From Miror Forum (Jan 2 2008) (MF closed about 3 weeks later while a 'Home Office ' thread was being discussed iirc)http://msngroup.aimoo.com/madeleinemccann/mfthreads.msnw-action=get_message&mview=0&ID_Message=343&LastModified=4675662798241370586.htmthe full "Preparing the Nation" CM article, courtesy of "kazlux" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [quote="kazlux"]Correio da Manhã 20 October 2007Madeleine McCann Case The conversation between Gordon Brown and José Sócrates, referred to the day before yesterday by the British Prime Minister in a press conference after the EU Summit in Lisbon, is causing discomfort within the PJ and the magistrate. There are many voices criticizing what looks to be political pressure on a judicial means, even though various sources guarantee that absolutely no special indication [pressure] has been placed on the Judiciary with the last hours by the office of the Justice Ministry. Police sources explain the government intervention with the fact that the case has political contours in England, as opposed to our country, where the story has always been a police matter. Which, in fact, has always been apparent since the first hour, a hypothesis founded on the dispatch of Clarence Mitchell to Portugal at the time when he was one of Gordon Brown’s right-arms in the opposition. Afterwards, in the midst of his campaign as Prime Minister, Gorden [sic] Brown also used the McCann case as a political flag, making support for the couple public and noteworthy. A situation which continued during the first months and resulted in several heads of States, including the Pope, to officially receive the parents of the British girl. The hypothesis of the parent’s involvement has become uncomfortable for the British, who prefer to prepare the public opinion for a possible about-face. Which could explain the reason, according to sources contacted by CM, that the English Prime Minister asked José Sócrates [to ensure] that the analysis results were not known in advance in Portugal. The English “instruction‿will go, as well, to Alípio Riberio, PJ Director. He will have ordered the investigators sent to the Algarve [to exercise] utmost discretion in the investigations, in order to avoid the information leaks of the past. Again according to what CM could discover, the Lisbon investigators continue to re-read the process, trying to find open points in the investigation and new angles to pursue.  feel it; with that television statement, the national director has the intention of preparing public opinion for the inevitable, that is to say, the end of the investigation and the closing of the case. I get the impression that that decision was hatched on October 2nd and that all actions taken after that date were only a matter of form, with the sole purpose of sticking to the pre-established schedule. I fear that challenging all the previous work of the investigation is only a pretext for closing a case that was beginning to undermine the police judiciaire, the investigators and Portugal. Perhaps that was why it had to come to a close. Placing Madeleine's parents under investigation - Kate Healy and Gerald McCann as arguidos - must have marked a turning point in relations between the police in charge of the investigation and the couple. The Portuguese police officers began to consider the McCanns as potential suspects, which their British counterparts did not. At that time, the two police forces seemed to agree about exploring the hypothesis of the child's death inside the apartment. But the English police - without any really practical justification - suddenly stepped back and gave up on following that track. We have always found it strange the way the couple were treated, even after they were placed under investigation, and we have often wondered how the McCanns could have had access to information that had not been made public. This is the {google} translation of the post here in the mirror forum, which was quoted on a Dutch forum, but I can't find the original article because I don't speak Portugese The original was in CM.  [quote]In a Portuguese newspaper writes today about that meeting between PM Gordon Brown and José Sócrates, Prime Minister of Portugal: "The hypothesis that the parents are involved (in the disappearance) has been an uncomfortable one for the British (govt) who prefer to have some time to prepare public opinion for a turnaround. According to sources contacted by the CM, this could explain the reason why the British Prime Minister Jose Socrates has asked that the results of the tests (from Birmingham) are not immediately published in Portugal[/quote]