Spycatcher Was Mentally Ill (Said Former MI5 Chief Was Russian Spy; Conspiracy Theorist)

The Australian ^ | October 06, 2009 | Peter Wilson

[nickcarraway]

PETER Wright, the British agent whose publication in Australia of Spycatcher was a victory for free speech, has been slammed in a new history of MI5 as a dangerous conspiracy theorist, whose work in the intelligence service was as damaging and distracting as that of some traitors.

Christopher Andrew, the leading historian who has had unprecedented access to MI5 files to write the first official history of the secret service, concluded that while he was an active officer Wright's "conspiracy theories arguably did as much damage to the service as the treachery" of traitor Anthony Blunt.

The Cambridge University historian told The Australian last night that after studying Wright's career through unprecedented access to archives of the spycatcher's work and subsequent reviews of his activities by other MI5 agents, he believed that he had been mentally ill.

Wright retired from MI5 in 1976 and moved to Tasmania, where he published Spycatcher in 1985 to get around British secrecy laws. He died aged 78 in 1995.

In The Defence of the Realm, Professor Andrew notes that Wright's legal case against the British government's ham-fisted attempt to suppress the book was run by the "the able, aggressive 32-year-old Malcolm Turnbull" and proved a debacle for London.

"I was in Australia in the immediate aftermath of Peter Wright's case and of course it was a wonderfully satirical story," he said last night. "The Poms have never taken such a beating -- and I include all Test series -- as they took in those particular days."

But long before he embarrassed the British government over its attempts to suppress the book, Wright had already inflicted greater damage as an active officer by spreading his own theories and manufacturing evidence to support them.

[Sir_Ed]

They said the same thing about James Angleton, who I suspect was right about everything he said...

Ed

[seekthetruth]

BUMP to the top of the page.

I hear-by challenge EVERY FREEPER who has not made a donation to Free Republic to make a donation of just $10 and see what happens to the Freep-A-Thon!

I would think that every Freeper could donate at least $10 to help keep FR up and running! :)

[iowamark]

Peter Wright believed that his own superior, MI5 boss Roger Hollis, was a Soviet agent. His ultimate theory was that the British PM Harold Wilson was also a Soviet agent. He was correct that Wilson's socialism was destroying Britain but probably not about the agent part.

His theories became public in Chapman Pincher's 1981 book Their Trade is Treachery.

[nickcarraway]

Chapman Pincher released a book this summer about Hollis.

[iowamark]

I didn’t know that Pincher was still alive, age 95.

[DontTreadOnMe2009]

***

It was NOT just Peter Wright who said and thought this many many others, in thee CIA and in MI5 and even MI6, said so at the time and thought so.

I have read about the matter extensively.

WIthout any doubt, Roger Hollis was a spy and Mr Pincher’s most recent book has finally found two eyewitnesses.

Worth buying the book.

An excellent book - hats off to Mr Chapman Pincher at the age of 95 for writing this.

BTW many of the claims in the excerpt are incorrect but it’s not worth my trouble to refute them.