UK Special Branch
 UK Special Branch    | |
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| Start | March 1883 |
The UK Special Branch is the name of a unit responsible for matters of "national security" in the UK. The remit of Special Branch is to acquire and develop intelligence, usually of a political nature, and to conduct investigations into perceived threats of subversion against the UK Establishment.
Contents
Origins
The first Special Branch, or "Special Irish Branch", as it was known, was a unit of London's Metropolitan Police formed in March 1883 to combat the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The Irish soubriquet was subsequently dropped as the unit's remit widened. During the same period it became active in the policing of so-called 'Anarchist' groups, mainly expatriats from Continental Europe, especially the French Communards and Russian Tsarist dissidents. One of its more infamous episodes was facilitating and organising what became known as "The Walsall Bomb Plot" of 1890 in which 3 hot-head dissidents were inveigled into constructing primitive bombs from equipment and know-how provided by Special Branch agents, then caught 'in the nick of time' and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The episode elevated Special Branch Inspector William Melville (ironically an Irishman) to heroic status. He went on to take over from Chief Inspector Littlechild as head of Special Branch and later to oversee the formation of MI5 - a sort of latter day Robert Cecil (of Gunpowder Plot fame) you might say.
Since that time, where matters of Deep State policy are concerned, police/security service methods have clearly changed only in scale, sophistication and ambition, as ever greater resources have been allocated to them.
Subgroups
Special Demonstration Squad
- Full article: Special Demonstration Squad
- Full article: Special Demonstration Squad
The Special Demonstration Squad was set up in 1968 to "deal with the lack of police knowledge of what was happening on demonstrations", according to a film interview from The Guardian[citation needed]. It covertly infiltrated UK protest groups while working closely with the Crown Prosecution Service. MI5 were well aware of the group and exerted at least some control over it, though it apparently ran for 40 years without the knowledge of the most senior senior officers of Special Branch.[1] It has been criticised after it came to light that it used the names of at least 80 dead children to create false identities for its operatives[2] and that some SDS members engaged in sexual relationships with protest organisers and even had children with them in an effort to gain trust.[3] In 2008 the role of the SDS was taken up in part by the National Domestic Extremism Unit.[4]
External Links
A Document by UK Special Branch
| Title | Document type | Publication date | Subject(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| File:GeorgeOrwellSpecialBranchFile.pdf | Police file | July 2012 | George Orwell | The UK Metropolitan Police Special Branch file on Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell) |
- ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2704877/Secret-police-unit-ran-40-years-without-officers-knowing-Rogue-squad-gathered-intelligence-18-justice-campaigns-including-Stephen-Lawrence.html
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