It would appear more than certain that the Air Blimps and MoD have well and truly "bent" the ear of PM Blair.. .Quote from The Guardian. . .<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4351201,00.html" target="_blank">http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4351201,00.html</a>
Blair resisted new Chinook inquiry . .Richard Norton-Taylor. .Guardian
Thursday February 7, 2002
. .Tony Blair became involved in the controversy surrounding the crash of an RAF Chinook helicopter in the force's worst peacetime accident, supporting a ruling by two air marshals blaming the pilots, the Guardian has learned.
A House of Lords committee on Tuesday concluded that the air marshals were wrong to blame the pilots for the accident on June 2 1994, which killed all 29 people on board, including the elite of Northern Ireland's security and intelligence establishment.
The committee, chaired by a former law lord, based its judgment partly on new evidence not considered by the two RAF officers.
In letters written between 1999 and 2001 to a relative of one of the victims and the former MP Martin Bell the prime minister upheld the verdict blaming the pilots.
The letters were written after new evidence seen by the Lords committee - notably about the weather conditions and mechanical problems which had been affecting Chinooks - was publicly available.
However, Mr Blair insisted no new evidence had emerged to justify reopening the inquiry. "I have looked personally into the case," he told a relative who does not want to be named. He assured her that any new evidence would be examined "thoroughly and sympathetically".
He told Mr Bell: "We do need fresh evidence to justify re-opening this issue".
The letters, obtained by Computer Weekly magazine, contradict the findings of the Lords committee. They appear to be based on briefings Mr Blair received from the Ministry of Defence, which yesterday continued to insist no new relevant evidence had emerged since the air marshals in 1995 overruled the RAF's board of inquiry which found insufficient evidence to blame the pilots.
The prime minister's official spokesman said yesterday that the Lords report would be studied in detail before a "full response".
The Lords committee, which included three QCs and a fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, unanimously concluded that the air marshals' finding of negligence against the pilots was "not justified". . .It looks like a long campaign ahead!