Thatcher 'utterly shattered' by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal [View all]
Source: The Guardian
Thatcher ‘utterly shattered’ by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal
National Archives papers show prime minister tried in vain to avoid inquiry over Peter Wright’s memoirs
Caroline Davies and Kevin Rawlinson
Fri 29 Dec 2023 00.01 GMT
Last modified on Fri 29 Dec 2023 11.23 GMT
Margaret Thatcher was “utterly shattered” by the revelations in Spycatcher, the memoirs of the retired MI5 officer Peter Wright, files released publicly for the first time reveal.
The files also reveal the dilemmas faced by Thatcher’s government in its futile battle to suppress the book, including whether to agree to the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer mediating an out of court “solution”.
Allegations by Wright, a former assistant director of MI5 who retired to Tasmania, included that the security agency had bugged embassies, that a small group of agents had plotted against the prime minister Harold Wilson, and that Sir Roger Hollis, the director general of MI5 from 1956-65, had been a Soviet mole.
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The documents show the government losing control in a legal game of “whack-a-mole” as extracts popped up in newspapers and books appeared in shops and on library shelves around the world.
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Read more: https://archive.is/Wqg3p
Original Guardian link (registration required): https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/dec/29/thatcher-utterly-shattered-by-mi5-revelations-in-spycatcher-files-reveal
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