Civil Servants Are Deliberately Destroying Documents From The UK's National Archive | Zero Hedge
Description: ...Many of the missing documents include unflattering information about abuses of power by the UK government...
Keywords: Zero Hedge,Zerohedge,Finance,Economics,Markets,Politics,Analysis,Freedom of Information Act,Ireland,Saudi Arabia
Date: 2013-01-07T00:00:00Z

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# Civil Servants Are Deliberately Destroying Documents From The UK's National Archive

by Tyler Durden
Dec 27, 2017 4:15 AM
0
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In yet another galling example of historical revisionism put into practice, the Guardian reported Tuesday that thousands of documents from the National Archives have gone missing in recent years – and some may have been deliberately destroyed by civil servants hoping to purge unflattering details about the UK's abuses of power from the historical record.

Per the Guardian:

> Thousands of government papers detailing some of the most controversial episodes in 20th-century British history have vanished after civil servants removed them from the country’s National Archives and then reported them as lost.

> Documents concerning the Falklands war, Northern Ireland’s Troubles and the infamous Zinoviev letter – in which MI6 officers plotted to bring about the downfall of the first Labour government - are all said to have been misplaced.

> Other missing files concern the British colonial administration in Palestine, tests on polio vaccines and long-running territorial disputes between the UK and Argentina.

> Almost 1,000 files, each thought to contain dozens of papers, are affected. In most instances the entire file is said to have been mislaid after being removed from public view at the archives and taken back to Whitehall.

The controversy echos another incident from 2013 when a Guardian investigation found that the Foreign Office was storing documents that shed light on the brutality of colonialism from the in a secret bunker, where they would be safe from the public’s prying eyes. According to public records, many of the files that have gone missing this time around were “loaned out” to employees of the Foreign Office, which was responsible for the 2013 incident. Many others were taken by representatives of the Home Office.

The photo above shows a group of elderly Kenyans who were detained and abused during the Mau Mau insurgency

For example, an entire file on the Zinoviev letter scandal is said to have been lost after Home Office civil servants took it away. When approached by the Guardian, the Home Office declined to say why it was taken or when or how it was lost. Nor would its say whether any copies had been made. In some instances, files have been returned with pages missing.

In one example, Foreign Office officials removed a small number of papers in 2015 from a file concerning the 1978 murder of Georgi Markov, a dissident Bulgarian journalist who died after being shot in the leg with a tiny pellet containing ricin while crossing Waterloo Bridge in central London. When asked about their whereabouts, the FO said it had no knowledge of where they might be.

While the National Archives told the Guardian that they follow up when files go missing, going by the department’s comments below, their enforcement efforts sound disturbingly weak. Beyond calling and asking what’s being done to locate the missing files.

Some of the other files the National Archives has listed as “misplaced while on loan to government department” include information concerning activities of the Communist party of Great Britain at the height of the Cold War. Another details the way in which the British government took possession of Russian government funds held in British banks after the 1917 revolution. Still another includes an assessment prepared for government ministers on the security situation in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.

> The disappearances highlight the ease with which government departments can commandeer official papers long after they have been declassified and made available to historians and the public at the archives at Kew, south-west London.

> A Freedom of Information Act request in 2014 showed that 9,308 files were returned to government departments in this way in 2011. The following year 7,122 files were loaned out, and 7,468 in 2013. The National Archives says Whitehall departments are strongly encouraged to promptly return them, but they are not under any obligation to do so.

> "The National Archives regularly sends lists to government departments of files that they have out on loan,” a spokesperson said. “If we are notified that a file is missing, we do ask what actions have been done and what action is being taken to find the file."

The Guardian first caught wind of the missing files during high court proceedings brought by a group of elderly Kenyans who were detained and abused during the Mau Mau insurgency in 1950s Kenya.

The FO and HO aren’t the only departments seemingly restricting access to information that would cast a negative light on British history.

One time, the Ministry of Defense refused to release files about arms sales to Saudi Arabia and special forces operations against Indonesia. The official excuse? The files had been exposed to asbestos, the MOD said.

A likely story indeed.

- Ireland
- Freedom of Information Act
- Saudi Arabia

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## Comment viewing options

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CHIIEFHANGMAN Dec 27, 2017 4:21 AM

As an island of inbred misfits, what do you expect?

And who cares?

Ghordius CHIIEFHANGMAN Dec 27, 2017 4:25 AM

"an island of inbred misfits"

you seem to care. enough to comment. in the hating sense, though. either Brits are harmless to you because they are misfits or... they aren't. choose

shitshitshit Ghordius Dec 27, 2017 5:06 AM

where's Britboobs when we need him?

Ghordius shitshitshit Dec 27, 2017 5:30 AM

BritBob is of course under the huge Christmas Tree on the main square of Gibraltar, still stone drunk. or so I expect

Crazy Or Not Ghordius Dec 27, 2017 6:55 AM

Bob's in a bathtub paddling off to Las islas Malvinas?, ahem Falklands - likely as the spearhead vanguard of the coming Brit Empire beachead for full conquest of Latin America... to be continued ....sighs

BabaLooey Crazy Or Not Dec 27, 2017 8:35 AM

Na.

