Why is Priti Patel blocking the Daniel Morgan report?

 After an exhaustive Channel 4 documentary about the savage murder of the private investigator, one would have thought that there were no further secrets to reveal. There were loose ends and conflicting testimony, but it seemed that the law of dimnishing returns had set in especially after the deaths of some key participants. However,  the inquiry initiated by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary has clearly unearthed more evidence which, according to current Home Secretary Priti Patel, raises issues of national security. Why she should feel this is so when she and her ministers swear blind that the Home Office has not received the report is just one more mystery.

Roger Williams, former Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon and Radnor, whose pressure on behalf of the Morgan family obtained the inquiry, was of the opinion that although Mrs May was difficult to persuade, once she had committed to a course of action she would see it through. One feels that not only would she not attempt to block publication of the report by the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel if she were still Home Secretary, she would be more straightforward in dealing with its revelations. It comes to something when the combination of Cameron as PM and Theresa May as Home Secretary now looks relatively liberal.

One suspects that the real reason that the current administration wants to suppress the report is nothing to do with national security or even the links between the police in south London and criminal gangs. The Channel 4 documentary concentrated on the latter. There was less in it about the cosy relationship between Southern Investigations, in which Morgan was a partner, and the red-top press. The Panel inquiry may have been more wide-ranging and turned up more evidence of illegal activities procured by, in particular, the Murdoch press. Johnson may have broken most links with former Conservative-led governments, but he continues to be indebted to the power of Murdoch. 

We are at a crisis. Either Patel ceases to block publication of her own volition or Parliament must overrule her and release it. If neither happens, we in the UK continue to slide down the path of elective dictatorship.