10 10 2005
The media is continuing to protect Blair from the exposure of
scandal in his family life. Interestingly, those in the media who complain of the BBC's softness towards Blair and his government are as ready as any to suppress the story of his daughter's attempted suicide in April 2004.

Following John Kampfner's recent New Statesman article "A very corporate loss of nerve" and the BBC's DG Mark Thompson's declaration that the BBC suppressed nothing about Blair or NuLabour, I wrote to Mark Thompson and every senior BBC executive involved in news and current affairs (with copies to every BBC governor) pointing out that the BBC had been suppressing a story of profound public interest, Kathryn Blair's attempted suicide. The letter is below. It elicited not a single reply.

I also wrote to Kampfner with a copy of what I had sent to Thompson et al - copy below. To date he has also not replied or as far as I know used the material. .

Apart from the hypocrisy involved, the fact that the entire British mainstream media are willing to censor in the Blair interest is extremely sinister. One almost suspects that a D Notice has been issued.


John Kampfner
New Statesman

Dear Mr Kampfner,

I have read your article on the BBC. The material below will give you
the heads of Mark Thompson and the rest of the BBC political staff and
Governors on a plate.

You may make public and circulate any of the material I send you.

If I can be of further assistance please contact me.

Yours sincerely,


Robert Henderson





Mark Thompson
Director General
BBC
10 10 2005

cc John Kampfner
Each BBC governor
Richard Sambrook
Helen Boaden
Nick Robinson
Andrew Marr
Peter Horrocks

Dear Mr Thompson,

In response to John Kampfner's recent New Statesman article "A very
corporate loss of nerve " accusing the BBC of going soft on Blair and
New Labour, you are reported as saying:

"There has not been a single example of me, Mark Byford, any of the
other senior editors of the BBC, the BBC chairman or anyone else inside
the BBC trying to censor or soften anything. On the contrary, we all
emphasise the need for the BBC's journalism to be robust, courageous
and
right. I can't relate the claim of a 'loss of nerve' with the reality
of
the way we're reporting the news at all."

Not a single example eh? How about the failure of the BBC to report the
attempted suicide of Blair's daughter in April 2004? As you will see
from the correspondence below, I have twice brought this failure to the
personal attention of Michael Grade and once to every governor.

Please write to me and explain why this story has been suppressed and
how such suppression fits with your words quoted above.

I enclose at the bottom of this email a short summary of what has
happened.

Your sincerely,


Robert Henderson







26 5 2005

Mr Michael Grade
Chairman
BBC Board of Governors
35 Marylebone High Street
London W1 1AA

cc Gillian Reynolds
VLV
CPBF
Dear Mr Grade

Yesterday, during your address to the Voice of Viewer and
Listener Spring Conference (VLV), you claimed that the BBC
is
politically independent. This prompted me to ask you how
you squared that claim with the fact that the BBC has not
reported the alleged failed suicide bid of the Blairs'
daughter, Kathryn, last year.

You said in reply that you had no knowledge of the attempted
suicide. This I found more than a little surprising because
the story is well known throughout politics and the political
media. It is also all over the internet. However, be that as
it may, what you obviously need to do now that you have been
told about it is investigate the matter. You can do this
simply by putting "Blair daughter suicide bid" into Google.
Thousands of matches come up - I suggest you use the advanced
search and ask for the words "Blair daughter suicide bid"
in full to make the number manageable.

When you have done that, ask your political editor Andrew
Marr whether he was aware of the story. If he says not, he
needs to explain why he was not on top of it. If Marr admits
he did know the story, he needs to explain why he and his
staff have not broken it. When you have ascertained Marr's
position, please write to me and explain what that position
is.

Having done this, I expect you to take steps to bring this
story immediately to the public so that they may have the
information before polling day. I suggest you reflect on
the fact that more than 100 people are witnesses to the fact
that I asked the question and to your reply. The exchanges
were also recorded because the conference was recorded.
Thus, the probability is that this story will emerge at some
time and you will have to account for your behaviour if the
story has not been put before the public before 5 May by the
BBC.

This story is absolutely in the public interest. Such an
attempt, if it occurred, would have profound implications for
Blair's state of mind and the public is entitled to know the
pressures the PM is under. If it did happen and if it was
engendered by bullying related to the illegal war in Iraq,
then the effect on Blair will have been even more profound
because his daughter's anguish is a direct result of one of
his policies.

