# Involvement of Politics

see e.g.:

- Tony Blair
- Gordon Brown
- David Cameron
- Royal Family
- Jose Socrates (P)

see also Wikipedia →Response_to_the_disappearance_of_Madeleine_McCann

“The Portuguese Ambassador in London, António Santana Carlos said on 8 May 2007 that the case was of ”great concern“ to Portugal and asked people to trust the police, amidst growing criticism of their handling of the case. President →Aníbal Cavaco Silva announced on 9 May that he was following the case ”with great concern“, adding that the police were “doing everything to find the child alive.” On 9 May, Tony Blair's spokesperson said that the then Prime Minister was following the case closely and that ”we are helping in whatever way we can“. On 16 May, coinciding with the launch of the fighting fund, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown delivered a similar message to relatives of Madeleine. Former Deputy Prime Minister →John Prescott also commented on the case, saying at Prime Minister's Question Time ”I'm sure that the thoughts of the whole House will be with them at this terrible time.“ On 26 May, a spokesman for the McCann family confirmed that Gordon Brown had telephoned the McCanns. Though the spokesman stated that the details of the conversations would remain private, he did confirm that ”During them, Mr Brown offered both Gerry and Kate his full support in their efforts to find Madeleine.“ In late September Foreign Secretary →David Miliband telephoned Gerry. The German Justice Minister, →Brigitte Zypries, said at a meeting of G8 justice ministers in Munich on 3 June, that it should be assumed that Madeleine had been abducted by a gang that passes on children to be abused. But the Portuguese prime minister, José Sócrates, praised investigators in September 2007, following criticism in the British media of the police handling of the case. Sócrates said that he had total confidence in the work carried out by the Portuguese police.”

From point zero political support: →British Ambassador John Buck media conference May 4 2007 via Murdoch's SkyNews

In 2007, the Express published an article about the McCanns:

Madeleine: British Diplomat had doubts about McCanns, Daily Express, 3 December 2007 (Source →no longer on-line):

A British diplomat warned the Foreign Office of concerns regarding Madeleine McCann’s parents, it emerged last night. Doubts about Kate and Gerry McCann were raised almost immediately by an official sent to Praia da Luz due to what he considered to be “inconsistencies” in the couple’s testimonies about the night the four-year-old vanished. The warning was contained in a classified document sent from the Algarve to the Foreign Office days after Madeleine’s disappearance. Details of the letter have been leaked through the British diplomatic mission in Brussels to the respected Belgian newspaper Derniere Heure. The unnamed diplomat voices his concern about the “confused declarations” as to the whereabouts of Kate and Gerry McCann and their friends in the final hours before Madeleine’s disappearance. He also mentions the couple’s “lack of co-operation” with the Portuguese police in the light of instructions from London suggesting consular staff “overstretch their authority and put pressure on the Portuguese authorities”. The document also asks for confirmation of orders sent by the Foreign Office in London the day before, commanding embassy staff to give “all possible assistance to the McCann couple”.

See also →Esther McVey (Wikipedia)

WP: A longstanding friend of Kate McCann, McVey helped her family set up the Madeleine McCann Fund and remained part of the board for eight months.

The Text from 9-May-2007 reads: “Ester McVey, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate: A petition has started today to lobby the British and Portuguese Governments for gretaer transparency into the investigations and to push for a dual investigation between the Portuguese and British Authorities.”

Schoolfriend of Kate McCann, BBC Presenter, Conservative Candidate 2005, Conservative MP 2010, Minister under Cameron since 2013. Spokeswomen for the first eight months for the Madeleine Fund.

McCannFiles: →Esther McVey is a long-time friend of Kate McCann and was spokesperson for Madeleine's Fund from its launch in May 2007. Esther and Kate first met in 1986, when they were both 18, at the North East Technical College in West Derby [in Liverpool], where they were studying A-levels together. She joined the board of Madeleine's Fund on 20 June 2007 and continued her role as spokesperson for the Fund until her resignation, announced in January 2008. Ms McVey has remained resolutely tight-lipped as to the reason, or reasons, behind her resignation - a rather ironic position, considering her former roles in the media/PR. She is currently the Conservative MP for Wirral West and the minister for disabled people. Her own website, on which she once displayed an online petition in support of the McCanns, now contains no mention of Madeleine McCann at all.

see also information at →Freedom of Information (and source →WhatDoTheyKnow)