UNDERCOVER policing was politically motivated by people who were trying to put the left in “a very bad light,” the spycops inquiry heard today.

Stop the War Coalition’s Lindsey German gave evidence at the inquiry, which is currently looking into police infiltration of groups between 1968 to the early 1980s, to talk about how special demonstration squad (SDS) officers spied on her and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

She criticised the inquiry for asking her to answer questions that “stemmed from misconceptions” in a written statement, and said it focused on her politics and the action of the groups she is involved in rather than the role of the undercover police officers.

Ms German described her interactions with officers such as Colin Clark, who was treasurer of the Right to Work campaign in 1981.

She said that she found him very helpful and only began suspecting him to be a police spy when he disappeared.

“It makes me very uncomfortable the idea that I worked with him closely,” she said.

“It’s very disturbing that he was in this position, and I don’t see any justification for it all.”

The officer participated in significant discussions regarding protests, Ms German said, including on concerns about young people acting in protests in a way that might get them arrested.

“He will have participated in a whole range of discussions about things with people who led the march,” she said.

“He put himself very much at the centre of the operation. And did so deliberately to find out as much info as he could.”

Ms German said that while some confidential details, such as the names of donors, were obtained by police officers, information in her file, such as her address was already on the electoral register.

“It’s completely unjustifiable. I don’t see why any of this info needed to be passed on and the only conclusion that can be drawn on people infiltrating is that they were simply looking to find things that would put the left in a very bad light.

“I feel that there’s a very great difference between the infiltration of the SWP and any surveillance of the National Front, for example, which that there simply wasn’t.

“That was clearly a decision that was taken so I have to see this as politically motivated and as trying to put the left in the light that they’re to blame.”