Harold Wilson conspiracy theories
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Since the mid-1970s, a variety of conspiracy theories have emerged regarding British
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1976. These range from Wilson having been a
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
agent (a claim which
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
investigated and found to be false), to Wilson being the victim of treasonous plots by conservative-leaning elements in MI5 and the British military (e.g., the Clockwork Orange plot), claims which Wilson himself made.


Background

Soviet defector
Anatoliy Golitsyn Anatoliy Mikhaylovich Golitsyn CBE ( Russian: Анатолий Михайлович Голицын; August 25, 1926 – December 29, 2008) was a Soviet KGB defector and author of two books about the long-term deception strategy of the KGB lead ...
is said to have told a British intelligence officer that Wilson was a
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
operative and that former Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell had been assassinated by the KGB to have the pro-US Gaitskell replaced as party leader by Wilson.Leigh, p. 80. However, Christopher Andrew, the official historian for Britain's
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
,War and Intelligence Conference
has described Golitsyn as an "unreliable conspiracy theorist". Christopher Andrew
Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries and Deadly Games By Tennent H Bagley Reviewed by Christopher Andrew
''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'', 24 June 2007
In his memoir '' Spycatcher'' (1987), former
MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), G ...
officer Peter Wright stated that the head of the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
's Counterintelligence Division,
James Angleton James Jesus Angleton (December 9, 1917 – May 11, 1987) was chief of counterintelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1954 to 1974. His official position within the organization was Associate Deputy Director of Operations for ...
, told him that Wilson was a Soviet agent when Wilson became
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
after the 1964 general election. Wright said that Angleton referred to this assertion coming from a source (whom he did not name but who was probably Golitsyn). Golitsyn's words had been frequently taken heed of by Angleton, who had grown suspicious of the loyalty of many political figures, such as
Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (; ; born Heinz Alfred Kissinger, May 27, 1923) is a German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant who served as United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor under the presid ...
. According to Wright, Angleton offered to provide further information on the condition that MI5 guarantee to keep the allegations from "political circles",Wright, p. 364. but the management of MI5 declined to accept restrictions on the use of the information and Angleton told them nothing more. According to Wright, at the end of the 1960s MI5 received information from two
Czechoslovak Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) **Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repub ...
defectors,
Josef Frolík Josef Frolík (September 22, 1928 – May 1989) was a Czechoslovak spy who, in 1969, defected to the United States and joined the CIA. Childhood Josef Frolík was born in Libušín, Czechoslovakia. He graduated from secondary school at the end o ...
and František August, who had fled to the West, alleging the Labour Party had "almost certainly" been penetrated by the Soviets. The two gave a list of Labour MPs and trade unionists as Soviet agents. MI5 maintained a file on Wilson, under the name of Henry Worthington, repeatedly investigating him over the course of several decades, before officially concluding that Wilson had had no relationship with the KGB; nor did it ever find evidence of Soviet penetration of the Labour Party.Michael Evans, "Wilson cleared of KGB threat in MI5 inquiry", ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', 4 May 1987.


