French vendetta: from Rainbow Warrior to the Iranian hostages deal

Lobster Issue 16 (1988) £££

[…] also come in for criticism for low productivity in intelligence-gathering. Its information on the Soviet Union or China is scanty and basic in comparison with CIA or MI6 material, and a report indicating a Libyan withdrawal from Chad in 1984 proved embarrassing when it became apparent the following year that the Libyans had actually […]

SAS

Lobster Issue 5 (1984) £££

[…] both owned by the Property Services Agency, Whitehall’s accommodation bureau. The CTT’s valuable services are available only to serving members of Her Majesty’s forces, including MI5 and MI6, and to non-national serving soldiers. They have trained Irish, Belgian and other continental ‘special forces’. CTT instructors/talent scouts include Lucien Ott, one of the older hands, […]

Iraq

Lobster Issue 53 (Summer 2007) £££

[…] is the memorandum written by Matthew Rycroft, dated 23 July 2002, after a meeting at Downing Street to discuss Iraq. In that Rycroft reports ‘C’, head of MI6, as saying, ‘There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable.’ A CIA analyst at the time, Paul Pillar, dates the […]

Eye Spy!

Lobster Issue 42 (Winter 2001/2) £££

[…] Sunday Times, and have already read there. America good! Bin Laden bad! Stella Rimington a bold rebel! Carlos the Jackal bad! Look at this picture of the MI6 building! Look at another picture of the gates of same! On pp. 20-21 an unnamed EYE SPY! reporter attends a (paid!) press conference of Sir Steven […]

Puppet Masters: the political use of terrorism in Italy

Lobster Issue 22 (1991) £££

[…] journalist in Italy and came across what appeared to be evidence in 1972 that Roberto Calvi and the assistant British Military Attache in Rome — presumably an MI6 officer under cover — were funnelling money to the Italian far right. No, Peace for the Wicked is £4.50 from Hale at 31 Ada Road, Canterbury, […]

The British Right

Lobster Issue 16 (1988) £££

[…] right’ Young Tory, Hoiles made a highly publicised visit to Central America in 1985 where he went ‘on patrol’ with the ‘freedom fighters’, was photographed holding an MI6 rifle and so forth. Hoiles is fronting the UK end of an American operation. The original idea of CFN came from one Charles Moser of the […]

Another Pinay sighting

Lobster Issue 22 (1991) £££

[…] as a mixture of fact and fiction. I invited him to correct any errors we had made but have heard nothing.) Fielding’s account of McLean’s life makes it plain that McLean was an MI6 officer for most, if not all, of the post-war period. If true, Fielding’s claim above about Julian Amery is new. RR

The Angolan hostages episode, and more …

Lobster Issue 5 (1984) £££

[…] some British hostages. In some reports, in Private Eye in particular, it has been claimed that the whole affair was orchestrated by an alliance of right-wingers in MI6, the Foreign Office, Unita, and Lonrho. There is no direct evidence of this but it is clear that some people are highly embarrassed by Britain’s support […]

Freedom of Information — new access legislation

Lobster Issue 48 (Winter 2004) £££

[…] it is. Absolute exemptions are not subject to any public interest test, and include information supplied by, or concerning: the Security Service, MI5; the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6; GCHQ; the Special Forces, e.g. the SAS; tribunals concerning intelligence and interception of communications including the Investigatory Powers Tribunal; and the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) […]

Tittle-tattle

Lobster Issue 53 (Summer 2007) £££

[…] we should also mention that MacShane is on the policy council of the Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) whose chair in the House of Lords is old MI6 hand Baroness Ramsay of Cartvale. LFI It proved to be a heavy security presence in Whitehall for an LFI event in April that caused the re-routing […]

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