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8. SYP’s engagement with MPs after the disaster

What was investigated?

Under the term of reference covering SYP’s engagement with the media and MPs in the aftermath of the disaster, the IOPC investigated:
The interactions of police officers with the press and politicians, in particular: 

a) whether any police officer was involved in the passing of inappropriate or inaccurate information to a journalist, including whether any police officer was involved in passing written accounts to the press 
b) whether any police officers passed inappropriate or inaccurate information to any Member of Parliament—whether individually or at meetings. This will include investigation of the actions of Chief Inspector Norman Bettison in visiting Parliament and the evidence he presented, its content and subsequent use by others 
c) whether the briefing which was given to the Home Secretary and Prime Minister on the day after the disaster contained any inaccurate or inappropriate information 
d) whether the evidence demonstrates that such interactions were directed or encouraged by SYP

This chapter focuses on parts b and c. Some interactions with MPs, in relation to what they then said to the media were covered in chapter 7, along with issues under part a. 
 

What was found?

• Despite wide-ranging enquiries, it has not been possible to establish what SYP officers told the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, when she visited Hillsborough Stadium the day after the disaster. Key witnesses have provided very different accounts of what was said. 

• At a meeting with Michael Shersby MP, the then parliamentary advisor to the Police Federation, in October 1989, some officers described the behaviour of supporters in more critical terms than they had done in their original accounts. This was in the context of an attempt to address a perceived imbalance in the Taylor Interim Report, which some officers described as a whitewash.

• MPs who attended an SYP video presentation in Parliament about the disaster felt that the force was trying to present its side of the story. None felt it changed their understanding of events.
 

Significant new evidence 

The IOPC obtained three versions of a similar video, all of which fulfil the description of the video shown at both the meeting with Mr Shersby and the presentation in Parliament. The videos were provided by different sources. The IOPC has analysed these; two are identical and the third is a few minutes longer and has a different voiceover. The IOPC has not been able to confirm which was shown on either occasion.

In addition, the IOPC has taken statements from several MPs and former civil servants who attended one or more of the meetings under investigation for this term of reference.

 

  1. After the IOPC announced its investigation into the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster, it received a number of complaints relating to police interaction with MPs. These came from supporters who had been at the game and survived the disaster, and from family members of those who died, and focused on three events.
     
    • The visit of the then Prime Minister, Mrs Thatcher, to Sheffield the day after the disaster, and what information officers gave her and her advisers during it.
    • A South Yorkshire Police Federation meeting on 3 October 1989, where numerous police officers told Mr Shersby that they had been prevented from giving evidence about supporter behaviour to the Taylor Inquiry. At the time, Mr Shersby was the parliamentary advisor to the Police Federation for England and Wales. At the meeting, these officers (who were not named in the meeting notes) recounted their experiences on the day of the disaster. Several expressly stated that they hoped Mr Shersby could use their accounts in parliamentary debates relating to the disaster.
    • A visit to Parliament by Chief Inspector Norman Bettison (Ch Insp Bettison) of SYP on 8 November 1989, where he gave a video presentation to 12 MPs about the disaster. Complaints referred to both the act of going to Parliament in this way, and the content of the video.
       
  2. The three incidents above were all referred to in the HIP Report. The central allegation around them was that on each occasion, SYP officers were seeking to influence MPs’ understanding of the disaster and to draw attention to the behaviour of supporters.
     
  3. The IOPC investigated each incident further, interviewing as many of those who were present as possible—including the police officers involved—to gather their recollections. In each case, investigators sought first to establish what information officers gave to MPs, as a step to assessing whether this was inappropriate or inaccurate. 
     
  4. Ten current or former MPs provided statements; a further four responded to the IOPC by email or telephone to state they had no recollection of the specific incident. In addition, the IOPC contacted and, where appropriate, took statements from civil servants and MPs’ staff who were identified as potentially having relevant information regarding this strand of the investigation. These included press officers and advisers to Mrs Thatcher.