Mitting needle
Spy cops inquiry, Issue 1610 BAD news for m'learned friends, as the Home Office has finally insisted that the inquiry into the spy cops scandal must end by 2026, a mere 11 years after it started examining how a Metropolitan Police undercover unit tricked women into sexual relationships to infiltrate left-wing groups and justice campaigns.

Retired judge Sir John Mitting only managed to produce his first interim report this summer, eight years after the Undercover Policing Inquiry was set up in 2015 with an expectation of a final report three years later.

The inquiry has so far spent £70m, which means Mitting's 110-page interim report cost the taxpayer £636,000 per page and only covers the first spying period, from 1968 to 1982. There are five more stages for Mitting and his 90-strong team of lawyers and support staff to examine.

The next two spying periods – 1982-92 and 1992-2007 – are crucial, as many of the cops, politicians and captains of industry who used the intelligence to undermine civil claims for police brutality and to blacklist trades unionists are still alive. Yet, under the current timetable, the first of the remaining hearings won't start before July next year.

All talk
The first set of hearings managed to sit for just 64 days in eight years, of which only 29 days involved cops, spooks and victims actually giving evidence. The other 35 days were lawyers making opening and closing statements (17 days) or m'learned friends for the Met, MI5 and the Home Office asking Mitting to preserve the anonymity of undercover officers or withhold and redact documents (18 days).

One exasperated lawyer told the Eye: "Everything is a fight. We are moving at a snail's pace but it finally looks like Mitting is going to have to pull his finger out after the Home Office told a meeting on 27 September this has got to end by November 2026."

Home to roost
The Home Office is in a peculiar position, as it sponsors the inquiry but also funded the undercover unit, which started life as the Special Demonstration Squad and became the National Public Order Intelligence Unit.

Suspicious minds wonder if the Home Office is now keen on wrapping up the Undercover Policing Inquiry as matters move closer to its officials and political masters.