The 1968 plot

In his 1976 memoir ''Walking on Water'',
Hugh Cudlipp Hubert Kinsman Cudlipp, Baron Cudlipp, OBE (28 August 1913 – 17 May 1998), was a Welsh journalist and newspaper editor noted for his work on the ''Daily Mirror'' in the 1950s and 1960s. He served as chairman of the Mirror Group group of ...
recounts a meeting he arranged at the request of Cecil King, the head of the
International Publishing Corporation TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...
(IPC), between King and
Lord Mountbatten of Burma Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979) was a British naval officer, colonial administrator and close relative of the British royal family. Mountbatten, who was of Germa ...
, then- Prince Charles' great uncle and mentor. The meeting took place on 8 May 1968. Attending were Mountbatten, King, Cudlipp, and Sir Solly Zuckerman, the Chief Scientific Adviser to the British government. According to Cudlipp: Mountbatten asked for the opinion of Zuckerman, who stated that the plan amounted to
treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and left the room. Mountbatten expressed the same opinion, and King and Cudlipp left.Cudlipp, pp.326–327. King subsequently decided to override the editorial independence of the ''Daily Mirror'' when he instructed the paper to publish a front-page article he had written that called for Wilson to be removed through some sort of extra-parliamentary action. The board of the IPC met and demanded his resignation for this breach of procedure and the damage to the interests of IPC as a public company. He refused, so was dismissed by the board on 30 May 1968. In addition to Mountbatten's refusal to participate in King's mooted plot, there is no evidence of any other conspirators. Cudlipp himself appears to see the meeting as an example of extreme egotism on King's part. A later memoir by
Harold Evans Sir Harold Matthew Evans (28 June 192823 September 2020) was a British-American journalist and writer. In his career in his native Britain, he was editor of ''The Sunday Times'' from 1967 to 1981, and its sister title ''The Times'' for a year f ...
, who was editor of ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...
'' in 1968, said that ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' had egged on King's plans for a coup:
William Rees-Mogg William Rees-Mogg, Baron Rees-Mogg (14 July 192829 December 2012) was a British newspaper journalist who was Editor of ''The Times'' from 1967 to 1981. In the late 1970s, he served as High Sheriff of Somerset, and in the 1980s was Chairman of t ...
called for a coalition in an 8 December 1968 ''Times'' editorial entitled "The Danger to Britain", a day before King visited the ''Times'' office.'' Private Eye'', 20 December 1968. A BBC programme ''The Plot Against Harold Wilson'', broadcast in 2006, reported that, in tapes recorded soon after his resignation, Wilson stated that for eight months of his premiership he did not "feel he knew what was going on, fully, in security". Wilson alleged two plots, in the late 1960s and mid-1970s respectively. He said that plans had been hatched to install Louis Mountbatten as interim prime minister. He also claimed that ex-military leaders had been building up private armies in anticipation of "wholesale domestic liquidation". On a separate track, elements within MI5 had also, the BBC programme reported, spread
black propaganda Black propaganda is a form of propaganda intended to create the impression that it was created by those it is supposed to discredit. Black propaganda contrasts with gray propaganda, which does not identify its source, as well as white propagan ...
that Wilson and
Marcia Williams Marcia Matilda Falkender, Baroness Falkender, CBE (''née'' Field, known professionally as Marcia Williams; 10 March 1932 – 6 February 2019) was a British Labour politician, known first as the private secretary for, and then the political s ...
(Wilson's private secretary) were Soviet agents, and that Wilson was an
IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
sympathiser, apparently with the intention of helping the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
win the February 1974 election.


Alleged 1974 military coup plot

On the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television programme ''The Plot Against Harold Wilson'', broadcast on 16 March 2006 on BBC2, it was claimed there were threats of a ''coup d'état'' against the Wilson government, which were corroborated by leading figures of the time on both the left and the right. Wilson told two BBC journalists,
Barrie Penrose Barrie Penrose (26 January 1942 – 5 July 2020) was a British investigative journalist, interviewer and trainer. Life and career Born in Croydon, Penrose was educated at John Ruskin Grammar School and later at the London School of Economics. ...
and
Roger Courtiour Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ...
, who recorded the meetings on a cassette tape recorder, that he feared he was being undermined by MI5. The first time was in the late 1960s after the Wilson Government
devalued In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curren ...
the pound sterling but the threat faded after
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
leader
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
won the election of 1970. However, after a coal miners' strike Heath decided to hold an election to renew his mandate to govern in
February 1974 The following events occurred in February 1974: February 1, 1974 (Friday) *Joelma fire, A fire killed 177 people and injured 293 others in the 23-story Joelma Building at São Paulo in Brazil. Another 11 later died of their injuries. The bl ...
but lost narrowly to Wilson. There was again talk of a military coup, with rumours of Lord Mountbatten as head of an interim administration after Wilson had been deposed. In 1974 the
army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...
occupied Heathrow Airport on the grounds of training for possible
IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...
terrorist action at the airport. Although the military stated that this was a planned military exercise, Downing Street was not informed in advance, and Wilson himself interpreted it as a show of strength, or warning, being made by the army.


