Opposition says GSLP in ‘serious denial’ over Openshaw Report  

The Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, said the Gibraltar Government was in “serious denial” about the Openshaw Report, accusing it of repeating a “falsehood of ‘exoneration’” and attempting to repackage the report’s findings.   

Mr Azopardi was speaking after Stephen Doughty, the UK’s Minister for Europe, last week said the report contains “extremely serious” and “deeply concerning” findings that must be “urgently addressed”.  

Mr Doughty was responding in the Commons after he was asked for the UK Government’s reaction to findings by Sir Peter Openshaw, the retired UK judge who chaired the McGrail Inquiry, that Chief Minister Fabian Picardo had attempted “grossly improper” and “sinister” interference in a live criminal investigation relating to national security.  

Mr Picardo told GBC he shared Mr Doughty’s concerns and that the report’s findings were not solely focused on him.  

“There’s nothing to suggest that the things that are being referred to as serious [by Mr Doughty] are just the things that refer to me personally, and those are subject to judicial review,” he told GBC.  

“There are many things there where people must, if they are objective, realise this is not just about Fabian Picardo.”  

He said the Government was already acting to swiftly implement the report’s recommendations dealing with the “extraordinarily serious issues” it had identified, “not all of which, indeed not many of which, relate to me”.  

“A lot relates to a lot of other things going on.”   

“Now, if people politically want to talk just about the things that relate to me and the sharp criticism of me, that is politically, of course, acceptable.”  

“But that is not to take the report and the issues that it raises seriously enough, because that's just to turn it into a political tool and a political weapon.”  

“Here we have an Inquiry report that can take us forward.”  

For the GSD, Mr Picardo’s position ignored the most serious findings to emerge from the McGrail Inquiry, which “are about him”.   

“Sir Peter Openshaw found that on repeated occasions Mr Picardo acted in a ‘grossly improper way’ and ‘attempted to interfere in a criminal investigation’,” Mr Azopardi said.  

“There are no findings more serious than that.”  

Mr Azopardi said it was “equally incredible” that Mr Picardo continued to shift focus from findings made by Sir Peter Openshaw to matters he said were not findings of the Inquiry, including allegations made by police whistleblowers that the chairman ruled were not relevant to his core task.  

He said the Government was “totally unwilling” to take the first step towards recognition and “accept the wrongdoing”.  

Mr Azopardi said Mr Picardo’s GBC interview was conducted in the wake of his filing of judicial review proceedings against Sir Peter Openshaw, which he described as part of a “continual denial of facts and refusal to learn lessons”.  

He added that, while Mr Picardo had insisted there were “very serious” findings against others, “no other core participant seems to have filed a judicial review against Sir Peter Openshaw and his findings”.  

Mr Azopardi said the judicial review, which he described as Mr Picardo’s “private law challenge in his own name”, would cost “the tax-payer significant sums”.  

“As his private legal jamboree, he should pay for it,” he said.  

Mr Azopardi also referred to statements by Mr Picardo in 2022 and 2023 that the Inquiry would establish “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”, and said it was now clear the Chief Minister was only willing to accept the “truth” if the Inquiry agreed with him “or he writes it himself”.  

He said it was “remarkable” to hear Mr Picardo say in the GBC interview that the “whole truth” had not yet been established.  

Mr Azopardi said Mr Picardo was “doing what Sir Peter Openshaw himself observed” by “making matters much worse” through repeated denials that he did anything wrong and by “repackaging the truth”.  

He said the support Mr Picardo received from other ministers showed they were “not the people to spearhead meaningful reform”.  

In a separate development on Monday, The Times published an article on the Inquiry report and the controversy around it including the calls for the Chief Minister’s resignation.  

It cited Mr McGrail describing a “David and Goliath situation” where “they were gunning for me”, but one from which he emerged with a “clear conscience”.  

“When you know you’ve done nothing wrong, it gives you strength,” he told the newspaper.   

“It was not right to be treated the way I was treated. The most important thing is my integrity, reputation and dignity.”   

The article also quoted the Chief Minister, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, as saying he had not objected to the Operation Delhi investigation but was angry that police used a heavy-handed search warrant to try and obtain documents from Hassans.  

Mr Picardo told the newspaper that Mr McGrail was “miscast” as “David in a battle with Goliath” because the matter was “much more nuanced”.  

The Times article also quoted Matt Parr, who served as Commander British Forces in Gibraltar from 2007 to 2009 and was later head of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary when it prepared a “shockingly bad” report on the RGP.  

The report was cited by Mr Picardo and the then Governor, Nick Pyle, as one of the reasons for their loss of confidence in Mr McGrail.  

Mr Parr told The Times the report was “never intended as a criticism of Ian McGrail personally”.  

He added that in his seven years as an inspector he had “never seen as blatant a case of inappropriate political interference in policing as this”.  

“It is an interesting dilemma for the UK, which is responsible for good order and correct governance,” Mr Parr told The Times.   

“Under what circumstance would the UK be willing to act?”