Yours sincerely,


Robert Henderson


BBC Governance Unit
British Broadcasting Corporation room 211,
35 Marylebone High St, London W1U 4AA

Tel: 020 7208 9666 Fax 020 7208 9670

Dear Mr Henderson,

Thank you for your letter of 26 May (sic - April) to Michael
Grade. I am responding on his behalf.

The question you raised at the VLV Seminar on 25 April
relating to the Prime Minister's daughter is not one which
the BBC Chairman will respond to in public or via
correspondence.

Yours Sincerely


Tina Stowell
Head of Communications




Note: I managed to get the email below delivered to ten governors,
viz:

 michael.grade@bbc.co.uk,
 anthony.salz@bbc.co.uk, deborah.bull@bbc.co.uk,
 andrew.burns@bbc.co.uk, dermot.gleeson@bbc.co.uk,
 merfyn.jones@bbc.co.uk,
,
 jeremy.peat@bbc.co.uk, angela.sarkis@bbc.co.uk, ranjit.sondhi@bbc.co.uk,ric
 hard.tait@bbc.co.uk

For some reason  fabian.monds@bbc.co.uk brought up the message person
unknown. RH


Subject: The Blair daughter's suicide attempt and BBC censorship




20 July 2005

To all BBC Governors

I attended the BBC Governor's "AGM" on 19th July. After the programme I
spoke with Michael Grade, Merfyn Jones, Fabian Monds, Angela Sarkis and
Ranjit Sondhi about the BBC's failure to report the story of the
Blair
daughter's suicide attempt in 2004 because she was being bullied at
school over the Iraq invasion. There was the clearest public interest
in
making this story public, not least because its publication would in
all
probability have forced Blair's resignation - throughout the summer of
204 there were persistent media rumours of a Blair resignation.

I had previously raised this matter with Michael Grade at the April
2005 Voice of the Viewer and Listeners Spring Conference - see my
correspondence with him and Gillian Reynolds below.

When I tackled Mr Grade yesterday he tried to make a joke of it. My
question to him was "Do you doubt the truth of the story?" He refused
to
answer. 'nuff said. No one refuses to answer yes or no where they have
nothing to hide.

Any political journalist will tell you off the record that the Blair
daughter story is true. The general media blackout suggests that a D
Notice has been issued to keep this story out of the public fold. If
so, that is an abuse of the system which the BBC should not play along
with.

.The BBC does not have any general trouble with reporting teenage girl
suicides - see at the end of the email the BBC's coverage of Rebecca
Ling, the girl who survived a suicide pact in 2004. - there was no
public interest in Rebecca's case. That they refused to reveal the
Blair
daughter's attempt can only be explained by a deliberate decision to
protect him or a D Notice. Either way, where is the public's right to
know?

I call upon you all to bring the story to the public and demand
Michael
Grade's resignation.

Yours sincerely,



Robert Henderson
.


Response to my letter to the Governors. The previous letter said
the same as this one. RH

BBC
Room 211
35 Marylebone High Street
London W1 1AA
Tel: 0207 7208 9666
Fax: 0207 208 9670

22 July 2005

Robert Henderson
156 Levita House
Chalton Street
London NW1 1HR


Dear Mr Henderson,

Thank you for your letter to the Board of Governors. The
BBC's position remains the same as in my previous letter.

Yours Sincerely

Tina Stowell


Complaint made via the BBC Governors' website

28 July 2005

cc Tom Leonard
(Daily Telegraph)

Dear Sirs, My complaint is about the BBC's censorship of the Blair
daughter's attempted suicide in April 2004, Michael Grade's response to
my bringing this to his attention and the Governors' general failure to
respond after I brought it to their attention, in five instances in
person. . As you will see from the correspondence below ,I first raised
this censorship with Michael Grade at the Viewers and Listeners Spring
Conference in April 2005. He did not merely fail to act upon the matter
he refused even to discuss it - see letter from Tina Stowell below.

I attended the Governors "AGM" at Television Centre on 19 July 2005. I
was unable to ask a question about the matter during the meeting
because
I was not called. However, after the meeting I spoke with Mr Grade and
five other Governors about the matter - see account below. Mr Grade
attempted to laugh the matter off but the other five Governors agreed
to
look into the matter if I sent them further details. This I did on 20
July 2005 - see below. I again received a letter from Tina Stowell (22
July 2005)refusing even to discuss the matter - see below.

My complaints are these:
1. The BBC has censored the story of the Blair daughter's suicide.
2. The Chairman has been complicit in this censorship.3. The BBC has
twice failed to address a complaint by me in a meaningful fashion -
refusing to answer a
complaint is by definition a
failure to address the complaint.

