Revealed, sex claim Tory’s friendship with spy chief
A FORMER head of MI5 admitted yesterday that she was close friends with a Tory minister who escaped investigation over allegations of child abuse.
Baroness Manningham-Buller also revealed she had to distance herself from Sir Peter Morrison when he falsely tried to pass her off as his girlfriend.
She told a public inquiry yesterday that she discussed the abuse claims with the Chester MP over dinner in 1986, when she was a mid-ranking intelligence officer.
Lady Manningham-Buller wrote to MI5 bosses after the meeting, explaining that Margaret Thatcher was fully supportive of Sir Peter, who was one of the then prime minister’s closest aides. The correspondence was relayed to the Cabinet Office and prompted the agency to drop a potential investigation into the MP.
It is understood to be the first time that a former MI5 director general has been questioned during an open session of a public inquiry.
It came as evidence emerged at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that Lady Thatcher acted to shield Sir Peter from further investigation despite claims he had ‘a penchant for small boys’.
Documents showed Lady Thatcher was aware of the claims against him but decided
‘A penchant for small boys’
that ‘nothing could be done’, deterring further questions being asked of a source.
In 1986 Sir Peter was a minister in the Thatcher government. He later became deputy chairman of the Conservative Party and in 1990 was made Lady Thatcher’s parliamentary private secretary. He never faced criminal charges and died aged 51 in 1995.
Lady Manningham-Buller, who was head of MI5 between 2002 and 2007, said she enjoyed a friendship with Sir Peter throughout the 1980s. The inquiry was told she was regularly heard ‘giggling’ during Sir Peter’s phone calls with staff.
Their friendship ‘withered’ by the end of the decade, she said. ‘I thought he was seeking to give the impression I was his girlfriend, which was inaccurate,’ she added. ‘Secondly, these allegations ... made me feel uncomfortable.’