Top officer misled MPs on policing of protest

Commander Bob Broadhurst said the information was “true to the best of my knowledge at the time” but it has since emerged that both plain-clothes and covert officers were deployed during the protests.

Giving evidence to MPs a month after the protests, in which thousands of demonstrators clashed with police in London in 2009, the senior Scotland Yard officer insisted there were no plain-clothes officers among the crowd.

But questions arose about his evidence in the wake of the unmasking of undercover officer Mark Kennedy, who attended many demonstrations during seven years living as a spy among green activists.

Mr Broadhurst’s admission raised questions over how the so-called “gold commander” in charge of the protests could be unaware that covert officers from his own force were being used.

Mr Broadhurst was also unaware that plain-clothes officers from the City of London Police were deployed at observation posts.

Metropolitan Police Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin, who also apologised to the MPs, defended his commander’s actions, saying inquiries into what went wrong were under way.

Mr Broadhurst told the MPs: “May I first of all apologise.

“When I appeared before you on May 19, 2009, I gave you some information that now appears to be inaccurate. For that, I apologise, but at the time I made it, it was true to the best of my knowledge, otherwise I certainly would not have said it at the time.”

But the Met stood by Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson’s assurance that the force did not use “agents provocateurs” – undercover officers actively fomenting unrest – at the protests around the 2009 summit of world leaders.