David Rose has an explosive story about David Mills, the husband of Labour party bigwig Tessa Jowell. It is damning for Mills, who seems to be linked to a major money launderer and to "a criminal network dumping toxic and radioactive waste in the oceans".
What caught my eye about the story was that this was all uncovered by a team at Greenpeace. Rose takes up the story:
The report into the dumping of illegal toxic waste, seen by this newspaper, was the work of a three-year probe by a team from Greenpeace International. It said Mills – whom it described as ‘a figure of substance in the London legal profession’ – set up UK companies owned by Swiss financiers who funded this illegal trade.
Yet the report’s English version was published only fleetingly and then withdrawn – according to its lead author, following pressure from the then New Labour government.
The lead author of the Greenpeace report, speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, alleges that it was suppressed because the charity did not want to make an enemy of Britain’s New Labour government by drawing attention to Ms Jowell, then Health Minister, and Mills.
International toxic waste expert Roberto Ferrigno says his Greenpeace report, entitled The Network, was supposed to be published in English in September 1998. But it was almost immediately withdrawn because of what he termed ‘a gentleman’s agreement’ not to cause too much trouble for Blair’s administration, which was then basking in its first landslide victory.
The reason for the withdrawal, he said, was the report’s references to Mills: ‘I was told someone was unhappy with it in London. I was called in by the senior management guys at Greenpeace International in Amsterdam and told it was being withdrawn because Greenpeace UK had problems with it.’
I couldn't help but recall the words of one Mr Burnham: "The party first, always". The oceans, it seems, can wait.