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ABSTRACT
This article examines how the rise of Militant Tendency transformed MI5’s perception of Trotskyism’s ability to pose a threat to the British state. Militant’s emergence in the 1970s as an entryist organisation within the Labour Party and its subsequent influence on Liverpool City Council in the early 1980s led security officials to consider it as an equal if not greater subversive threat than the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Drawing on newly released files, the article adds to the understanding of counter-subversive investigations in Cold War Britain and assesses how, between the late 1970s and early 1980s, Militant became the first and, so far, only Trotskyist group to be considered by MI5 a significant subversive threat to British internal security.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Crick, Militant, 288; and Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 249-50.
2. Ibid., 288, 50.
3. Crick, Militant, 274-78, 286-88, 305-11.
4. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 142, 853-4. During the interwar period, MI5 put more resources into the investigation and surveillance of the CPGB than any other target. By the early 1970s, 28% of the Security Service’s whole budget was directed to counter-subversion, and much of that on Communism. By contrast, fifty-two per cent of the budget was allocated to counter-espionage and just three per cent to investigating terrorism. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 142, 616.
5. The National Archives (hereafter TNA), CAB 301/485, Brian Cubbon to Cecil Shipp, December 19, 1984.
6. Kelly, Contemporary Trotskyism, 39-41.
7. Literature on the early, pre-war, years of British Trotskyism is limited. The period is covered in detail by Al Richardson and Sam Bornstein in Against the Stream, as well as in a book by Reg Groves, The Balham Group. Richardson and Bornstein also cover wartime Trotskyism in The War and the International. John Callaghan covered the movement well in books written during the 1980s -The British Trotskyism and The Far Left in British Politics, whilst the progression of Militant is well-documented by Michael Crick in his book Militant. There is also some coverage of Trotskyism in two collections on the wider far left edited by Evan Smith and Matthew Worley, Against the Grain: The British Far Left from 1956 and Waiting for the Revolution: The British Far Left from 1956. The only major modern study of British Trotskyism is John Kelly, Contemporary Trotskyism. Whilst detailed, it only begins in 1950 and tends to focus on the Trotskyist movement in Britain post-1970.
8. Apart from Crick’s book examining Militant, there are a number of works which not only focus on the movement but also specifically its activity in Liverpool. The most recent of these include Christopher Massey’s chapter examining Militant’s use of entryism, ‘The Militant Tendency and entryism in the Labour Party’, and his article on Militant’s activity in Liverpool and the subsequent disciplinary hearings, ‘The Labour Party’s Inquiry into Liverpool District Labour Party.’ Neil Pye’s chapter, ‘Militant’s laboratory’, studies Militant’s influence on Liverpool City Council and its policies in the mid-1980s. Current literature on British Trotskyism and Militant in particular contains almost no mention of the activities of the Security Service with regard to Trotskyist groups. There is also little reference to Trotskyists in the literature covering British intelligence. Defence of the Realm by Christopher Andrew contains the most insightful account, with a number of pages detailing MI5’s investigations of Militant.
9. Crick, Militant, 15-16; TNA, CAB 66/49/2, “The Trotskyist Movement in Great Britain,” Herbert Morrison, April 13, 1944.
10. TNA, CAB 66/49/2, “The Trotskyist Movement in Great Britain,” Herbert Morrison, April 13, 1944.
11. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 142-3.
12. Crick, Militant, 16; TNA, CAB 66/49/2, “The Trotskyist Movement in Great Britain,” Herbert Morrison, April 13, 1944.
13. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations.
14. Ibid. For examples of the material collected by Special Branch see numerous reports contained in TNA, KV 2/1824.
15. The Balham Group was the first British Trotskyist organisation.
16. Redfern, “No Friends to the Left,” 343-7.
17. With stretched resources during the war, MI5 was unable to continue to collect information on all members of the CPGB and its sympathisers and had to constrain itself merely to investigating senior Communists and looking into the Party’s covert work. TNA, KV 4/267, minute 119.
18. As seen in the minute sheet of TNA, KV 2/2177, “Volume 1 presumed burnt by enemy action Sept. 1940.”; TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations.
19. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations.
20. Ibid.
21. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, I. History
22. Ibid.
23. TNA, CAB 66/49/2, “The Trotskyist Movement in Great Britain,” Herbert Morrison, April 13, 1944; Jeffery and Hennessy, States of Emergency, 147; Thurlow, Secret State, 260. Whilst Trotskyist involvement in strikes was limited, in 1944, four Trotskyists were imprisoned for terms of between one year and thirteen days for being a part of an Apprentices’ strike on Tyneside. They were, however, later released on Appeal and their sentences quashed. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, I. History.
24. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations.
25. Ibid. The MI5 agent who infiltrated the WIL in 1942 produced information ‘which later proved to be more valuable than [MI5] realised at the time’ and failed in 1943. It took a year for a replacement to be found, and they then only lasted a few months.
26. TNA, KV 2/2177, serial 186b.
27. TNA, CAB 66/49/2, “The Trotskyist Movement in Great Britain,” Herbert Morrison, April 13, 1944. Morrison did, however, make clear that Trotskyists were not merely confined to the RCP, and there were a number of sympathisers with the movement across the country.
28. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations. For some transcripts from the phone tap on the RCP headquarters see—TNA, KV 2/2196, serials 29a, 36a, 37a, 44a, 47a.
29. TNA, KV 4/56, The Trotskyist Movement, II. Investigations.
30. TNA, KV 2/2177, serial 186b.
31. TNA, KV 2/2177, serial 196a.
32. TNA, KV 2/2177, serial 186b. MI5 believed that, as van Gelderen had been away from Britain for such a long time during the war, he was unlikely to have been following the instructions of Haston and instead ‘was acting on his own initiative and probably from simple personal interest.’
33. TNA, KV 2/2196, serial 32a. Observation on Mrs van Gelderen uncovered most notably that she contacted and visited the Pheasantry Club in Chelsea. It was believed possible that she was corresponding with her husband through the Club but MI5 did not instigate any further enquiries to discover if this was so.
34. Alan Thornett, “Charlie van Gelderen: Obituary,” The Guardian, December 15, 2001. Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/dec/15/guardianobituaries.obituaries. As a result of his activities, MI5 sought to have van Gelderen removed from Italy, returned to Britain and transferred to another posting overseas, possibly in the Far East. As he had been abroad for three years this was not, however, possible. It was decided that to try and move him from his Command ‘would undoubtedly create suspicion in [his] mind’, and moves were made, instead, to move him to a different part of Italy. What eventually happened is unclear as the relevant paperwork was destroyed. TNA, KV 2/2177, minute 193, serial 194a.
35. TNA, CAB 130/20/GEN183, GEN 183/1, “The Employment of Civil Servants, etc. exposed to Communist Influence,” Report by the Working Party, May 29, 1947.
36. TNA, KV 4/267, serial 180a; TNA, KV 2/2177, serial 241b. In February 1945, whilst continuing to keep a record of RCP members, MI5 resolved not to record associate members of the RCP or its sympathisers. For more Special Branch reports on the RCP and Trotskyists in the late 1940s and early 1950s see—TNA, HO 45/25,486.
37. Crick, Militant, 27-8; Callaghan, The Far Left, 57-61.
38. Kelly, Contemporary Trotskyism, 41; Crick, Militant, 28-31; Callaghan, The Far Left, 61.
39. Kelly, Contemporary Trotskyism, 41.
40. TNA, CAB 134/1344, AC(H)(59)8, “Trotskyism in Britain,” Note by the Foreign Office, 1 June 1959. Whilst Healy’s and Cliff’s groups were subject to Labour Party discipline during the 1950s and 1960s, Ted Grant and his movement slipped under the radar, being the most minor of the three. Crick, Militant, 29-30.
41. TNA, FCO 168/1043, “Trotskyism and Anarchism as Threats to UK Security,” paper by the Security Service, 17 July 1963.
42. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(66)4, ‘Non-Communist Subversion’ Note by the Security Service, August 1966.
43. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(67)5(Revise), ‘Subversion in the United Kingdom—Autumn 1967ʹ, Security Service, October 1967. These deep fractures within the movement led the Security Service to conclude that ‘the short-term triumph of one [Trotskyist] group over another is still regarded as more important than efforts to pursue a co-ordinated strategy of subversion.’
44. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(67)2, ‘The Subversive Threat to the United Kingdom—March 1967ʹ, Security Service, 22 March 1967; TNA, CAB 301/509,AC(H)(WG)(67)5(Revise), ‘Subversion in the United Kingdom—Autumn 1967ʹ, Security Service, October 1967.
45. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(68)1, ‘Subversion in the United Kingdom—Spring 1968ʹ, Security Service, May 10, 1968; Callaghan, The Far Left, 119-21.
46. Vinen, The Long ’68, 216-17; Sandbrook, White Heat, 534-6.
47. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(68)1, ‘Subversion in the United Kingdom—Spring 1968ʹ, Security Service, May 10, 1968.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(68)3, ‘Student Protest’, Security Service 27 May 1968.
51. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(68) 4rd Meeting, 15 August 1968.
52. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(68) 3rd Meeting, 24 July 1968.
53. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(66)4, ‘Non-Communist Subversion’ Note by the Security Service, August 1966; Redfern, ‘No Friends to the Left’, 351. By the mid-1960s, although there were far more people belonging to the CPGB or sympathising with Communism in Britain than Trotskyism, the CPGB members tended to be older and less active.
54. See note 50 above.
55. See—Callaghan, The Far Left, 119-21 for information on the splits in the IMG.
56. Vinen, The Long ’68, 217.
57. True Spies, BBC Two, Episode 1 ‘Subversive My Arse’, 27 October 2002.
58. Evans and Lewis, Undercover, 14-16. The unit was originally known as the Special Operations Squad, becoming the SDS in 1972-3.
59. Creedon, Operation Herne, 8. It stated that using undercover police officers was more advantageous than ‘traditional methods’ because ‘the information gained in this way is more accurate because the information gatherers are trained observers, the delay occurring when the authorities have to wait for public announcements, or the reports of informants is eliminated and we are able to make much more accurate assessments of future trends and developments.’
60. Ellison and Morgan, Review of Possible Miscarriages of Justice, 13-4.
61. True Spies, BBC Two, Episode 1 ‘Subversive My Arse’, October 27, 2002; Evans and Lewis, Undercover, 18, 20.
62. TNA, CAB 301/495, SH(69)2, ‘Subversion in the United Kingdom’, Security Service, January, 1969.
63. TNA, CAB 301/495, SH(69)5, ‘Subversion among Students at Universities and other centres of Higher Education’, Security Service, July 7, 1969.
64. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 660.
65. Hennessy, Secret State, 122-26, 130-35.
66. The Security Service sent an assessment of subversive groups to the Official Committee on Security twice-yearly. These reports show that MI5 knew what was going on within the IS, IMG and WRP but emphasised their lack of unity and rapid turnover of members. The reports never suggest the Security Service was overly concerned. See—TNA, CAB 134/3840. ‘Half-Yearly Reports for the period…’
67. Lilleker, Against the Cold War, 176-7.
68. Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 175-6, 182, 296.
69. Crick, Militant, 13; Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 172.
70. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 659-60.
71. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April, 1976, 1-2.
72. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April, 1976, 6.
73. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April, 1976, 7.
74. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 668.
75. TNA, CAB 134/1344, AC(H)(59)8, ‘Trotskyism in Britain’, Note by the Foreign Office, June 1, 1959; Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 116-17; Crick, Militant, 1-2. For much more on the specific methods used by the Labour Party in the 1950s and 1960s which were effective in neutralising the ability of Trotskyists to gain any foothold within the Party, see—Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 133-40.
76. Crick, Militant, 43-7; Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 117-18, 218. The RSL that emerged during the 1950s was not the same as the RSL in the 1930s.
77. Thurlow, Secret State, 322-4.
78. Crick, Militant, 103-7; Thomas-Symonds, “A Reinterpretation of Michael Foot’s Handling,” 31-2; Gould, The Witchfinder General, 216. Tony Benn, who was against action, claimed that some of the information showing Trotskyist infiltration had been ‘sent in anonymously by the security and intelligence services’ and other pieces of evidence ‘were forgeries parallel to the Zinoviev letter’.
79. Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 122, 220-21.
80. Crick, Militant, 104-6.
81. Whilst acknowledging members of the new government’s interest in subversion, the Security Service did however question if it was the whole of the government who believed in the threat posed by Trotskyist infiltration or merely a few members who were concerned, notably Rees. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 664.
82. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 660-61.
83. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 661.
84. In May 1945, the Security Service decided not to inform Party leader, Clement Attlee, of the Communist background of the Labour candidate for Hornchurch, Geoffrey Bing, believing that ‘the protection of the Labour Party fortress from such infiltration was almost certainly no concern whatsoever of the Security Service.’ (TNA, KV 2/3812, serial 286a, Orr to Hollis, 19.5.45) In 1961, the Deputy leader of the Labour Party, Patrick Gordon Walker, asked MI5 Deputy Director General, Graham Mitchell, for information on the Communist penetration of the Parliamentary Party, but was refused on the grounds that ‘it was incumbent on the Security Service to be very careful to do nothing which could be represented as partaking of a party political nature.’ Mitchell was particularly reluctant to help the Party conduct a purge. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 413.
85. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April, 1976, 7-8.
