Ray Mawby
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Raymond Llewellyn Mawby (6 February 1922 – 22 July 1990) was a British Member of Parliament for the Conservative Party and a junior Minister, who was in the pay of 2nd Directorate of the General Staff of the Czechoslovak People's Army, the
military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
service of the
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...
.


Early life and political career

Mawby was educated at
Long Lawford Long Lawford is a village and civil parish in the Rugby borough of Warwickshire, England, located just west of Rugby, around west of Rugby town centre. In the 2021 census, the population of the parish was 4,545, a significant increase from 3,1 ...
school. He worked as an electrician, and entered politics through his involvement with trade unionism. He was an official in the Rugby branch of the Electrical Trades Union and became the first president of the Conservative
Trade Union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
ists' national advisory committee. Mawby was a Rugby Borough councillor in 1952. In 1954 he was present in a delegation to Cairo when
Gamal Abdel Nasser Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970) was an Egyptian military officer and revolutionary who served as the second president of Egypt from 1954 until his death in 1970. Nasser led the Egyptian revolution of 1952 a ...
gained power in a coup, and was the first foreign politician to officially meet him. He became Member of Parliament for
Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...
in 1955, and was assistant
Postmaster General A Postmaster General, in Anglosphere countries, is the chief executive officer of the postal service of that country, a ministerial office responsible for overseeing all other postmasters. History The practice of having a government official ...
from 1963 to 1964. Mawby actively campaigned against legalising male homosexual acts. His constituency was abolished in 1983 and he failed to win selection in either of its successor seats,
South Hams South Hams is a non-metropolitan district, local government district on the south coast of Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Totnes, although the largest town is Ivybridge. The district also contains the towns of Dartmouth, ...
and
Teignbridge Teignbridge is a local government district in Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Newton Abbot. The district also includes the towns of Ashburton, Buckfastleigh, Dawlish, Kingsteignton and Teignmouth, along with numerous vi ...
.


"Laval"

Following access by the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
to previously secret files held by the current
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
security services, it was revealed on 28 June 2012 that Mawby, who was given the code name "Laval", had spied for the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic during the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
. He received £100 () per nugget of information, and even signed a receipt for one payment. He handed over handwritten floor plans of the Prime Minister's office in the House of Commons, and details of who provided security at the office. He also promised to ask questions in the House on behalf of his paymasters. During the decade that Mawby supplied information he handed over lists of parliamentary committees, and details about his fellow politicians, including a supposedly confidential parliamentary investigation into a Conservative peer. Meetings sometimes took place three or four times in a month, although this greatly decreased by the end of the 1960s, and ended completely in November 1971. There is no indication in
MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...
's authorised history that they knew of Mawby's spying activities, and he is the only Conservative MP known to have spied for a Communist government.


See also

*
Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes The Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes ( or ÚSTR) is a Czech government agency and research institute. It was founded by the Czech government in 2007 and is situated at Siwiecova street, Prague- Žižkov (the street is named after ...
*
John Stonehouse John Thomson Stonehouse (28 July 192514 April 1988) was a British Labour and Co-operative Party politician, businessman and minister who was a member of the Cabinet under Prime Minister Harold Wilson. He is remembered for his unsuccessful atte ...


References and sources

;References ;Sources *''Times Guide to the House of Commons 1979'' *


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mawby, Ray 1922 births 1990 deaths British people accused of spying for Czechoslovakia (1945–1989) British trade unionists Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Warwickshire UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Totnes Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964