How Thatcher let dying spy read secret verdict on greatest coup

THE deathbed request of a spy who masterminded one of the greatest Second World War operations was granted by Margaret Thatcher.

Ewen Montagu wanted to find out the official verdict on Operation Mincemeat, an audacious 1943 plan which helped change the course of the war by fooling the Nazis into sending their troops to the wrong place before the Allied invasion of Sicily.

Newly-declassified National Archives files reveal that Mr Montagu, a judge who worked as a naval intelligence officer during the war, wrote to Mrs Thatcher in 1984 from his deathbed with his request.

The files reveal that the then prime minister granted his last wish, enabling him to read the official account of his success.

Mr Montagu’s wartime deception, which was the brainchild of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, remains one of the most stunning feats of espionage.

Agents transported the body of a dead tramp dressed in military uniform with fake invasion papers in his pockets to southern Spain by submarine and released it close to the Spanish coast. The body was found by a fisherman who gave it to his government which, in turn, passed it to the Nazis.

The faked documents, the subject of the 1956 film The Man Who Never Was, even made it to the desk of Hitler himself and convinced the Nazis the Allies planned to attack Greece instead of Italy. The extra or revealed dinary tale is the subject of a number of books and films which chart how the hoax fooled the Nazis into diverting troops.

Now it can be revealed that one of the central characters was desperate to know how history would judge him.

In the 1984 letter to Mrs Thatcher’s Cabinet Secretary Sir Robert Armstrong, Mr Montagu pleaded for the release of an official history of the operation which had been banned under secrecy rules. His letter he had ‘only months to live’ and he begged to see a draft of the book to learn the official verdict on the plan.

He also pleaded for its release on the grounds that ‘an account of a real triumph of co- operation and ability’ would boost public morale at a time of uncertainty.

In a PS he added: ‘In view of my now limited lifespan… would it be possible for me to see a draft in confidence.’ The letter is marked ‘very urgent advice please’.

Mrs Thatcher was clearly moved and said she was ‘content’ for Mr Montagu to see the typescript on condition ‘that he reads and returns it and does not show it to anyone else’ – and stated that it should not be published. Sir Robert expressed her opinion as being ‘that too much has been said and written about intelligence and that less should be said.’

Mr Montagu was thrilled by her decision, writing to her in January: ‘I cannot thank you enough for enabling me to read Professor Michael Howard’s book before it is too late for me to do so.’ He died in July 1985 at the age of 84.

‘An account of a real triumph’