86. Callaghan, The Far Left in British Politics, 192-7, 205; Crick, Militant, 56-8; Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 239-40. Militant newspaper initially denied that it had any connection with the RSL, and it was only after 1966 that the RSL began to be more commonly known as Militant or Militant Tendency.
87. Attempts had previously been made to take over the LPYS. MI5 reported in 1966 that the Trotskyist Socialist Labour League (SLL) had successfully penetrated the LPYS (then known as Young Socialists National Committee) in both 1964 and 1965 although most SLL supporters were quickly expelled. TNA, CAB 301/509, AC(H)(WG)(66)4, ‘Non-Communist Subversion’ Note by the Security Service, August 1966, pp.1-2.
88. Crick, Militant, 58-62.
89. Hennessy, The Secret State, 134-5.
90. Crick, Militant, 17-19. Whilst entryism was mostly associated with Trotskyism and often disparaged by Communists, in the 1930s, members of the CPGB had also advocated entryism into the Labour Party—see Campbell and McIlroy ‘“The Trojan Horse”’.
91. Callaghan, The Far Left, 197. Although Militant was committed to the idea of a revolution (violent if necessary), it did not publicly reveal this and only stated its position clearly in internal documents. Crick, Militant, 76-85.
92. Crick, Militant, 67.
93. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April 1976, p.8.
94. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 662.
95. Shaw, Discipline and Discord, 220; Crick, Militant, 108-12.
96. TNA, CAB 301/489, ‘The Threat of Subversion to the UK’, memo by the Security Service, April 1976, 7; Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 240; Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 660.
97. Crick, Militant, 127. Such was the extent of the secrecy that, according to Crick, ‘on one occasion cleaners were not even permitted to replace the towels in the lavatories.’, conference hall bar staff were not allowed to watch proceedings although they claimed sympathy with the movement. In 1980, a reporter wishing to gain access was found to be hiding in a toilet but was discovered and removed. Crick said that no reporter was ever able to find out what went on within the conference.
98. True Spies, BBC Two, Episode 2 ‘Something better change’, 3 November 2002. Robinson described hiding in the cupboard as ‘really frightening…we were obviously terrified of making any form of noise because it would have been heard immediately.’
99. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 661.
100. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 663. Taaffe was not overtly known as the deputy leader since the organisation did not use formal titles; he was however, acknowledged as such.
101. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 661.
102. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 9.
103. Evans and Lewis, Undercover, 146-8.
104. TNA, CAB 301/485, Note for Record, Militant Tendency, RP Hatfield, 16 January 1985.
105. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 9; Sandbrook, Seasons in the Sun, 307.
106. Crick, Militant, 233, 245-7.
107. Callaghan, The Far Left, 207-9; TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 13. Militant councillors attended virtually all meetings of the Council and its Sub-Committees and through their greater dedication, were able to gain chairmanships of key Sub-Committees. To a degree, they were also successful in attracting support from other councillors for their policies of job-creation, mass house-building and cuts in council house rents.
108. Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 249-52; Massey, “The Labour Party’s inquiry into Liverpool,” 301-3; Pye, “Militant’s laboratory,” 157-65.
109. Pye, “Militant’s laboratory,” 156.
110. True Spies, BBC Two, Episode 2 ‘Something better change’, 3 November 2002.
111. Crick, Militant, 197-99. Nellist originally shared an office with a fellow newly-elected MP in Westminster after the 1983 Election, Tony Blair. The two did not share for long, however, in part due to their dissimilar political outlooks. A further Militant member, Pat Wall, was elected Labour MP for Bradford in the 1987 General Election.
112. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 10.
113. Rosenbaum, “The monitoring of MPs,” BBC News, October 21, 2008. Accessed at: www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/opensecrets/2008/10/the_monitoring_of_mps.html
114. True Spies, BBC Two, Episode 2 ‘Something better change’, 3 November 2002.
115. Crick, Militant, 274, Appendix 4 333-37.
116. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 681; Crick, Militant, 274.
117. Crick, Militant, 282, 312-17.
118. “Dave Nellist: The Coventry MP who gave away half his pay,” BBC NEWS, July 13, 2013. Accessed at: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-23289962
119. Crick, Militant, 316-17.
120. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 663, 667; Thomas-Symonds, “A Reinterpretation of Michael Foot’s handling of the Militant Tendency”. In the 1970s, Foot and Kinnock, as members of the NEC, had declined to take action.
121. Massey, ‘The Militant Tendency’, 244-48.
122. Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 245; Pye, “Militant’s laboratory,” 157.
123. Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 247; Massey, “The Labour Party’s inquiry into Liverpool,” 301.
