This is the press release issued to the media with Lobster 11. (April 1986)
Embargoed until 3pm, April 30th
Something very strange happened in British politics almost a decade ago. A Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, and the journalist with the closest links to the British intelligence services, Chapman Pincher, both said that elements of MI5 had been trying to bring down the Labour Government during 1974-76 – and nothing happened. There was no serious investigation by British journalists, the Labour Party or the Labour Government.
In Wilson, MI5 and the rise of Thatcher: Covert Operations in British Politics 1974-76
using as their starting point information from former members of the security services and the British Army, and, in particular, certain accounts of the period written by Colin Wallace, the authors demonstrate that the outlines of a series of ramified psychological and disinformation operations against the Wilson Government of 1974-76 are visible.
Among the elements analysed are:
- the smear campaign against Labour Party figures during 1974 and 1975;
- the so-called ‘private armies’ episode of 1974 with the first information on the sources of funding and support for General Sir Walter Walker’s ‘Civil Assistance’;
- the role of the British Army’s ‘psy-ops’ unit in Northern Ireland (Information Policy), including some of its activities against Northern Irish and mainland U.K. MP’s, the struggle in 1975 to control it, and a list of political ‘psy-ops’ targets from this period;
- the campaign of leaks and smears run from Northern Ireland – partly by Information Policy – against the policies of Merlyn Rees, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland;
The authors examine:
- the role of MI5 in domestic politics;
- the struggle between MI5 and MI6 for control in Northern Ireland;
- the National Association for Freedom, and, in particular, that organisation’s links to British intelligence;
- and show the links between some of the personnel involved in these events and Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power.
The authors show that a great deal of the political activities in Britain and Northern Ireland during 1974-76 were the work of the British intelligence and security services, or their fronts; that the period was, in effect, a protracted psy-ops campaign directed against the Labour Party (and, to a lesser extent, the Liberal Party); that, in short, Harold Wilson’s charges against the British ‘secret state’ made in 1976 were correct and not mere paranoia.
Captain Fred Holroyd, former Special Military Intelligence Unit Officer in Northern Ireland, and Colin Wallace, former Senior Information Officer in the psy ops unit, Information Policy, became the victims of an internecine military-intelligence struggle in Northern Ireland.
Captain Holroyd, who has contributed an appendix on the trial and wrongful conviction for manslaughter of Colin Wallace, Kevin McNamara MP, who has written the foreword, and the authors, Stephen Dorril and Robin Ramsay, are launching the publication of Wilson, MI5 and the rise of Thatcher at the House of Commons:
*** Jubilee Room, Westminster Great Hall, 10.30, April 30th *****
At the press conference, a full account of the on-going cover-up of these events will be given.
For further information ring Robin Ramsay 0482 447263
Hansard
15 December 1986
787 Security Services
(Mr. Campbell-Savours)
If such allegations were raised in the United States, Congressional Committees of inquiry would be set up to examine them. That is what happened over Watergate, and it is happening today over the supply of weapons to Iran. When Americans feel that their constitution is being challenged by anti-democratic bodies, the first thing they do is to bring into action their Congressional investigative committees to establish the truth. That is the sort of thing that we should do. If such an inquiry were held here, it would reveal the truth. That is at the heart of the first part of the motion. Such an inquiry could well take us down some strange routes and could lead to some interesting doors.
The inquiry would have to take evidence from a number of organisations and individuals. It would need to take evidence from Sir Martin Furnival Jones, the former head of MI5, and from MI5 and MI6 officers, including Mr. Wright, if he could be induced to come back to the United Kingdom. It might even have to take evidence from General Sir Walter Walker about civil assistance, and from David Stirling’s GB75 – and what about the elusive Mr. Greenwood, with his so-called 700 security vetted members, or perhaps from Mr. G.K. Young, a former deputy director of MI6 and his UNISON committee for action?
At first glimpse they may not appear to be elements within MI5, but these fringe organisations operated in conjunction with MI5 officers. That is what an inquiry would establish. Indeed it might establish that some of the people involved were in the mainstream of British politics. As I have said, two Conservative hon. Members are identified by Mr. Wright.