Yours sincerely

Robert Henderson




26 8 2005
cc Tom Leonard (Daily Telegraph)

Dear Sirs, I sent the complaint below on 28 July 2005. I have had no
reply. A month is more than adequate to answer a complaint. Please
reply
by return. Yours Sincerely Robert Henderson
--


Note: During the R5 morning phone in programme of 3 May hosted by
Victoria Derbyshire), I managed to bring up the alleged attempted
suicide of Kathryn Blair in the Spring of 2004 at around 11.20 am
(those
unfamiliar with the story should put BLAIR DAUGHTER SUICIDE BID into
Google to bring them up to speed).

Derbyshire's response to my raising the subject . was to say "We don't
know if that is true". I was then cut off before I could get an answer
to the question of why the BBC was censoring the story. RH




Published on Tony Gosling's website
 http://www.bilderberg.org/milne.htm#henderson and the Indymedia
website
.


The BBC and the public's right to know - a case study

Robert Henderson

The British media claims it is committed to informing the public. The
reality is that it frequently colludes with politicians to suppress
stories. A classic example is the attempted suicide of Blair's daughter
Kathryn in April 2004. Every single newspaper and broadcaster
(including the BBC) has refused to use the story.

The BBC as a public service broadcaster has a special obligation to put
anything of political interest before the public. Consequently, I have
twice confronted its chairman Michael Grade with the failure of the BBC
to run the story.

The first occasion was at the Viewers and Listeners Spring Conference
in April 2005. Grade claimed not to know the story, but refused to
discuss the matter. Later I wrote to him asking him to justify his
failure to make the story public. Grade did not reply but I received a
letter from the BBC's Head of communications Tina Stowell which ran
"The question you raised at the VLV Seminar on 25 April relating
to the Prime Minister's daughter is not one which the BBC Chairman
will respond to in public or via correspondence."

The second occasion was at the Governors "AGM" at Television Centre on
19 July 2005. After the programme, The Governors rashly mingled with
the audience. I managed to corner Grade for about five minutes and ask
him in front of plenty of witnesses why he had censored the story of
the Blair daughter's attempted suicide, especially after I had raised
the matter with him in April 2005 at the Voice of the Viewer and
Listeners Spring Conference. He tried to make a joke of it, but before
he escaped I asked him the following question: Do you believe the story
is true? He refused to answer. 'nuff said.

At the same meeting I lobbied four other Governors: Deborah Bull,
Merfyn Jones, Fabian Monds, Ranjit Sondhi and Angela Sarkis. Without
exception they all seemed painfully startled by the news. I got a
promise from each to look into the matter if I sent them the full
details. I wrote to them and the other Governors on 20 July 2005. None
have replied. Instead, I again received a letter from Tina Stowell
(22 July 2005). This ran "Thank you for your letter to the Board of
Governors. The BBC's position remains the same as in my previous
letter." I then submitted a formal complaint through the governors'
website of 28 July 2005. No reply has been received after a month.

During the BBC R5 morning phone in programme of 3 May hosted by
Victoria Derbyshire), I managed to bring up the attempted suicide of
Kathryn Blair. I was cut off almost immediately.

After the R5 episode I wrote to Feedback, the programme which
supposedly deals with listeners concerns with the BBC, asking them to
investigate the censorship. They have failed to do so.

That the media have no difficulty with reporting failed teenage
generally can be seen from the vivid example of Rebecca Ling, the
surviver of a suicide pact. Both at the time of the suicide pact and
during the inquest into the girl who died the BBC and every other
mainstream media outlet reported the story with her name, in depth and
sensationally. What is sauce for the Man on the Clapham omnibus gander
is sauce for the PM goose. It is not for the media to decided what they
will and w3ill not put before the public.

Politicians are by definition professional moralists because they tell
us how to live through the laws the pass and the moral judgements
theypublicly make. For that reason alone, in a democracy the electorate
need to know how their private lives match up to that which they ordain
for others.

But there are other good reasons. Blackmail is one and the effect on a
politicians mind and behaviour of traumatic events another. Clearly,
this event was such as to potentially at least destabilise Blair's
mental balance. As he is PM we all have a right to know.

The other sinister thing is the way that not one media outlet has
broken
ranks. It is what I call a sociological conspiracy. RH


--
Robert Henderson
Blair Scandal website:  http://www.geocities.com/blairscandal/
Personal website:  http://www.anywhere.demon.co.uk

--