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1 1 Monday, 26 April 2021 2 (12.00 pm) 3 MR FERNANDES: Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to 4 the first day of evidential hearings in Tranche 1 5 Phase 2 of the Undercover Policing Inquiry. My name is 6 Neil Fernandes, and I am the hearings manager. 7 For those of you in the virtual hearing room, please 8 turn off both your camera and microphone, unless you are 9 invited to speak by the Chairman, as Zoom will pick up 10 on all noises and you will be on screen. 11 I now hand over to the Chairman, Sir John Mitting, 12 to formally start proceedings. 13 Chairman. 14 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 15 At the beginning of this evidential session, as at 16 the beginning of every evidential session, a recording 17 made by me last year is going to be played. For those 18 listening to it for the first time, could you please 19 listen carefully: 20 "I am conducting this Inquiry under a statute, 21 the Inquiries Act 2005, which gives me the power to make 22 orders regulating the conduct of the Inquiry, including 23 its hearings. In the exercise of that power, I have 24 made a number of orders which affect what you may and 25 may not do in the hearing rooms and after you leave 2 1 them. Breach of any of the orders is a serious matter 2 and may have serious consequences for you. 3 If I am satisfied that a person may have breached an 4 order, I have the power to certify the matter to 5 the High Court, which will investigate and deal with it 6 as if it had been a contempt of that court. If 7 satisfied that a breach has occurred and merits 8 the imposition of a penalty, the High Court may impose 9 a severe sanction on the person in breach, including 10 a fine, imprisonment for up to two years and 11 sequestration of their assets. 12 Evidence is going to be given live over screens in 13 the hearing rooms. It is strictly prohibited to 14 photograph or record what is shown on the screens, or to 15 record what is said by a witness or anyone else in 16 the hearing rooms. You may bring your mobile telephone 17 into the hearing rooms, but you may not use it for any 18 of those purposes. 19 You may use it silently for any other purposes. In 20 particular, you may transmit your account of what you 21 have seen and heard in a hearing room to any other 22 person, but only once at least ten minutes have elapsed 23 since the event which you are describing took place. 24 This restriction has a purpose. In the course of 25 the Inquiry, I have made orders prohibiting the public 3 1 disclosure of information, for example about 2 the identity of a person, for a variety of reasons. 3 These orders must be upheld. It is inevitable that, 4 whether by accident or design, information which I have 5 ordered should not be publicly disclosed will sometimes 6 be disclosed in a hearing. If and when that happens, 7 I will immediately suspend the hearing and make an order 8 prohibiting further disclosure of the information 9 outside the hearing rooms. The consequence will be that 10 no further disclosure of that information may be made by 11 mobile telephone or other portable electronic device 12 from within the hearing room, or by any means outside 13 it. 14 I'm sorry if you find this message alarming, it is 15 not intended to be. Its purpose is simply to ensure 16 that everybody knows the rules which must apply if I am 17 to hear the evidence which I need to enable me to get to 18 the truth about undercover policing. You, as members of 19 the public, are entitled to hear the same public 20 evidence as I will hear, and to reach your own 21 conclusions about it. The Inquiry team will do their 22 best to ensure that you can. 23 If you have any doubt about the terms of this 24 message, or what you may or may not do, you should not 25 hesitate to ask one of them and, with my help if 4 1 necessary, they will provide you with the answer. 2 Thank you. We are now going to hear the evidence of 3 Diane Langford. 4 MS DIANE LANGFORD (called) 5 THE CHAIRMAN: Ms Langford, I can see you on the screen. 6 Can you hear me? 7 A. Okay, I've unmuted myself. Can you hear me? 8 THE CHAIRMAN: I can now. Well done. 9 A. Oh good. 10 THE CHAIRMAN: First of all, you must be sworn or affirmed, 11 or in some manner acknowledge that the evidence that you 12 will give will be the truth. 13 May that now be done, please, Mr Fernandes. 14 (Witness affirmed) 15 MR FERNANDES: Thank you, Ms Langford. 16 Chairman. 17 THE CHAIRMAN: Thank you. 18 Ms Wilkinson. 19 Questions by MS WILKINSON 20 MS WILKINSON: Your full name is Ms Diane Langford. Are you 21 content if I refer to you as "Ms Langford"? 22 A. Yes, I am. 23 Q. Amongst your many politically active roles, in 1970 you 24 co-founded the Women's Liberation Front, and state your 25 political priority over the past 50 years to have been 5 1 the liberation of women from all forms of oppression and 2 exploitation. 3 You are also, for the Inquiry's purposes, 4 the witness most able to assist with the political views 5 and aims of Abhimanyu Manchanda, whom you married in 6 January 1970, and with whom you had a child later that 7 year; is that correct? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. I'm just going to move up to full screen there. 10 You have provided the Inquiry with a thorough and 11 detailed statement, dated 15 March 2021, which evidence 12 is now before the Inquiry and I understand is to be 13 published on its website today, together with five 14 exhibits that you produce. Is that statement true to 15 the best of your knowledge and belief? 16 A. Yes, it is. 17 Q. Today we'll highlight parts of your statement and look 18 at the context of your political activism and that of 19 Mr Manchanda, and consider some examples of 20 the undercover policing reporting about you in 21 that context. And you will appreciate that I have to 22 cover questions submitted by a range of 23 core participants who have all had an opportunity to ask 24 about different aspects of your evidence as it affects 25 their case. 6 1 If at any stage you need a break, or you have any 2 query about something I've said, or you don't understand 3 something I've said, please feel free to pause and ask. 4 A. Thank you. 5 Q. You were born in New Zealand in 1941, and you witnessed 6 the effects of colonialism and racism on the indigenous 7 people there; is that right? 8 A. Yes. 9 Q. Your brothers received a university education but less 10 importance was placed on your education -- 11 A. Yes. 12 Q. -- so by the age of 15, you were working in a factory? 13 A. Yes. 14 Q. But you continued to study, and you studied in 15 the evenings, and you studied using a correspondence 16 course? 17 A. That's correct. 18 Q. And then you moved to London, to the UK, in 1963 with 19 your younger brother, who himself was to continue 20 studying; and you found at that stage the shift from 21 the strict segregation that you'd experienced in 22 New Zealand to the life in the thriving multi-cultural 23 city of London to be exciting and inspiring? 24 A. Yes. 25 Q. Then it was in 1965 that Malcolm X was assassinated, and 7 1 you yourself experienced two significant instances of 2 personal trauma, which led you to reflect on issues of 3 racism and sexism, and spurred you into your first 4 involvement in political activism? 5 A. That is correct. 6 Q. By October 1968, then, you were a volunteer at 7 the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination, and had also 8 joined the print union, NATSOPA, working as an 9 active trade union member by then? 10 A. Yes. 11 Q. And it was following the October 1968 demonstration 12 against the Vietnam War that you joined 13 the British-Vietnam Solidarity Front, where you first 14 met Abhimanyu Manchanda, the group's chairman? 15 A. Yes, except that it's called the "Britain-Vietnam 16 Solidarity" -- sorry to quibble, but I know that wrong 17 thing got into my statement, but it's "Britain". 18 Q. Britain-Vietnam Solidarity Front? 19 A. Yes. 20 Q. Have I said that correctly? 21 A. Yes. It's a grammatical point really. 22 Q. Now might be a good opportunity to have a look at 23 the first reporting that we see from the SDS officers 24 about you bearing your name and in the context of that 25 group; we'll see the name written there: 8 1 Britain-Vietnam Solidarity Front. Can we bring up 2 report {MPS/732690}. And Ms Langford, that will appear 3 on the screen in front of you -- 4 A.