124. Crick, Militant, 277-8; Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 247-8.
125. Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 249-50, 252.
126. Crick, Militant, 312-14.
127. Crick actually identifies 1982-3 as the time in which Militant was at the peak of its influence within the Labour Party nationally, although its membership continued to increase, and it continued to have control in Liverpool for a number of years. Crick, Militant, 275-6.
128. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE A Composition and Terms of Reference. SPL was revived ‘to give guidance on the collection, and to coordinate the assessment of, intelligence about threats to the internal security of Great Britain arising from subversive activities and to make periodic reports to the officials concerned’.
129. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 14.
130. Crick, Militant, 276; Massey, “The Militant Tendency,” 248-9.
131. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 14.
132. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 20.
133. TNA, CAB 301/486, SPL(87)1, January 28, 1987, paragraphs 12-3.
134. TNA, CAB 301/486, SPL(87)1, January 28, 1987, paragraph 14.
135. Hennessy, Secret State, 92-4.
136. HC Hansard Deb, 15 March 1948, vol 448, cc1703-4.
137. The vetting involved submitting names to MI5 to compare against their records of communists. If adverse information was found, the Head of Department would be informed, and measures would likely be taken to remove the individual from his position. The whole step-by-step process of the purge procedure can be seen at—TNA, CAB 21/4011, serial 16, Circular to Heads of certain Departments, Communists and Fascists in the Civil Service, 19 May 1948.
138. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 387-91.
139. TNA, CAB 130/20/GEN183, GEN 183/1, ‘The Employment of Civil Servants, etc. exposed to Communist Influence’, Report by the Working Party, 29 May 1947. Whilst it was not considered necessary to include Trotskyists, the Working Party advising on the policy stated that ‘it would…be intolerable to public opinion and to common sense if a known partisan of any of these groups [the fascists and the RCP] were to be given employment in the public service which involves access to secret information’ and recommended that ‘membership of any of these organisations should be taken into account in assessing suitability for admission to or retention in the public service.’ It is notable, however, that despite such advice, fascists were included in the ‘purge procedure’, although this has been described as merely a piece of ‘window dressing’, so the policy appeared even-handed. Hennessy and Brownfield, ‘Britain’s Cold War Security Purge’, 968.
140. Hennessy, Secret State, 102; Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 383, 387-8.
141. TNA, T 216/971, I. de L. Radice, November 15, 1961.
142. TNA, T 216/971, note for Sir Lawrence Helsby, 14 November 1963; Hennessy, Secret State, 103. Officials did, however, acknowledge that if a Trotskyist was to be dismissed from a Civil Service job and decided to appeal, the appeal could be successful as the original terms of the purge procedure did not overtly mention Trotskyists.
143. TNA, PREM 19/1377, Robert Armstrong to Prime Minister, October 15, 1984.
144. TNA, CAB 301/485, Note for Record, Industrial Relations, RP Hatfield, January 10, 1985.
145. Timmins, “Benefits strike ends, but pensioners must wait for cash,” The Times, December 18, 1984, 2.
146. TNA, CAB 301/485, Ken Stowe to Robert Armstrong, 23 November 1984.
147. See note 144 above.
148. See note 146 above.
149. See note 104 above.
150. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, paragraphs 10-12, paragraph 15.
151. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, Appendix II ‘Govt Departments—holders of subversive records on 31 December 1984ʹ.
152. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, ANNEXE B, The Threat from Subversion: 1985, paragraph 18.
153. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 681; Crick, Militant, 280; Jane Goldrich, “John Macreadie obituary,” The Guardian, January 17, 2011. Accessed at: https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2011/jan/17/john-macreadie-obituary
154. TNA, CAB 301/485, ‘SUBVERSION IN PUBLIC LIFE’, Speaking Notes for Sir Robert Armstrong; TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, paragraph 19.
155. See note 144 above.
156. TNA, CAB 301/485, SH(85)1st Meeting, 27 November 1985.
157. TNA, CAB 301/485, SPL(85)8(Revised) The Threat of Subversion in the Civil Service, paragraph 25, Recommendations; TNA, CAB 301/485, Robert Armstrong to Prime Minister, 6 December 1985.
158. TNA, CAB 301/485, NL Wicks to Armstrong, 9 December 1985.
159. Andrew, The Secret World,756.
160. Andrew, Defence of the Realm, 853.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
George Kassimeris
George Kassimeris is Professor of Security Studies at the University of Wolverhampton.
Oliver Price
Oliver Price is a PhD candidate at the University of Wolverhampton.