Confidential – that gets me going’: the photographer behind the HS2 exposé

[Harry Harrison]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/oct/07/photographer-behind-hs2-expose-steve-back?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

Steve Back, well worth following on Twitter/X, great for updates on Larry the Cat also.

 

Photograph of Steve Back - Paul Marriot / Alamy

Edited October 7, 2023 by Harry Harrison

[IanDavidson]

Harry

i know Steve Back fairly well as I spend a lot of time in Downing Street.  I can not follow him on Twitter as he has blocked me, I believe because I am a competitor.  Although, to be fair, he has been most helpful to me on a number of occasions.    Interestingly, the article does not mention that he was a house photographer at 10 Downing Street and thus has an intimate knowledge of “The House” and its staff occupants.  Some say that he gets tip offs from those contacts, including civilian drivers for Ministers.  I do not know if this is true but I do know that if Steve is in Downing Street something is about to happen.  
 

Steve is old school and made a great deal of money from his photography in the past.  He is one of the last of his generation, Alan Davidson (no relation) who died a couple of years ago and was considered the the ”father of celebrity photography” was also a frequent presence in Downing Street and he too made (and I understand then lost) a great deal of money from press photography: those were the days….

 

Steve is an interesting character, he is largely deaf due to an explosion while on assignment in the Middle East, so the story goes.  He calls everyone “old chap”.  Last time I chatted with him he was about to join some friends in one of the Gentlemen’s Clubs (no not that sort).  I think it might have been Whites.  As I said, one of the last of the old school.

[Mr Standfast]

 

I'm always amazed how people can walk out of No 10 with documents on display.  Labour and Liberal Democrats did it as well.

 

You never know if the person holding the papers is pre-occupied, careless or deliberately planting or leaking information.

 

Fun to speculate though!

[IanDavidson]

14 minutes ago, Mr Standfast said:

You never know if the person holding the papers is pre-occupied, careless or deliberately planting or leaking information.

I think all three apply on different occasions.  I have shot government papers, but I have never published the photos as I do not think it is appropriate, but each to their own.

 

people can be careless.  I was outside the cabinet office a few months ago.  I saw a couple of people walking towards me.  I photographed them.  One individual hurriedly hid his pass, but I already had the photograph.  After quite a lot of effort I identified him as a senior official in the CIA.  It is an interesting question as to why he was visiting the cabinet office and you would have thought a senior spook would know better fieldcraft!  I did not use the photograph as I may want to visit the USA again in the future.  

 

I do enjoy my political photography….

Edited October 8, 2023 by IanDavidson

[Harry Harrison]

1 hour ago, IanDavidson said:

 

i know Steve Back fairly well as I spend a lot of time in Downing Street.

Thank you Ian, I didn't know anything of his background so that's all very interesting. I just came across him on Twitter and found his posts engaging, he's liable to Tweet about persons of interest coming or going from various addresses around Downing Street more or less as they happen, he's quite mischievous. He also posts about walking his dogs and of course I always like to see how Larry the Cat is doing, I think he's quite fond of him.

[Jeffrey Isaac Greenberg]

2 hours ago, IanDavidson said:

...he too made (and I understand then lost) a great deal of money from press photography:

How does one bloody lose a great deal of money from press photography??!!

Traveling worldwide to events?  Investing in an agency that failed?
Wouldn't one lose a bit of money somehow & then stop???!!!

 

Also, the OP's Guardian link requires subscription...

[sb photos]

8 hours ago, IanDavidson said:

I think all three apply on different occasions.  I have shot government papers, but I have never published the photos as I do not think it is appropriate, but each to their own.

 

people can be careless.  I was outside the cabinet office a few months ago.  I saw a couple of people walking towards me.  I photographed them.  One individual hurriedly hid his pass, but I already had the photograph.  After quite a lot of effort I identified him as a senior official in the CIA.  It is an interesting question as to why he was visiting the cabinet office and you would have thought a senior spook would know better fieldcraft!  I did not use the photograph as I may want to visit the USA again in the future.  

 

I do enjoy my political photography….

 

I have a folder of people photographed around Westminster identified by their passes. They were of no interest now but maybe in the future. I suspect you and others do similar. Speech notes often have hand written information added that can be interesting.

Edited October 9, 2023 by sb photos

[Mr Standfast]

Some gems here from 2016.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-38142566

 

 

[Rebecca Ore]

18 hours ago, IanDavidson said:

I think all three apply on different occasions.  I have shot government papers, but I have never published the photos as I do not think it is appropriate, but each to their own.

 

people can be careless.  I was outside the cabinet office a few months ago.  I saw a couple of people walking towards me.  I photographed them.  One individual hurriedly hid his pass, but I already had the photograph.  After quite a lot of effort I identified him as a senior official in the CIA.  It is an interesting question as to why he was visiting the cabinet office and you would have thought a senior spook would know better fieldcraft!  I did not use the photograph as I may want to visit the USA again in the future.  

 

I do enjoy my political photography….

 

A friend of mine who's now dead claimed to have been the lover of a CIA spook when he did training sessions in North Carolina with the 82nd Airborne.   According to the Wikipedia article on him,  he heard from one of his sources that one of the bad actors group was planning a kidnapping.   "Oh, I think my security is fine."  He continued living in the same apartment, taking the same routes to work.  He got got, tortured into giving up all his sources, who disappeared rather quickly.   The bad guys sent the CIA videotapes of his torture.  Sigh.  People Peter Principling  out.   Nothing bad happened 30 years, so....   Spy Museum's entry on him doesn't mention that he broke under torture. 

 

US State Department and British Intelligence worked together to act against Indian National Congress.   Saw files in the National Archives when I was researching a novel.   There does seem to be a deep connection between the US agencies and the British agencies.   Turn of the 20th Century, British were the older cousins.   Now, it's the US.

 

Some days,  intelligence must be interesting problem solving; other days, just another day of office and interdepartmental politics.  CIA and FBI.  Israeli military intelligence vs. Mossad.  In Nicaragua, the intelligence services were too busy fighting drug trafficking to worry about the political groups getting money from the US.   Ortega said in an interview that his intelligence services didn't predict 2018's riots.