Westminster Blog

Everyone loves a good conspiracy theory. This one comes from Craig Murray, the outspoken former ambassador to Uzbekistan, who asks, “What’s in a name?”

Quite a lot, it would seem, as far as the Metropolitan Police is concerned.

The Met’s investigations into hacking and payments by journalists to police are called, respectively, Operations Weeting and Elveden. But why?

Apparently Elveden is famous among people in Norfolk as a bottleneck on the A11 at which drivers can get stuck for hours. According to Murray, “Elveden means no progress.” What’s more, the name of another nearby village is – you’ve guessed it – Weeting.

Of course, it might just be a coincidence, just as it might be a coincidence that Andy Hayman was chief constable in Norfolk before moving to the Met.

*This post was corrected to indicate that Andy Hayman, not John Yates, was previously chief constable at Norfolk Police.

UPDATE – Matt Hancock, up and coming Tory MP and MP for Elveden, no less, emails to point out the government is adding an extra lane to get the traffic flowing on the A11 around Elveden.