''Spycatcher: The Candid Autobiography of a Senior Intelligence Officer'' (1987) is a memoir written by
Peter Wright, former
MI5 officer and Assistant Director, and co-author
Paul Greengrass. He drew on his own experiences and research into the history of the British intelligence community. Published first in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, the book was banned in England (but not Scotland) due to its allegations about government policy and incidents. These efforts ensured the book's notoriety, and it earned considerable profit for Wright.
In 2021, the
Cabinet Office was still blocking
freedom of information
Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...
requests for files on the ''Spycatcher'' affair despite the rule that
documents should be released after 30 years.
Content
In ''Spycatcher'', Wright says that one of his assignments was to unmask a Soviet
mole in MI5, who he says was
Roger Hollis, a former MI5 Director General. His book also discusses other candidates who may have or may not have been the mole. He explores the history of MI5 by chronicling its principal officers, from the 1930s to his time in service.
Wright also tells of the
MI6 plot to assassinate
President Nasser during the
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...
; of joint MI5-
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, ...
plotting against Labour Prime Minister
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
(who had been secretly accused by Soviet defector
Anatoliy Golitsyn of being a
KGB agent); and of MI5's eavesdropping on high-level
Commonwealth conferences.
Wright examines the techniques of intelligence services, exposes their ethics, notably their "eleventh
commandment
Commandment may refer to:
* The Ten Commandments
* One of the 613 mitzvot of Judaism
* The Great Commandment
* The New Commandment
The New Commandment is a term used in Christianity to describe Jesus's commandment to "love one another" which, ac ...
", "Thou shalt not get caught." He described many MI5 electronic technologies (some of which he developed), for instance, allowing clever spying into rooms, and
identifying the frequency to which a superhet receiver is tuned. In the afterword, he said that he wrote the book chiefly to work to regain compensation for losses of significant pension income when the British government ruled his pension for earlier work in
GCHQ was not transferable.
Publication and trial
Wright wrote ''Spycatcher'' in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
, after his retirement from MI5. He first attempted publication of his memoirs in 1985.
The British government immediately obtained a court order banning publication in the UK, but the order applied only in the United Kingdom, and the book continued to be available elsewhere. In September 1987, the UK government applied for similar orders to prevent publication in Australia, but lawyer
Malcolm Turnbull representing the publisher, successfully resisted the application, as he did on appeal in June 1988.
English newspapers attempting proper reporting about ''Spycatcher''s principal allegations were served
gag orders; on persisting, they were tried for
contempt of court. These charges were eventually dropped. Throughout all this, the book continued to be sold in Scotland; moreover, Scottish newspapers were not subject to any English gag order, and continued to report on the affair. Quantities of the book easily reached English purchasers from Scotland, while other copies were smuggled into England from Australia and elsewhere. A notable television report at the time featured a reporter flying to Australia, and returning to England with ten copies of the book, which he declared to Heathrow airport's customs officers. After some discussion, he was allowed to take the books into England, as the customs service had not been told to confiscate them.
In mid-1987, a High Court judge lifted the ban on English newspaper reportage on the book. In late July, the
Law Lords again barred reporting Wright's allegations. ''
The Daily Mirror'' published upside-down photographs of the three Law Lords, with the caption 'You Fools'.
British editions of ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' ran a blank page with a boxed explanation that
Eventually, in 1988, the book was cleared for legitimate sale when the Law Lords acknowledged that overseas publication meant it contained no secrets.
However, Wright was barred from receiving royalties from the sale of the book in the United Kingdom. In November 1991, the
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
ruled that the British government had breached the
European Convention of Human Rights in gagging its newspapers.
The accuracy of various allegations made in the book by Wright was questioned in a 1993 review of ''Spycatcher'' published by the
Center for the Study of Intelligence
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, ...
, an in-house think tank for 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, ...
. While admitting (on page 42) that the book included "factual data", the document stated that it was also "filled with
nspecifiederrors, exaggerations, bogus ideas, and self-inflation".
The book has sold more than two million copies.
In 1995, Wright died a millionaire from proceeds of his book.
See also
*
Cambridge Five
*
Julia Pirie
Julia Pirie (8 July 1918 – 2 September 2008) was a British spy working for MI5 from the 1950s through her retirement in the 1990s. She was initially recruited to and primarily involved in spying on the Communist Party of Great Britain. In 1978, ...
*
Streisand effect
References
Literature
*{{cite journal , last1=Burnet , first1=David , last2=Thomas , first2=Richard , date=Summer 1989 , title=Spycatcher: The Commodification of Truth , journal=
Journal of Law and Society
The ''Journal of Law and Society'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed law journal which publishes papers in the field of the sociology of law. It was established in 1974 as the ''British Journal of Law and Society'', obtaining its current name in 1982 ...
, volume=16 , number=2 , pages=210–224 , doi= 10.2307/1410360 , jstor= 1410360
External links
*
ECtHR judgments in case
Sunday Times ''v. UK (No. 2)''an
Observer and Guardian ''v. UK''
1987 non-fiction books
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Censorship in the United Kingdom
European Court of Human Rights cases involving the United Kingdom
Heinemann (publisher) books
Works about the Secret Intelligence Service
Works subject to a lawsuit
Censored books
British autobiographies
Collaborative autobiographies