Following the Militant Islamist terrorist bombing of London's public transport system on 7 July 2005, a press conference was held the same day to clarify the details of what are now known to be four bombs. Police confirmed that there are at least 49 deaths, 150 people seriously injured and 300 treated for minor injuries.

Detective Assistant Commissioner (DAC) Brian Paddick, Britain's' second-ranking policeman and first openly gay officer at such a senior level, said: "We are appalled at what has happened today but not surprised. That is why we had a full-scale emergency plan in place and why it worked so well today. But it's a very sad day that we had to put these plans into action."

Asked if he believed "Islamic Terrorists" were to blame, DAC Paddick said: "The words Islamic and terrorist are not something I recognise as going together. There may be people who say they are Muslims involved in this sort of thing but it is totally against what I believe to be the Islamic faith. Any person who professes to be Islamic and who preaches terrorism is not truly a follower of Islam."

Brian Paddick is clearly infected with the virus of political correctness now endemic in the Metropolitan Police, as he refuses to name the threat in our midst if this threat is from the black or minority ethnic communities or, especially, the Muslim communities.

The following article published by BBC News Online on 25 March 2002, 'Gay Cop's personal life revealed', by Ruki Sayid and Lorraine Fisher, details Paddick's coming out process:

It was the toughest decision gay Brian Paddick has ever had to make - to "come out" or continue living a lie with his wife. Commander Paddick had been married for five years to devoted Mary, now 39, when the pressure to be true to himself became too much to bear.

He knew Mary would be devastated. But he also knew he could harbour his secret no longer. Clearly uncomfortable with the memory, still fresh after 13 years, he said: "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

"After five years of marriage and trying everything I could to overcome my feelings, I had to admit to myself and my wife that I was gay. Finally, at the age of 30 I had the courage to accept who I was. It was a relief to be able to tell Mary. She was marvellous about it. She was incredibly supportive of me then and still is now."

Even as a schoolboy Commander Paddick knew he was gay. But, he confessed, he did not know what to do about it. Determined to succeed at his all boys grammar school in Surrey he played "macho" contact sports like rugby, was captain of the swimming team and became deputy head prefect.

Immaculately dressed in a crisp white shirt, purple tie, Gucci suit and silver buckled Gucci belt, he said: "At the time I thought maybe homosexuality was a phase I was going through. I was fighting it. I guess the thing I most wanted to be was straight. I tried to be no different to anybody else and thought I'd blended in. The moment I realised all the other boys suspected I was gay was during an A-level chemistry class when someone asked what homogeneous meant. I explained 'homo' meant 'one', and one of the students replied rather sarcastically 'Well, you should know all about that'. It was the first inkling I had that others thought I was gay."

Commander Paddick was 30 when he told Mary the truth. But it would be another 10 years before he "came out" at work although rumours about his sexuality were rife in the Met. Boyishly handsome with salt and pepper hair, a lean frame and stylish dress sense the 43-year-old commander could not be further from the conventional image of a senior police officer.

His present troubles began after his former lover Frenchman James Renolleau, 36, cashed in on a sordid "kiss and tell" deal about their five year affair which ended in 2000. Renolleau's betrayal - for which he is reported to have been paid £100,000 - has led to the Commander being investigated over a string of allegations. They include claims that he smoked cannabis, allowed the drug to be smoked in his house and failed to tell a superior that he had started a relationship with someone who was on bail - as Renolleau was at the time.

Commander Paddick emphatically denies the accusation of smoking cannabis and is legally bound not to comment about further claims. Publicly, he is stoical and refuses to condemn the man who has caused him so much pain. Privately, he is furious. He said: "James really hurt me with his story. But I can't bring myself to run him down even though he has said a lot of things about me. I believed we were in an honest and caring relationship. This was a man I shared five years of my life with. I'm determined to retain my dignity.

"People say I have brought all this on myself by choosing the wrong partner. But how many other people have done that? I made a serious error of judgement. But that's no crime, is it?" A wry smile played round his lips as he added: "They say it's better to have loved and lost than never loved at all."

It is not the first time Commander Paddick has faced potentially damaging accusations. For several years, he revealed, an unknown enemy has made him the target of a string of spiteful, and untrue, allegations. He was falsely accused of wrongful use of a police car and knowing a cocaine dealer. Looking strained after a week of intense public scrutiny, he said: "I know there's someone making unfounded allegations against me, taking half truths and making them sound like fact."

He blames his troubles on a small number of anti-gay colleagues and sections of the press who hate his liberal policies. The commander said: "They can't attack my police record. When I was borough commander in Merton we had some of the best crime reduction figures in London. They also find it difficult to criticise my approach to drugs because recent independent reports have backed me. So the only thing left to undermine me is my private life, to pay an extraordinarily large amount of money to James to say the things he's said. When people go to a newspaper and reveal how I bought Clarins and Clinique skin care products, you have to laugh, don't you? What has the fact that I use any brand of cosmetics got to do with my ability to lead successfully a team of 1,200 people in the battle against robbery and drugs?"

