Clockwork Orange was a secret
British security services
Security Service or security service may refer to:
Government
* Security agency, a nation's institution for intelligence gathering
* List of security agencies (MI5, NSA, KGB, etc.)
* (SD), Nazi German agency which translates as "Security Servi ...
project alleged to have involved a
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
smear campaign
A smear campaign, also referred to as a smear tactic or simply a smear, is an effort to damage or call into question someone's reputation, by propounding negative propaganda. It makes use of discrediting tactics.
It can be applied to individual ...
against British
politicians
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
from 1974 to 1975. The
black propaganda led 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 ...
to fear that the security services were preparing a ''
coup d'état''. The operation takes its name from ''
A Clockwork Orange'', a 1971
Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick (; July 26, 1928 – March 7, 1999) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films, almost all of which are adaptations of nove ...
film based on
Anthony Burgess' 1962
novel of the same name.
The project was undertaken by members of the British
intelligence services and the
British Army press office in
Northern Ireland, whose job also included routine
public relations work and placing
disinformation stories in the press as part of a
psychological warfare operation against the
Provisional Irish Republican Army.
One of the project's members,
Colin Wallace, who was the press officer at the
Army Headquarters in Northern Ireland
HQ Northern Ireland was the formation responsible for the British Army in and around Northern Ireland. It was established in 1922 and disbanded, replaced by a brigade-level Army Reserve formation, 38 (Irish) Brigade, in 2009.
History
Ireland was ...
, also claims that in 1973, after
MI5 became the primary intelligence service in Northern Ireland, the project began giving briefings to foreign journalists against members of Wilson's government. These briefings included distributing forged documents in an attempt to show that the victims were
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
s or
Irish republican
Irish republicanism ( ga, poblachtánachas Éireannach) is the political movement for the unity and independence of Ireland under a republic. Irish republicans view British rule in any part of Ireland as inherently illegitimate.
The develop ...
sympathisers leading a campaign to destabilise Northern Ireland or were taking bribes.
After his resignation, Wilson claimed that he was the target of a planned military coup. He also denounced a campaign to smear him staged by members of MI5 in order to force his resignation.
According to journalist Barry Penrose, Wilson "spoke darkly of two military coups which he said had been planned to overthrow his government in the late 1960s and in the mid 1970s."
[
In January 1974, the British Army carried out Operation Marmion, the occupation of London's ]Heathrow Airport
Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...
on the grounds of training for possible violent non-state actor activity at the terminal,[ without Wilson's foreknowledge. The operation was repeated on three more occasions in June, July and September. These military deployments were perceived by many in the left as a practice run for a military takeover rather than an anti-terrorist exercise.]
Airey Neave
Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, (;) (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP) from 1953 until his assassination in 1979.
During World War II he was the first British prisoner-of-war
...
, a Conservative Member of Parliament, was alleged to have been involved with Clockwork Orange, and to have briefed Wallace on a number of occasions.
In the House of Commons, on 30 January 1990, junior defence minister
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
Archie Hamilton, admitted the existence of a proposed project called ''Clockwork Orange'', although he went on to say that the project was never approved for operation and that there was no evidence that the proposed project involved a smear campaign against politicians.Hansard, 30 January 1990, Column 108
/ref>
See also
*Paul Foot Paul Foot may refer to:
* Paul Foot (comedian) (born 1973), English comedian
* Paul Foot (journalist) (1937–2004), British investigative journalist, political campaigner and author
See also
* Paul Foot Award
The Paul Foot Award is an award give ...
, ''Who framed Colin Wallace?'' (1989)
* Peter Wright, ''Spycatcher
''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 ...
'' (1987)
References
{{Conspiracy theories
1970s coups d'état and coup attempts
1970s in the United Kingdom
Attempted coups d'état
Black propaganda
Conspiracy theories in the United Kingdom
Disinformation operations
Political history of the United Kingdom
Propaganda in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom intelligence operations