officials were working flat out to back up the McCanns’ abduction claim – a wholly exceptional amount of high-level support, especially given that the only ‘sighting’ of an abductor was the unreliable claim of Jane Tanner who says she originally saw ‘a man carrying a bundle’, then later changed her statement to give what she claimed was a detailed description of a man and a young girl he was carting. One Spanish newspaper claimed that “British diplomats who found Doctors Kate and Gerry McCann suspicious were removed from Portugal”, and that “The British government involved more than normal - The Maddie case gets a new political dimension”, please see: http://www.saz-aktuell.com/newsdetail~key~8489~start~1~app~review.htm If any diplomats expressed reservations about the McCanns’ version of why Madeleine ‘disappeared’, that would be a serious issue and again deserves to be considered by an independent public enquiry. Credible reports suggested that Sheree Dodd did not buy the McCanns’ abduction claim, said so, and as a result was sent back to London. That would also be another significant issue to be investigated by a public enquiry. v) The mystery over Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s numerous telephone conversations with the McCanns During 2007, Clarence Mitchell, by then the full-time PR spokesman for the McCanns, claimed that after the McCanns were made 'arguidos' [provisional suspects], they had not received any help from, or even been in contact with, any senior Ministers of the British government. However, a member of the public asked a question about Mr Mitchell's claim under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The reply contradicted Mr Mitchell’s previous claim. Below are extracts from the reply he received from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office: “I can confirm that the Foreign Secretary has communicated with the McCann family on a number of occasions. However any further details relating to this have been withheld under Section 36(2)(c) of the Freedom of Information Act which, if disclosed, would or would be likely to, prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs...We had to apply a 'public interest test' to determine whether or not the information should be released. We recognise that there is a public interest in transparent and open government...but we have to balance this with the need to reassure British nationals in need of Consular assistance that we will protect details relating to their situation. In this instance there is clearly an expectation that the details of all communications were confidential and would not be [made] public... “For this reason, we consider that the public interest in maintaining this exemption outweighs the public interest in release. The Foreign Secretary has not communicated with either Clarence Mitchell or the [private company] ‘Helping to Find Madeleine: Leaving No Stone Unturned Ltd’.” It should be noted, in addition, that from May to September 2007, Mr Clarence Mitchell was seconded to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, of 23
Page 1 and 2: The Madeleine Foundation Combating
Page 3 and 4: use its influence to seek a public
Page 5 and 6: they had wasted £½ million on the
Page 7 and 8: One key matter which requires inves
Page 9 and 10: “It was fun during the first two
Page 11 and 12: Leicestershire. From 2001 until 200
Page 13 and 14: “When he was asked with whom he w
Page 15 and 16: A Portuguese police official, Sousa
Page 17 and 18: This meeting was held just 12 days
Page 19 and 20: your own conclusions.' He said in a
Page 21: elieving and supporting the McCanns
Page 25 and 26: In addition, shortly before he was
Page 27 and 28: file on to the Crown Prosecution Se

The Madeleine Foundation letter to Gordon Brown in support of a

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