Re:

Who was who?

The newly published Oxford Dictionary of National Biography not only surveys the lives of the great and the good, but also includes accounts of individuals in the murkier fields of human endeavour. Over fifty spies are listed, for example, including historical figures such as ‘Parliament Joan’ (c1600-1655?) and ‘Pickle the Spy’ (c1725-1761). More recent practitioners range from minor characters, such as Greville Wynne and John Vassall, to major operators – Blunt, Burgess, Maclean and Philby.

‘Spooks’ are also covered, with almost ninety members of the intelligence community listed. Many of these had other occupations – John Henry Bevan (‘intelligence officer and stockbroker’), Maurice James Buckmaster (‘intelligence officer and businessman’), Tomas Joseph Harris (‘artist, art dealer and intelligence officer’), Maxwell Knight (‘intelligence officer and naturalist’), and Gwynne Vevers (‘marine biologist and intelligence officer’) are among their number.

And then there are unfortunate individuals such as Captain Robert Nairac (simply described as ‘army officer’) and Stephen Ward (‘osteopath and scapegoat’). The entry for the latter is one of the few where the author eschews the studied objectivity of the majority of the work, his final paragraph reading: ‘Ward was in fact incidental to the Profumo episode: he was a sacrificial offering. The exorcism of scandal in high places required the façade of his conviction on vice charges.’

The entries are scrupulously researched judging by the wealth of references on offer in the footnotes. These cover not simply books and journal articles, but also written, film and sound archives. There’s also a fair sprinkling of ‘private information’ and ‘personal knowledge’. Thus John Bruce Lockhart’s entry for former Deputy Chief of MI6 and founder of Unison and Tory Action in the 1970s George Kennedy Young (‘…an outstanding figure with his great height [and] red hair…’) rather magnanimously depicts him as ‘…at heart a militant Scottish covenanter, believing deeply in the rights of the individual against the central forces of bureaucracy.’

One final intriguing feature of the work. Many of the entries have made use of probate records to estimate ‘wealth at death’. At today’s monetary values, A. K Chesterton left approximately £16,000, Sir Roger Hollis £258,633 and Sir Maurice Oldfield £266,951. But the winner from this, admittedly random, selection has to be Anthony Blunt with an estate of £1,704,445.

For further information see <www.oxforddnb.com>

Hilda Murrell

Further developments in the case of Hilda Murrell (also in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as ‘environmentalist and peace campaigner’). Following a ‘cold case review’ by West Mercia Constabulary in 2002, a Shrewsbury labourer, Andrew George, was charged with her kidnap and murder in June 2003. In February 2004 two more men were arrested in connection with the case, only to be released the following day, ‘pending further inquiries’. The two men were not named. George pleaded not guilty at Birmingham Crown Court in March and a further hearing was scheduled for April 2004. Since then, silence.

Over in New Zealand, former naval commander Rob Green (Hilda Murrell’s nephew) has his own views on Andrew George’s arrest. According to The New Zealand Herald he believes George to be ‘…a “fall guy” for whoever was behind the killing. Asked if it was possible Miss Murrell was simply killed by a burglar, Mr Green agreed it was. But he thought not. ‘I do believe that it was that issue of …… [Tam] Dalyell embarrassing Thatcher which was the trigger that fuelled my aunt’s fate. It was the fear of what she might know.'(1)

Mulling over Kintyre

Ten years after 25 counter-terrorist experts were killed when their RAF Chinook ZD756 crashed on the Mull of Kintyre former pilot turned academic Omar Malik summarises in no uncertain terms the failings of the official Board of Inquiry. It was ‘…run by amateurs both in accident investigation and in law. Its findings have been rejected by professionals, by a Scottish sheriff, by the Public Accounts Committee and…the Select Committee of the House of Lords….'(2)

Happy Families

It’s fairly common knowledge that Osama bin Laden acquired his fortune as a shareholder in the Saudi General Contracting Company (founded by his father in 1931). It’s probably less well known that the company – having publicly severed its links with Osama and rebadged itself as the Saudi Binladin Group – has a number of UK based subsidiaries, two of which boast the Hon. Mark Bridges as Company Secretary. Bridges is the son and heir of Lord Bridges (a former diplomat and one of Harold Wilson’s private secretaries in the early seventies) and a partner in the law firm Farrer & Co. Since 2002 he’s also been the Queen’s personal solicitor. (5)

Bugs

The failings of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (6) (‘a particularly puzzling statute’ according to one judge) are examined in detail by David Ormerod and Simon McKay, specifically the Act’s lack of clarity and its failure to respect the underlying principle of privacy. However, the authors fall short of suggesting that telephone intercept evidence should be prohibited, arguing that adequate safeguards need to implemented, if only to ensure that the UK is not brought before the European Court of Human Rights.