Despite criticism of his sexuality Commander Paddick has been surprised to discover there are more homophobes outside the force than within it. He said he has rarely been ridiculed or made to feel uneasy. Once a commanding officer, seeing him read a police magazine about gays in the force, told him: "There's a lot of them out there, Brian." His taut features relaxed at the memory and, laughing, he said: "I hadn't come out at that stage and felt like saying 'There's an awful lot of them in here too, sir'.

"There's no question that there is homophobia in the police service - and, I'm sure, at every level - just as there is homophobia within society as a whole. There have been instances of homophobic bullying of gay officers even in Lambeth with me as an openly gay commander. But I have to say that attitudes in the police are far more tolerant and more liberal than society in general. The progress that the Met has made in tackling racism, sexism and homophobia has been quite remarkable. Even five years ago I'd never have dreamt of making public my sexuality. That shows how much improvement there has been. You'll always get a minority who are racist, sexist and homophobic. What gives me encouragement is that it tends to be the same people who are all three."

Despite the additional pressure of Renolleau's claims Commander Paddick - an Oxford graduate with a 2:1 degree in politics, philosophy and economics - remains undaunted. He said: "Life can be a real roller coaster. But it's much more exciting to be on the roller coaster than standing and watching." He is worried, however, that Renolleau's claims to a Sunday tabloid have undermined his ground-breaking work.

The commander said: "I deeply regret that the incredible success in bringing down crime in Lambeth, and improving relations between police and the community, has been overshadowed by all this business. It looks like there's a war on. I'm trying to convince people to look at the world differently but people don't like change. Although the Lambeth experiment is working well, it's difficult to convince other leading officers to take it up. What people should be interested in is my ability to do my job. I want to be judged as a professional police officer, not by an irrelevant sideshow."

Commander Paddick, whose grandfather was a policeman, said joining the force was "all I ever wanted to do". Despite attempts to discredit him, the dedicated officer has the full support of Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens, his own officers and Lambeth residents. He has been touched by public opinion in his favour and tickled by posters around Lambeth demanding his return. One, a spoof of the Monty Python film The Life Of Brian, reads: "The Life Of Brian - reinstate Paddick. He's not a very naughty boy, he's the Messiah." The commander said: "I can't believe that people who normally don't co-operate with police are putting up posters and signing petitions saying they want me back. "It's extraordinary and humbling to have that strength of feeling behind me."

Whilst FlameOut initially welcomed Paddick's appointment as DAC, despite severe misgivings concerning his dangerous and misguided softly softly approach to cannabis, and self-proclaimed attraction to anarchism, we now feel he is a danger to the public with his blinkered view of Militant Islam. For him to claim, as he does: "The words Islamic and terrorist are not something I recognise as going together. There may be people who say they are Muslims involved in this sort of thing but it is totally against what I believe to be the Islamic faith. Any person who professes to be Islamic and who preaches terrorism is not truly a follower of Islam", indicates his utter misunderstanding and misreading of Militant Islam and his inability to comprehend the Jihadic imperatives clearly laid down in the Quran and Hadiths, all in the name of political correctness gone mad.

In his own words above: "I made a serious error of judgment. But that's no crime, is it?"

Well, actually, it may not be a crime, but it will lead to terrorists in our midst being masked as a result.
An Islamic terror group claimed responsibility for the outrages that have brought chaos to central London. The adherents of Islam claim that it is a religion of peace. The small extremist minority that can out such murderous attacks show quite the opposite. This alien creed breeds disaffection, hatred and violence. Almost every global conflict taking place today is where this "peaceful" religion is trying to assume or maintain influence and power. From Nigeria through to Chad and Sudan and northwards through the Middle East and into the Caucasus, lie battle zones where Islamics are fighting non-believers.

Today as a consequence of the horrific murders of commuters and holidaymakers in our national capital, to that blood stained green crescent of death can be added London's name.

The text of the proclamation from the Secret Organisation Group of al-Qaeda of Jihad Organisation in Europe reads as follows:

In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate, may peace be upon the cheerful one and undaunted fighter, Prophet Muhammad, God's peace be upon him.

Nation of Islam and Arab nation, rejoice, for it is time to take revenge against the British Zionist Crusader government in retaliation for the massacres Britain is committing in Iraq and Afghanistan. The heroic Mujahideen have carried out a blessed raid in London. Britain is now burning with fear, terror and panic in its northern, southern, eastern, and western quarters.

We have repeatedly warned the British Government and people. We have fulfilled our promise and carried out our blessed military raid in Britain after our Mujahideen exerted strenuous efforts over a long period of t ime to ensure the success of the raid.

We continue to warn the governments of Denmark and Italy and all the Crusader governments that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He who warns is excused.

God says: "You who believe: If ye will aid (the cause of) Allah, He will aid you, and plant your feet firmly."