This entry was posted on
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at
10:39 am and is filed
under Tories! Tories! Tories!.

One of the many questions that Patrick Mercer refuses to answer involves his role in the placement of his endorsement of Glen Jenvey in a January 2009 letter from The Sun to the PCC; one answer has Mercer accusing that tabloid and the SWNS (or his staff) of using a previous endorsement without checking with him (or his staff) first, the other has him knowingly endorsing Jenvey as a credible terror expert despite compelling evidence that his “extremely capable and knowledgeable analyst of fundamentalist matters” had been fabricating evidence of extremism.

That letter, revealed in part here at Bloggerheads, was written and sent on 27 January, 2009:

It was established recently that – contrary to statements issued by that MP (more) – his staff had worked with Glen Jenvey in the past and continued to work with him right up until March 2009 (i.e. two months after the fabrication evidence came to light).

However, as long as he kept dodging that Sun/PCC question, for Mercer there remained the possible escape route of claiming that his staff were in early 2009 acting overzealously, beyond their remit, and/or without his knowledge.

But if he’s been dodging that question for reasons of plausible deniability, he can forget it… unless he wants to call his Parliamentary Researcher Edward Barker a liar:

—–Original Message—–
From: BARKER, Edward
To: Glen Jenvey
Sent: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 15:44
Subject: Patrick Mercer’s Office

Dear Mr Jenvey,

Patrick has spoken to me about your work and asked me to email you my details. I am extremely interested in your area of expertise and I would be really grateful if you could email me any work you are doing and keep me updated on what is going on. Is there anything you would like me to provide regular updates on?

Are there any sites I should be aware of?

Best wishes,

Edward

Check the date of this email (26 January, 2009); it was sent the day before the letter from The Sun to the PCC was written (27 January, 2009).

The point of Mercer knowingly endorsing Jenvey in that letter (or not) is rendered largely academic by Mercer specifically instructing his staff to work with him (nearly three weeks after the ‘Alan Sugar: Terror Target’ article of 7 January 2009 was debunked).

Mercer is running out of ways and places to hide; little wonder he’s reduced to hiding under his desk and accusing me of “electronic stalking”.

The fact of the matter is that Patrick Mercer has form for turning a blind eye to negative reports involving people who are politically useful to him, and it’s a fair bet that something very similar happened when people were trying to warn him about Dominic Wightman (more), who he worked with quite closely from his days as Shadow Minister for Homeland Security, right up until… well, that’s the question, isn’t it?

– When did Patrick Mercer end his working relationship with Dominic Wightman?

Further, and for the avoidance of doubt:

– When did Patrick Mercer’s staff end their working relationship with Dominic Wightman?

– When did Patrick Mercer (and/or his staff) last communicate with Dominic Wightman?

– When did Patrick Mercer (and/or his staff) last receive a communication from Dominic Wightman?

Don’t be surprised if it later emerges that Patrick Mercer continued working with Dominic Wightman (and continued to endorse his work), regardless of any evidence that this man might be a bit of a liar and/or a conman.