Talk:Peter Wright

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[edit] Spycatcher: fact or fiction?

Didn't Peter Wright admit a few years after publication that much of the book was untrue, and that he made up certain "facts" to pad out the work and try to support the "true" (according to him) claims he did make? 81.105.27.137 09:41, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Yes, the whole business about him "discovering" that radio receivers put out a discernible signal and that the CIA didnt know about this until he informed them in 1958 is total balderdash. Navy radios since about 1935 were specially designed to eliminate this problem, so the issue was well known since at least 1935. See any Navy radio manual from that era, which points out why the radios tend to eb of the TRF design ratehr than the superhet type.

• And you think the Navy told the CIA? Wasn't that top secret? Kraxler 21:40, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I'd be interested in seeing a citation either way about what the CIA knew at the time. JoshuaZ 21:49, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

I'd be interested in knowing where it is that Peter Wright recorded his admissions of fabrication. It was not mentioned in the obits when he died and that would have been big news. Guardian and BBC have nothing on it. The FBI has nothing on it. MI 5 and the people he libeled have left nothing about it either. A lot of people would have benefitted if they could show PW lied. So, where is the admission? Malangthon 18:18, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

I found one source that says that PW did make a retraction. He had stated that a group of 30 MI5 officers had plotted to overthrow the Wilson government because he was sympathetic to the Soviets. Quotes: "There was one allegation in Wright's book that aroused considerable interest and caused the most anxiety, the so-called Wilson plot. This was Wright's assertion that a group of 30 MI5 officers, of which he was one, plotted to get rid of Harold Wilson's government be cause they suspected the prime minister of being excessively sympathetic to the Soviet Union. Sir Antony Duff, the director-general of the day, who was not an MI5 insider and had no personal knowledge of the service's activities in the period concerned, was determined that the story should be thoroughly investigated.

"Extensive interviews were conducted with those who had known Wright and were still working; white-haired gentlemen all over the country were dug out of retirement and asked to cast their minds back, but though much reminiscing went on, no one could recall anything that sounded like what Wright was claiming had happened. Files were trawled through with the same result.

"Finally, a detailed report was written for Whitehall, and ministers felt sufficiently confident to state publicly that no such plot had ever existed. Wright later withdrew the allegation, admitting, in a Panorama programme in 1988, that what the book said about the so-called plot was not true. However, as is always the way of these things, his retraction went almost unnoticed, and the untrue allegation stuck in some circles and remains in currency to this day."

I found this at the Guardian [[1]] which is an excerpt of a book written by Stella Rimington, a former MI5 director. She makes no other mention of an further retractions made by PW. If anyone has a copy of these memoirs it would make for a nice addition to the article and the one on the book, Spycatcher. Malangthon 18:50, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

The assertions of S. Rimington however present certain problems with regard to recorded history. Parliamentary records indicate that there were more than a few who clearly believed there was a plot within the intelligence community against Wilson's government and furthermore Wilson was suspected by the FBI. Go to the House of Commons Hansard Debates for Nov. 23, 1988 and read the comments by Mr. Jonathan Aitken (Thanet, South) [[2]] in column 221 and column 222.

The amount of evidence to at least support the suspicion of a plot within the intelligence community against the Wilson government and the statement by J. Aitken that the investigation (referred to by Stella Rimington in my notes above) did not necessarily mean the appropriate sources had been interviewed leaves the issue of PW's veracity in this matter intact. I have not yet discovered any source that supports the charge that Peter Wright retracted his statements but I can show that there are sources that support his assertions of a plot against Wilson's government. Malangthon 21:59, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually there is more at the Hansard Debates site. Check it out at [Mr. Mullin House of Commons Hansard Debates for 23 Nov 1988]. Clearly they were relying on other sources that had confirmed the existence of long-term plotting against the Wilson government by members of the British intelligence community. Malangthon 23:07, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

There is more here on Wiki. Check out the article on Harold Wilson in the section "MI5 plot?" Malangthon 23:07, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

And here is a fairly high source, the MI5 itself. The pertinent section regarding Peter Wright's allegations states: "Wright effectively discredited his own evidence the following year in an interview on the BBC's Panorama programme of 13 October 1988. He admitted that his figure of thirty officers was greatly exaggerated: "The maximum number was eight or nine. Very often it was only three." When pressed further and asked, "How many people, when all the talking died down, were still serious in joining you in trying to get rid of Wilson?", Wright replied, "One, I should say." The interviewer asked, "Is that part of the book perhaps an exaggeration of what you recall now?" to which Wright responded, "I would say it is unreliable." "

I got this from the MI5 website THE 'WILSON PLOT'. Clearly PW has moved away from the position in the book. However, he does not say there was no plot. Earlier he blamed the number of 30 officers on the editor of the book as an exaggeration. Malangthon 23:32, 24 December 2006 (UTC)