The Peter Wright allegations and Clockwork Orange

Peter Wright claimed that he was confronted by two of his MI5 colleagues and that they said to him: "Wilson's a bloody menace and it's about time the public knew the truth", and "We'll have him out, this time we'll have him out". Wright alleged that there was a plan to leak damaging information about Wilson and that this had been approved by "up to thirty officers". As the 1974 election approached, the plan went, MI5 would leak selective details of the intelligence about Labour leaders, especially Wilson, to "sympathetic" journalists. According to Wright, MI5 would use their contacts in the press and the trade unions to spread around the idea that Wilson was considered a security risk. The matter was to be raised in
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
for "maximum effect". However Wright declined to let them see the files on Wilson and the plan was never carried out; but Wright does claim it was a "carbon copy" of the Zinoviev Letter which was believed to have helped destabilise the first Labour Government in 1924.Peter Wright, ''Spycatcher'' (William Heinemann, 1987), Ibid, p. 369. On 22 March 1987 former MI5 officer James Miller claimed that the
Ulster Workers Council Strike The Ulster Workers' Council (UWC) strike was a general strike that took place in Northern Ireland between 15 May and 28 May 1974, during "the Troubles". The strike was called by unionists who were against the Sunningdale Agreement, which had b ...
of 1974 had been promoted by MI5 to help destabilise Wilson's government. In July 1987, Labour MP, Ken Livingstone used his maiden speech to raise the allegations of a former Army press officer,
Colin Wallace John Colin Wallace (born June 1943) is a British former member of Army Intelligence in Northern Ireland and a psychological warfare specialist. He refused to become involved in the Intelligence-led 'Clockwork Orange' project, which was an att ...
, that the Army press office in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
had been used in the 1970s as part of a smear campaign, codenamed Clockwork Orange, against Harold Wilson and other British and Irish politicians.


Recent scholarship

In ''
The Defence of the Realm ''The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5'', published in the United States as ''Defend the Realm'', is an authorised history of the British Security Service (MI5), written by historian Christopher Andrew. Andrew was commissi ...
'' (2009), the first authorised history of MI5, by Christopher Andrew, it was shown that MI5 kept a file on Wilson from 1945, when he became an MP – because communist civil servants claimed that he had similar political sympathies. However, ''Defence of the Realm'' claims that there was no conspiracy against Wilson, and repeats the Callaghan government claim that there was no bugging of 10 Downing Street. Doubt was cast on this claim, however, in 2010 when newspaper reports made detailed allegations that the bugging of 10 Downing Street had been omitted from the history for "wider public interest reasons". The government did not issue a denial of the allegations. In 1963, on Harold Macmillan's orders following the
Profumo Affair The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...
, MI5 bugged the cabinet room, the waiting room, and the prime minister's study until the bugs were removed in 1977 on James Callaghan's orders. From the records it is unclear if Harold Wilson or
Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
knew of the bugging, and no recorded conversations were retained by MI5, so the bugs were possibly never activated. Intelligence historian Jon Moran, concluded in 2014:


See also

* Wilson Doctrine, a ban on the tapping of MPs' and Peers' telephones *
1975 Australian constitutional crisis The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir J ...
* ''
A Very British Coup ''A Very British Coup'' is a 1982 novel by British politician Chris Mullin. The novel has twice been adapted for television; as '' A Very British Coup'' in 1988 and as '' Secret State'' in 2012. Plot Harry Perkins is the left-wing Leader of th ...
'', a 1982 novel by Labour politician
Chris Mullin Christopher Paul Mullin (born July 30, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player, executive and coach. He is a two-time Olympic Gold medalist and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2010 as a memb ...
* ''
The Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
'', a Netflix series, which dramatises the 1968 Cecil King affair


References

* * Moran, Jon. "Conspiracy and contemporary history: revisiting MI5 and the Wilson plot " ''Journal of Intelligence History'' (2014) 13#2 pp 161–175 *


Notes


External links


History: The 'Wilson Plot'
MI5 {{Harold Wilson Wilson, Harold Harold Wilson Political history of the United Kingdom Conspiracy theories in the United Kingdom