Ham pr disasters 60! ….they are mysterious and murky….mendacious and moany …..the markle family ….

[jeffgoldblum]

Well apparently this story isn’t going anywhere!

Welcome everyone again! 👋👋👋👋👋👋👋

Jeff, you are a legend. Thank you.

Mind you, I have no more chance of keeping up with this thread than I have of staying on a bolting racehorse!

I have been busy this afternoon and have been reading the thread….but I have no comment at this time….🤔😁

Thanks, jeff
Considering latest reports I doubt this one will last long either ...

Thank you @jeffgoldblum for the new thread.

Thank you Jeff, love the Halloweeny thread title, song going around in my head now... with the Markle Family instead of the Adams 😂👻 @jeffgoldblum

Signing in.

I am so so behind lurking on these threads. Not sure I can catch up!

Great thread title @jeffgoldblum - that tune is now going to be an ear worm for the evening.

@Voolio - from your reply to me on the previous thread (the thread closed as I was writing)

I would struggle then to understand how Sam Cohen would not recognise the sensitivity of this letter in the broader and simultaneous situation of AMW and therefore not escalate it.

What we know of the letter we have been told by The Sun (presumably the extracts they feel most lucrative) and the police.
The Sun says that it was written by TMsr's ex-wife, approximately 40 years post divorce.
It says she describes a conversation in which she accuses him of a criminal act, which he denies.
She apparently then says he then, in the same conversation, describes obnoxious behaviour which was not illegal.

The police say:
The author of the letter suggested they were writing to raise concerns relating to the security of the Duchess of Sussex. While the letter did not actually contain any information specifically related to security matters, it did contain a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom.
The letter was assessed and subsequently passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.

I have read nothing yet about this letter which suggests that anything in the contents is valid, reliable information on which anyone would act, or which would require referral to other agencies, or 'escalation' as you suggest.
It was passed to the D&DoS 'for their awareness' - not for escalation.

Apologies for my poor manners - thank you for the thread, @jeffgoldblum.

Excellent title, Jeff!

I've just seen the DM headlines. It's all so sordid.

😎 👌

Well the IOPC have announced today that following their review in recent days that an independent investigation of the Met’s handling of the allegations in the letter is required - specifically their failure to refer on to appropriate LE in other jurisdictions and a data breach.

However the escalation I was referring to in the previous thread was specifically internally within the RF as an institution - not other LE agencies etc.

Samantha Cohen who was H&Ms private secretary at the time this letter arrived had been private secretary to QE2 for at least the previous decade when the AMW issues were accelerating so IMHO she would be especially aware that this could be a very sensitive issue when maybe another royal official may have dismissed it.

My take is that someone of her professional experience and exposure to QE2 / AMW issue she would have ensured appropriate senior officials outside of the Office of H&M were aware - maybe sufficient as an FYI.

Thank you for the new thread Jeff. Working for the RF used to considered a prestigious gig. Who would want to do it now?

There was a suggestion on the other thread that despite this being a security issue people would have wanted such allegations silenced at Harry’s security court cases. As the one who would have raised this would have been Harry, if there were actual security concerns raised, what would Harry’s interest have been in maintaining silence then? He was pretty desperate for security so it seems incredibly unlikely he would not have included this if it held actual concerns. Much more likely there was nothing in it.

an independent investigation of the Met’s handling of the allegations in the letter is required

That does not mean there was fault, the investigation is needed to establish that.

I think it's extremely likely there was nothing in it.

Your point about Harry's court cases is relevant.

The other relevant court case is Meghan's case against the Daily Mail. She testified in that case (final judgement May 2021) that the reason for her estrangement from her father was the pressure from the media.

The Met referred itself to the IOPC, its statement said? The Met may well be expecting exoneration on all counts and wants it to happen in public. The Cressida Dick years are long gone, and I can imagine Mark Rowley wants this out in the open.

I’m fascinated by what Jason Knauf is sitting on from this period (late 2018 - early 2019), as well as the long-suffering Samantha Cohen.

Indeed.

It could be very beneficial for the Met Police to have an independent body agree that it had acted appropriately, in a case that is now very public and controversial.

Crossposted with @TearsAtTannhauserGate.

What would have actually made this a security issue?

The police said the author of the letter was writing to raise security concerns.

For the working royal family at that time, ‘security’ also included ‘embarrassment’.

The author claimed to be raising security concerns, but the police said the letter didn’t actually allude to any such concerns? Just accusations against Thomas Snr.