Spycatcher by Paul Greengrass and Peter Wright. (Image: Getty)
An “utterly shattered” Margaret Thatcher led frantic attempts to ban the infamous MI5 memoir Spycatcher, newly-declassified documents reveal today.
The Iron Lady wanted retired spy Peter Wright’s tell-tale work kept out of bookshops after telling ministers how appalled she was by his “revelations”.
Files seen for the first time detail how her 1980s Government worked feverishly in private to close every loophole the book could slip through.
They obtained a court order which stopped it coming out in Britain but were struggling to stop its publication abroad.
Maggie’s ministers feared librarians from America – where it was a best-seller- might bring copies into Britain for a professional conference.
Senior Tories were so paranoid they were even warned about a single copy being available to read by inmates at a prison library.
The Tory leader wrote on one secret memo: “I am utterly shattered by the revelations in the book. The consequences of publication would be enormous.”
Wright penned Spycatcher after retiring from a 20-year MI5 career to live on Tasmania, off the Australian coast.
Tories viewed it as a cash-for-secrets betrayal by someone who would – on British soil – have been prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.
His account included since-discredited claims that MI5 chief Roger Hollis was a Russian agent and that British spies plotted against Labour Premier Harold Wilson.
Papers from the 1980s, published at the National Archives in Kew, show how worried the Government became when an Australian edition was planned.
Mrs Thatcher’s expression of shock was hand-written on an October 1986 memo from her Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong.
Sir Robert said the work was “potentially embarrassing” and could “cause damage politically and to the standing of the Security Service.”
He added: “The book contains some pieces of fantasy and many mistaken opinions and inaccuracies.”
“It may be that we shall not in the end prevent publication but it is important to do all we can to prevent it.”
When Britain sought an injunction in the Australian High Court, Wright’s lawyer Malcolm Turnbull said Maggie should set up an inquiry to look at “old spooks wanting to tell their stories”.
Turnbull – who went on to become Australian Prime Minister – proposed an out-of-court settlement negotiated by media tycoon Kerry Packer.
But a letter from diplomat Christopher Mallaby to Nigel Wicks, principal private secretary at No 10, said bluntly: “HMG do not set up enquiries at the bidding of the likes of Turnbull”.
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Wicks agreed, replying: “Settlement of the case on the terms put forward by Mr Turnbull was out of the question.”
Wright won the case and a subsequent appeal was rejected – leaving Britain to concentrate on ways of preventing its circulation at home.
Arts Minister Richard Luce wrote to Attorney General Sir Patrick Mayhew, demanding a warning to libraries that stocking the book would be contempt of court.
“In two weeks’ time there will be a major international library conference with many American librarians coming over for it.”
“We know that at least one British Librarian has arranged to receive a copy of ‘Spycatcher’ from a colleague for his library.”
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“A firm line now will weaken the resolve of all but the most obdurate of left wing authorities.”
Mr Luce had received a letter from George Cunningham, chief executive of the Libraries Association, saying members feared they were breaking the law by stocking the book.
He added: “I understand, incidentally, that a copy of the book is held by the library of one of our maximum security prisons and is being made available to prisoners wishing to read it.”
Sir Patrick wrote to Mrs Thatcher, explaining how he wanted Bernard Weatherill, Speaker of the House of Commons, to clamp down on discussion of its contents in Parliament.
He said any MP should be declared “out of order” if they quoted the book at a time when it was “sub judice” because of the UK court order ban.
“The Speaker was not only entitled to enforce but had a duty to enforce the sub judice rule,” he said.
Maggie also faced the headache of passages being circulated by Government stationer HMSO as part of its official report on European Parliament business.
Mr Wicks wrote telling her: “We risk looking foolish if some extracts are distributed by the Government agency, HMSO.”
She writes on his memo: “Yes, we must do everything we can to ensure that one hand of govt. does not distribute what the other hand is trying to stop.”
The files reveal how ministers told British consular staff in countries including New Zealand, Jordan, Singapore and South Africa to monitor book sales carefully.
But our man in Pretoria telegrammed back: “Spycatcher has appeared on sale here. Prospects of interim injunction to prevent sales doubtful. Chance of final interdict in our favour remote.”
From Canberra, the ambassador wrote: “We would be made to look bad losers hell bent on punishing a frail (sic) old man whose right to publish had been upheld by the courts.”
“We should appear not only determined but also vindictive.”
Sir Robert wanted to freeze the civil service pensions of those who sold official secrets but the measure was rejected as being too complicated.
In total, the Government spent an estimated £2 million on its doomed bid to prevent readers seeing a copy of or extracts from Peter Wright’s book.
After losing the Australian court case, ministers failed to stop UK newspapers publishing sections of the book.
Eventually, the courts ruled that the book could be published in Britain and by the time he died aged 78 in 1995, Wright had become a millionaire.
