Gove denies public report on PM ‘coup’
MICHAEL Gove is blocking the release of a 25-year-old report into an alleged plot to overthrow Harold Wilson as PM.
The Cabinet Office boss refuses to publish even a redacted version of the 1996 findings, by the late Labour PM’s Cabinet Secretary John Hunt, into claims of a military coup.
Now ex-Labour minister and peer Philip Hunt is demanding Mr Gove finally reveals the truth.
SECRET
He said: “MI5 say there is no substance in the Wilson plot. If that’s true there’s no reason this report should be kept secret.”
Wilson, PM 1964 to 70 and 74-76, believed MI5 had a hand in plots against him, including one in the 70s when ex-soldiers were said to be planning a coup.
Cabinet Office minister Lord True has said papers about a Wilson plot “are reviewed regularly” to see if they can be released.
But Wilson’s ex-press secretary Joe Haines said: “The only reason for nonpublication is to hide MI5’s embarrassment.”