Edward Pearce London: Little, Brown, 2002, £25, h/b. Compared to the present crop of media-trained, PR-conscious, line-following, careerist pigmies who comprise the current Labour Cabinet, Denis Healey looks like a giant from a golden age. Before his well known roles as Minister of Defence and Chancellor of the Exchequer (during the Tory-induced inflation of […]
[…] the original members. In the 1940s the British political elite, although supportive of European co-operation, opted to pursue an independent strategy by projecting Britain as a ‘Th ird Force’ between the Soviet Union and U.S.. By the 1950s, however, this strategy was perceived to be untenable and a new policy of ‘limited liability’, supporting […]
[…] with material for years. Leigh describes how, when Coughlin asked his source for evidence, he was shown but not allowed to copy documents. This is the classic IRD disinformation technique, described in use in Cyprus in the 1960s by Charles Foley in his book Legacy of Strife (2) and, more recently, by Colin Wallace […]
[…] working for any intelligence agency. Counterpoint is nicely produced, and rather good – or would be if you are interested in Soviet disinformation chiefly within the Th ird World. (And its got to be a spook operation.) Available from Ickham Publications Ltd., Westonhanger, Ickham, Canterbury CT3 1QN. Executive Intelligence Review We recently received a […]
[…] a high-ranking Iraqi defector’, former Iraqi ambassador to Venezuela, now seeking asylum in London. Later on in the story, on page 2, the defector denies the story. IRD is dead! Long live IRD! Liam Clarke and Barry Penrose (see review of The Committee, below) co-authored the story ‘Syria paid IRA to kill Mountbatten’ in […]
[…] writer and propagandist; active in the Monday Club and Foreign Affairs Research Institute. Although I am still unclear of his precise role, I think he was an IRD stringer. Henry Hopkinson Lord Colyton (Obituary Guardian 11 January 1995). Diplomat, MP, Minister; chairman of Tanganyika Concessions, and subsequently member of Anglo-Rhodesian Society and Foreign Affairs […]
Dodgy dossiers Steven Kettell, author of Dirty politics? New Labour, British democracy and the invasion of Iraq (London: Zed Books, 2006), argues that New Labour wanted regime change in Iraq before Bush and before 9/11 and that the production of the WMD Dossier was one of the key components of a broader political strategy designed […]
[…] early post-war years had been one of the leading lights in the United World Federalists, before joining the CIA. Meyer was head of station in London, 1975-76. IRD The Sunday Telegraph April 27 1997 carried an important piece about the IRD operation between 1970 and 1972 to put out propaganda in favour of British […]
Sir George Terry’s report on Kincora has at last been made public. But if Terry had hoped to quash further speculation he failed.(1) In a second debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly on Kincora there was widespread criticism of the report, particularly of Terry “stepping outside his brief” in suggesting that the matter needs no … Read more
[…] or someone is lying – or both.) MI5 made some discreet enquiries of Ward which revealed that he had many important people as friends, including the th ird Viscount Astor, who was known to MI5. Novotny has said that she saw reports which showed that Bill Astor was controlling Ward, and that her meeting […]
