Why are undercover police acting like such clowns?
How much of a danger to Britain, do we think, are the assorted members of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army?
This was a gang of environmental protesters-cum-circus performers whose activities merited monitoring by an undercover police officer, at a cost to you and me in the region of £250,000 a year.
The female covert officer, keen to stay under the radar, joined them in their clowning activities, donning face paint and, presumably, huge flappy shoes and red bloomers.
No joke: A report by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary revealed that an undercover police officer infiltrated the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army
There is no evidence, as yet, whether she went for a hand buzzer or water-firing flower, or if her car was prone to falling apart. We may learn later.
What we do have is footage of the officer running around Leeds City Centre playing a game of 'Tangle' in which the clowns joined hands in a circle. Other activities included games of cricket played with a feather duster - impractical I would have thought - and climbing up trees to shout "tickle the tree".
On one occasion the officer, in full clown disguise, was seen wiggling her bottom outside an MP's office.
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On another, the clowns appear to have attracted the attention of some uniformed officers when, in the midst of a protest, they set up a 'clown checkpoint' in the middle of the road.
I would have thought a simple 'move along please' or at worst arrest for blocking a public highway would have done the trick at this point.
What the objective of this sustained infiltration operation into the Clown Army was, one can only guess.
Certainly no senior officer has come forward to defend it. Perhaps the group was a spin off from the People's Rebel Clown Army - a gang notorious for their custard pie antics. Does police monitoring of these so-called 'domestic extremists' also extend to Anarchist trapeeze artists and Trotskyite ring masters?
Undercover: Mark Kennedy - known as Mark Stone - who conducted a series of affairs with eco-activists
Details of all this clowning about have emerged after one undercover copper, Mark Kennedy, went native and spilled the beans.
As a result, the slightly sinister sounding National Public Order Intelligence Unit can expect to be reined in. And not before time.
A report today by Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary today said officers should have independent authorisation before approving such clandestine operations. Quite right.
Is there any evidence this isn't just the usual rag tag band of lefties, anarchists and crusties who occupied and ranted and raved (and were ill kempt and slightly smelly) during my university days?
What danger they pose remains a mystery. At worst, some of them have sought to get at power stations and try to shut them down.
Well if a bunch of hapless lefties can undermine the country's power supply, our power plants clearly need better security, in case someone serious like a terrorist tried to get in and blow it up.
Serious domestic subversion, if there is any such thing, should be the responsibility of MI5.
The cops should go back to keeping the streets safe, something they've had a few problems with in the recent past.
HMIC says future operations should be pre-authorised by a surveillance commissioner, and that's all fine, but they tend to be a secretive bunch too. Wouldn't it be better if - as the likes of Liberty suggest - a judge had to give permission, or a senior politician, as with telephone tap approval?
And more broadly, isn't there a need for a wider inquiry into the senior ranks of the police officers in charge of all this snooping?
From all the evidence, those supervising these undercover activities were behaving like a hapless bunch of clowns themselves - while trampling all over civil liberties.