New details about the Stephen Lawrence inquiry show No10 has long feared direct change will upset the rightwing press
It’s rare that the quiet part is said out loud in British politics: the thing that arrives in a chilling soundbite a politician has let slip, or in correspondence leaked many years after those who wrote it leave power. If you have ever, for example, scoffed at the idea that the rightwing press has a hold on British politics, particularly over the Labour party, then an incident that took place 20 years ago may still your rolling eyes.
Last week we learned that after Stephen Lawrence’s murder Tony Blair‘s Downing Street initially opposed an inquiry into police relations with minority ethnic communities.
Nesrine Malik is a Guardian columnist