Bob's bobbing his plonker to the tune of "Meet Me In Gibralter - with that thick toy".......

..........................................despicable

AssN9 shitshitshit Dec 27, 2017 6:01 AM

Helping to decontaminate those affected files, of course.

BennyBoy AssN9 Dec 27, 2017 6:43 AM

Must destroy all evidence of illegal gov activity like murders, theft and lies to its own people.

In other words Fuck the People.

Nexus789 BennyBoy Dec 27, 2017 6:54 AM

Not unique to the UK

toady Nexus789 Dec 27, 2017 8:28 AM

Yes... I remember something about a computer full of incriminating emails going missing not that long ago...

fleur de lis toady Dec 27, 2017 8:55 AM

England is not controlled by the English people.

England is controlled by the Rothschilds.

So the order for document destruction came from them.

Sirius Wonderblast Ghordius Dec 27, 2017 7:14 AM

Again, we agree. Well put.

TMac2000 CHIIEFHANGMAN Dec 27, 2017 5:32 AM

.

England is a wacky place.

Was in a pub there one time.

The guy on the left of me said he was pissed and needed a fag.

The guy to the right of me said that he was pissed and could murder a fag.

Crazy

Sirius Wonderblast CHIIEFHANGMAN Dec 27, 2017 7:14 AM

Prick.

dark fiber CHIIEFHANGMAN Dec 27, 2017 7:15 AM

Still butthurt over Hamburg and Dresden huh?

booboo dark fiber Dec 27, 2017 7:27 AM

Bombing of civillian population night after night with incediary bombs killing tens of thousands huddled in shelters including those feeing the coming eastern storm of soviet troops, yea, most likely.

Lostinfortwalton booboo Dec 27, 2017 7:32 AM

Many (most?) of the RAF bomber crews involved in the Dresden bombings were ashamed and disgusted by what they were ordered to do.

BarkingCat dark fiber Dec 27, 2017 8:25 AM

You can pretty much blindy point a finger at a world map and land on a place that has a reason to hate the UK.

khnum Dec 27, 2017 4:21 AM

'History shall indeed be kind to us for I myself shall be writing it'Winston Churchill...wouldn't seem to be a new policy.

rrrr khnum Dec 27, 2017 7:40 AM

It was good of him to point out that his version of history would be flawed.

TheFederalistPapers Dec 27, 2017 4:28 AM

Who cares if it involved Pakistan.

Yippie21 Dec 27, 2017 4:39 AM

What does this have to do with Bitcoin??? Good grief! Get ON message here!!!

JohninMK Yippie21 Dec 27, 2017 5:39 AM

Someone thought it was Britcoin.

Idaho potato head Dec 27, 2017 4:41 AM

They got the technique off of Hillary's server, for a small fee of course.

vonmisesrises Idaho potato head Dec 27, 2017 5:10 AM

British are masters of lies and propaganda.

Ghordius vonmisesrises Dec 27, 2017 6:31 AM

a red bus with "350m a week for the NHS" comes to mind, when reading your comment

-----

Brexit: Vote Leave chief who created £350m NHS claim on bus admits ...

Brexit camp abandons £350m-a-week NHS funding pledge | Politics ...

Boris Johnson resurrects the Leave campaign's £350m for NHS fantasy

Theresa May admits £350 million pledged to NHS by Brexit campaign ...

Man behind controversial £350m-a-week for the NHS Brexit bus ...

Vote Leave chief who created £350m NHS lie on bus admits leaving ...

Vote Leave director admits they won because they lied to the public ...

The BBC accuses Boris of lying over £350m Brexit claim | Daily Mail ...

Lord Sugar Says Pro-Brexit Ministers Should Be Charged Over £350m ...

Brexiteers should face 'CRIMINAL' charges, says sir Alan Sugar | UK ...

Brexit is a UK Government power grab which will undermine our ...

Blue passports my arse. | Page 4 | pink fish media

What bus? Theresa May tells health chiefs 'no extra money for ... - Metro

Let's keep an eye on Vote Leave's broken promises

Crazy Or Not Ghordius Dec 27, 2017 7:02 AM

I had an insight in contracting at a Civil Service war vetrans disability center. They had the Nazi files on guys who were locked up during WWII. Lets just say they were VERY selective in what the actual vetrans and families got to see about their own records from those they fought against. Disgraceful. no surprises at the current twist. Did it with Rodesia-Zim transition and also Kenya.

Nexus789 vonmisesrises Dec 27, 2017 6:56 AM

Perhaps but the US is pretty crap at lies and propaganda. Just can't get the hang of it.

BraceforImpact Dec 27, 2017 4:52 AM

Ah yes the Ministry of Truth.

People are too dumb to notice anyways.

A. Boaty BraceforImpact Dec 27, 2017 9:03 AM

Fitting that a Brit coined the phrase "memory hole."