The Law Lords don’t seem to be too worried, though. Ruling in a case brought by the Attorney General, their Lordships agreed that there was ‘…nothing in the European Convention on Human Rights to stop [evidence from phone taps] … being used in court provided the taps were properly authorised.’ (7)

The Regulated Army

The growth of the private military sector and the transformation of mercenaries from ‘dogs of war’ into employees of private military companies (PMCs) are examined by Dave Whyte in a detailed and thoroughly researched article. The official UK response? Endeavour to legitimise PMCs by setting up a regulatory framework of sorts. Hence the publication of the Green Paper, Private Military Companies: Options for Regulation, (8)with the promise of legislation to follow ‘…after a prolonged period of consultation with “the international community”.’ Official approval or vetoing of contracts between PMCs and foreign states will, it is argued, ‘…allow governments to achieve foreign policy goals without the need for approval from legislatures, safe in the knowledge that involvement in or awareness of controversial military operations can be plausibly denied.’ Legislation has yet to appear, although the use of mercenaries in Iraq has, according to some commentators, concentrated ministerial minds, with proposals likely to follow after the next election. (9)

Beyond our Ken

Kenneth Tynan’s encounter with the SISS (the Senate Internal Security Sub-Committee) (10) in May 1960 is described in Dominic Shellard’s recent biography. The previous year Tynan had produced a television documentary, We Dissent, intended to ‘[interrogate] the notion of American conformity’. Contributors included J. K. Galbraith, C. Wright Mills, Allen Ginsberg, and – most guaranteed to upset the American establishment – Alger Hiss. Tynan was also a signatory to the ‘Fair Play For Cuba’ advertisement placed in the New York Times in April 1960. An appearance before the SISS therefore came as no surprise.

In the event, chief counsel J. G. Sourwine [sic] failed to intimidate Tynan and he was reluctantly allowed to enter his own witness statement in the official record. The SISS’s only victory was financial. Tynan claimed a $12 witness fee but had to pay lawyer’s fees of $1500. (11)

No brainer

Suffering from Michael Moore overload? Then you might want to take a look at Celsius 41.11, ‘…the truth behind the lies of Fahrenheit 9/11…’. Produced by a Washington-based conservative group, Citizens United, it probably won’t be coming to a cinema near you but can be viewed at <www.citizensunited.org>. (The title, incidentally, refers to the temperature at which the brain begins to die.) As you’d expect, Moore himself remains undaunted. Not only undaunted but also sufficiently heartened by the September 11 Commission’s final report to issue a press release enumerating Fahrenheit 9/11‘s key facts and how their accuracy has been confirmed by the report. (See <www.michaelmoore.com/warroom/> for more details.)

Notes

1 Anon, ‘Labourer Accused of Murrell Killing’,Birmingham Post 4 November 2003, p.3; Jamie Wilson, ‘Two Arrested over 1984 Murder of Peace Activist’, The Guardian 17 February, 2004, p.2; Richard War-burton , ‘Murrell Mystery: Two Held by Police’, Birmingham Post, 17 February 2004, p.5; Anon, ‘Murrell Murder Suspects Released.‘, Birmingham Post 18 February 2004, p.3; Anon, ‘Murder Charge’, Birminham Post 23 March 2004, p.6; Scott MacLeod, ‘Arrest fails to quell conspiracy rumours’, The New Zealand Herald 21 June 2003

2 Omar Malik, ‘A Slur on the Pilots’, The Spectator (29 May 2004), pp. 22-25.

3 The only review I’ve been able to trace was an enthusiastic one by Beryl Bainbridge, ‘Dangerous Liaisons’, New Statesman, (31 May 2004) p.51.

4 The Order of the Solar Temple attained notoriety in the mid 1990s following a series of mass suicides. 53 people died in Switzerland and Quebec on the same night in October 1994. Another 16 members killed themselves in December 1995, with a further five committing suicide in December 1995. Information about the Order and its beliefs can be found at <http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/solartemp.html>.

Princess Grace of Monaco was alleged to have been a high profile member and, according to one of Cohen’s sources, was killed because she was threatening to leave the Order and possibly expose its fraudulent workings. The same source claims that her death in a car crash was made to look accidental.

5 Mark Leftly, ‘The Bin Laden Story’, Building, 269 (36) (10 September 2004), pp.22-27

6 See Jane Affleck’s essay on it in Lobster 43.

7 David Ormerod and Simon McKay, ‘Telephone Intercepts and their Admissibility’, Criminal Law Review, (January 2004), pp.15-38. Richard Norton-Taylor, ‘Phone taps may be used in trials’, The Guardian 15 October 2004. The full text of the judgement, can be found at <www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200304/ldjudgmt/jd041014/gen5-1.htm>

8 <www.fco.gov.uk/Files/kfile/mercenaries,0.pdf>

9 Dave Whyte, ‘Lethal Regulation: State-Corporate Crime and the United Kingdom Government’s New Mercenaries’, Journal of Law and Society, 30 (4) (December 2003), pp.575-600.

Andrew Grice and Ben Russell, ‘Mercenaries in Trouble Spots to be Regulated’, The Independent 31 July 2004, p.18

10 Established under the 1950 Internal Security Act, the SISS worked closely with the FBI to ensure that Communist Party members registered themselves with the Attorney General. It also conducted Senate hearings for 27 years to ensure that the register was kept up to date.

11 Dominic Shellard, Kenneth Tynan: a life (New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2003) pp.243-249. A copy of the SISS transcript is in the Tynan archive in The British Library.