Spycatcher allegations left Thatcher feeling ‘shattered’

MARGARET THATCHER was left “utterly shattered” by the claims of former MI5 officer Peter Wright in his book Spycatcher and warned of the “enormous consequences” of its publication, newly declassified documents show.

For the first time, secret Whitehall correspondence on the battle to ban Wright’s 1987 memoir has been made available, detailing Mrs Thatcher’s fears over the threat the book posed through Wright’s claim that former MI5 chief Sir Roger Hollis was a Soviet spy.

Wright, a member of MI5 from 1955 to 1976, was one of the lead investigators into the allegations and he found against Sir Roger, director general of the Security Service from 1956 to 1965.

Despite Wright’s findings, the Government’s official position was that there was no evidence that Sir Roger – who died in 1973 – betrayed his country.

In October 1986 the Cabinet secretary Robert Armstrong sent a memo to the prime minister warning that if Wright’s book was published it would “cause damage politically and to the standing of the Security Service”. Thatcher scribbled on the note: “I am utterly shattered by the revelations in the book. The consequences of publication would be enormous.”

The Government obtained a court order banning the book in the UK but an attempt to prevent publication in Australia, where Wright was living, failed, and it was published all over the world. In 1988 it went on sale in England after Law Lords decided that any secrets were widely known because of publication in other countries.

Wright died in 1995, having become a millionaire through sales of his book.