Lietemigrantas Dec 27, 2017 5:06 AM

Nothing new under the sun! Most Brits are clueless and soon will think it was Vladimir Putin behind the stolen/destroyed documents and behind the crimes documents were revealing too. Unfortunately this is not exaggeration I'm afraid, but luckily there is a growing fraction that are switched-on and propaganda-resistant more than ever!

deplorableX Lietemigrantas Dec 27, 2017 6:05 AM

You clearly don't know any Brits or are too bowed down by the chip on your shoulder to decipher who they are. The Brits are totally unrepresented by their media. Try to find a decent newspaper or magazine for authentic media coverage and you will have to give up, or start trawling the web. So how can you tell how clueless we are, when your reading matter is turgid poop wipe.

Ghordius deplorableX Dec 27, 2017 6:25 AM

"The Brits are totally unrepresented by their media"

well, a huge lot of the more unsavory/tabloid media Brits consume is produced by extremely wealthy Australians and mosly other foreigners, including some owning French castles and British offshore non-taxed islands...

... mentioning only the UK Media Barons that are for Brexit, in this comment

Ace006 deplorableX Dec 27, 2017 7:48 AM

The MSM in the Western world is in enemy hands. True. "Clueless" is a fair criticism throughout the West, though, as can be seen in the bovine electoral support for globalists and swine who promote open borders and immigration, immigration, immigration, immigration, immigration. And who enact hate speech laws and persecute dissidents like Tommy Robinson, Geert Wilders, Flip de Winter, and Elisabeth Sabadtisch-Wolff.

Some signs of revolt in the U.S., U.K., Germany, Spain, and E. Europe. Late, late in the day.

quasi_verbatim Dec 27, 2017 5:09 AM

...

quasi_verbatim Dec 27, 2017 5:07 AM

Need to know,old boy, and you plebs don't need to know.

Golden Showers Dec 27, 2017 5:07 AM

Absolutely Fabulous: Red Dwarf Dr. Who Disraeli, and Bulwer Lytton all at Faulty Towers with Dee and Kelly, 0077. Red Lorry Yellow Lorry. Joy Division, Sex Pistols and Pink Floyd at the Flying Circus, brought to you by The Who, the Stones, The Beatles, and your favorite DJ Jimmy Sa Vile. Give it up for Eric Arthur Blair and his magical mystical Aldous Huxley, Crowley, and the Civil Servants, without whom, we would know everything.

None of them were Henri Rousseau:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Henri_Rousseau_-_Il_... Because they are English dumbfucks making I, Claudius and they sucked at that too.

Wankers.

TMac2000 Dec 27, 2017 5:27 AM

.

"... hoping to purge unflattering details about the UK's abuses of power from the historical record."

Isn't that the BBC's job?

And who says Civil Servants are lazy?

J J Pettigrew Dec 27, 2017 5:39 AM

You mean like Sandy Berger and Bill Clinton?

We still wait for HIllary Sec of State documents.....btw....

vonmisesrises Dec 27, 2017 5:40 AM

I doubt these documents would have been destroyed, they might come in great value one day.

My bet is they are beneath GCHQ or a Royal Palace!

AssN9 vonmisesrises Dec 27, 2017 6:16 AM

Probably true, either way, some people are feeling very nervous.

YouJustCouldnt AssN9 Dec 27, 2017 6:46 AM

I don't believe anyone in power - present or past - would be in the slightest bit nervous. The big boys are always protected. The only person who would be remotely nervous would be the dolt civil servant that shredded the documents.

Victor999 Dec 27, 2017 6:13 AM

Down the memory hole.

Inthemix96 Dec 27, 2017 6:27 AM

This is what happens when a 'Government', losses control of a narrative, or like when a fine, upstanding paper of ill repute, lets say the 'Guardian', a peddler of fiction, doesnt allow the 'Proles' to make comment on matters of importance.

They quite simply, are shitting themselves. And the 'People', are waking from slumber.

Anyhow, enjoy the rest of the festive season folks, and smile a little, your voices are being heard.

;-)

Gadbous Dec 27, 2017 6:47 AM

Did Sandy Berger get a job in England?

alia Dec 27, 2017 6:57 AM

Blleiburg, operation keelhaul, abondon of positions in belgium and france , marcel el khebir....

Cardinal Fang Dec 27, 2017 7:12 AM

The Brits are up there with the Romans, The Catholic Church and The Nazis when it comes to the development of paperwork and bureaucracy.

So they have records of what was taken, who took it and when, but they don't have copies. And don't care to track them down.

Hmm-kay

arrowrod Dec 27, 2017 7:13 AM

British records? British history? Everything the Brits write is a fable.

Grandad Grumps Dec 27, 2017 8:08 AM

Hmmm ... there should be a law against that.

Hmmm, would I give up freedoms to see those who corrupted this world for their own gain lockd up? Possibly.... but not if it is just a scam.

ipso_facto Dec 27, 2017 8:17 AM

Gee, maybe the Archives should scan the contents of the files and then release a PDF of the scan to the 'other departments' when they ask to 'borrow' a file.

Oh, and the Archives should immediately publish a list of all files requested by 'other departments' and have those PDFs immediately available to the public.

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