The prime minister’s former chief security and intelligence adviser, Sir Richard Mottram, has accepted a job with GardaWorld, a Canadian private security company that saw four of its employees kidnapped in Iraq last year, the Guardian has learned.
Mottram, who retired last autumn as chairman of Whitehall’s joint intelligence committee, and as permanent secretary for security, intelligence and resilience, confirmed yesterday he is to join GardaWorld’s “international advisory board”. His appointment was first revealed by Solomon Hughes, author of War on Terror, Inc, which is published by Verso this week. Hughes said yesterday he learned about it after the book went to print.
– The Guardian
Gordon Brown yesterday embraced one of Tony Blair’s most controversial legacies when he cast himself as the leader best placed to bring Europe and the US together after the bitter divisions over Iraq.
As he prepared to fly to the US on a three-day visit, the prime minister lavished praise on America’s leaders across the spectrum and said he hoped to bring them closer to his European colleagues.
– The Guardian
Stricter controls should have been in force for the Chinese flame attendants who guarded the Olympic torch in London, the Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said yesterday.
The blue-tracksuited guards ordered torch-bearers when to run and even fought off protesters who got too close. Their tactics led Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman, to label them “thugs”.
– The Telegraph
Britain and other Western nations plan to use today’s United Nations summit to ambush President Mbeki of South Africa over the crisis gripping Zimbabwe.
Gordon Brown is expected to raise the election stand-off in Zimbabwe at a Security Council summit chaired by Mr Mbeki, even though it is not on the agenda.
Diplomats say that France and the US will follow suit, although the council is unlikely to take any formal action to force the release of the results of the March 29 election.
– The Times