Czech spies given manual on how to recruit MPS
Left-wing politicians with a taste for the high life seen as attractive targets by Cold War Communists
COLD War spies wrote a guide on how to target Labour MPS to get them to pass information to Communist Czechoslovakia, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.
Secret agents were told to target those who enjoyed living the high life but could not afford it, and MPS who had gone to “normal” schools.
The links between Left-wing politicians and Communist countries was so rife at the height of the Cold War that British security services intervened to warn the Foreign Office so they could be reined in, according to intelligence documents recently unearthed in
Prague. The Czechoslovak spies, often in Britain under the guise of being diplomats, rubbed shoulders with Leftwing politicians at their annual conferences and trade union meetings.
A “plan of how to start work on the Labour Party”, written by a Captain Skalicky in 1964, notes that Labour was the main opposition and could be in government after the next election.
The guide said that undercover agents should “try to contact them or meet them in an official reception” and then invite them on trips to Czechoslovakia.
It is important, documents state, that the “collaboration” was direct between the MP and the spy based upon “personal sympathy” and they should become “friends”.
“We need to look for MPS who like to live in high society, who have big needs and don’t have the money to make that happen,” the briefing advises.
They also targeted those who did not have “political reservations” about the
Communist project. The tick list also included instructions to target Leftwing MPS who went to “normal schools”. They noted that “young people with political ambitions would be easy to work on”.
Captain Skalicky recommended that a scout went in first to work out what an MP liked and their hobbies and then for a second agent, who had not had any contact with them, to use that information to contact them directly.
It comes after the Telegraph revealed that the Czech police archives include claims that Barbara Castle, Stan Orme. who was later a Cabinet minister, and Alf Lomas, who became leader in the European Parliament, were among a number of senior Labour figures to hold meetings with Czech spies.
It follows revelations that Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, met an agent from the Eastern bloc country as a young MP and Geoffrey Robinson had several meetings before becoming paymaster general under Tony Blair.
Both men strenuously deny passing confidential information to foreign agents.
The latest documents seen by this newspaper show that Czech spies were informed of a briefing from British Secret Services to the Foreign Office.
In 1961, MI5 said that the financial situation of some Labour MPS meant that they “could be hired by foreign intelligence services”, according to the files held in the archives of the former Czechoslovakian secret police, the Statni Bezpecnost (STB).
British agents warned that the politicians were making trips to other countries which “cost a lot of money and the suspicion was that they are being paid for by socialist countries”. The spies admitted that they had no proof of the payments but warned the Foreign Office that there were suspicions that the MPS had “bank accounts abroad”.
They suggested that Hugh Gaitskell, then leader of the Labour Party, be told to create some “very strict rules to control MPS”, particularly those who were frequently travelling to Communist countries.
Prof Christopher Andrew, the official historian of MI5, said that because Communism was so unpopular in Britain fears were rife that those on the extreme Left had infiltrated the Labour Party.
He told the Telegraph that suspicion of communist infiltration, though exaggerated, had a history within the party and was “why Clement Attlee at his own request met with the head of MI5 more frequently than any other prime minister in the 20th century”.
‘We should look for MPS who like high society. Young people with ambitions would be easy to work on’
Gaitskell and other party leaders were so concerned that they drew up a list of 16 names from their own ranks which they handed to MI5 in 1961, he pointed out.
Prof Andrew said that although the service would have been more likely to target Left-wing MPS, the STB also recruited Conservative junior minister Ray Mawby.
John Stonehouse, Labour minister for technology and the postmaster general, denied claims he was on the Czech payroll. He faked his own death, for which he was jailed. Labour MP Will Owen admitted receiving £500 a month from the STB for his services.
The files in the archives of the STB seen by this newspaper, which run to hundreds of pages, also include a list of the MPS, both Labour and Conservative, and whether or not they should or could be targeted.
Next to each name is a note with messages such as “no point, not important” or “doesn’t care about money”.
Next to Harold Wilson they noted that he “could be useful” and was “worth a try”.