An Enemy of the Crown: The British Secret Service Campaign Against Charles Haughey - Couverture souple

Burke, David

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1781178216 ISBN 13 : 9781781178218

Editeur : The Mercier Press, 2022

Synopsis

In the early 1970s, Sir Maurice Oldfield of the British Secret Service, MI6, embarked upon a decade-long campaign to derail the political career of Charles Haughey. The English spymaster believed Haughey was a Provisional IRA godfather, and therefore a threat to Britain. Oldfield was assisted by unscrupulous British agents and by a shadowy group of conspirators inside the Irish state’s security apparatus who shared his distrust of Haughey. They have escaped scrutiny for their actions until now. More than a dozen instances of their activities are examined in this book. Dirty tricks were used by these spies as they circulated vicious smears in Ireland, Britain and the US. MI6 and IRD intrigues were devised to impede Haughey's bid to secure a position on Fianna Fáil’s front bench and a return to respectability. There was no let-up in London’s drive against Haughey after Fianna Fáil returned to power in triumph in 1977 with a large majority of seats in the Dáil. When Haughey sought a place at Cabinet, more dirty tricks were deployed to impede him. MI6 played a part in trying to prevent Haughey succeed Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in 1979 by circulating lurid stories about him. While Haughey was suspicious of MI6 interference, he had no inkling of the full extent of London’s clandestine efforts to destroy him. Oldfield was conspiratorial by nature and lacked a moral compass. He was involved in regime change plots and torture in the Middle East, the use of convicted criminals as agent provocateurs in the Republic of Ireland and the exploitation of paedophile rings in Northern Ireland. This book is an attempt to shed light on at least some of the anti-Haughey conspiracies which took place during the period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

David Burke, a practising barrister, writes on many issues for Village Magazine. He is the author of Deception and Lies: The Hidden History of the Arms Crisis 1970 and Kitson's Irish War.

Extrait. © Reproduit sur autorisation. Tous droits réservés.

This book is dedicated to Fred Holroyd and Colin Wallace, two British intelligence whistle blowers who paid a heavy price for resisting the pressure to engage in criminal activity in Ireland. The revelations they made in the 1980s about assassination operations, collusion with loyalist paramilitary gangs and the exploitation of child abuse networks led to a decision by the British government to place MI5 on a legislative footing with a modicum of oversight, something one hopes has curtailed the worst impulses of the people who work for it. Long may Holroyd and Wallace continue to shine a light on the nefarious activities of British intelligence. Introduction In the early 1970s, Sir Maurice Oldfield of the British Secret Service, MI6, embarked upon a decade–long campaign to derail the political career of Charles Haughey of Fianna Fáil.1 Dirty tricks were employed by the Englishman to thwart Haughey’s efforts to revive his career in the wake of his dismissal from cabinet in 1970 after he was alleged to have attempted to import arms illegally. The dismissal was followed by MI6 intrigues to impede his bid to secure a position on Fianna Fáil’s front bench and a return to respectability while his party was in opposition, 1973–77. After Fianna Fáil returned to power in triumph in 1977, with a large majority, there was no let-up in the drive against Haughey by Oldfield. At this juncture, Haughey was seeking a place in Jack Lynch’s new cabinet. Oldfield also played a part in trying to prevent Haughey succeed Lynch as taoiseach in 1979. While Haughey was suspicious of MI6 interference, he had no inkling of the full extent of Oldfield’s clandestine efforts to destroy him. The English spy did not understand the intricacies of Irish politics and believed Haughey was close to the Provisional IRA and therefore, in his eyes, a threat to Britain. Oldfield’s obsession with the Irishman can be aptly compared to that of Ahab’s fixation with the whale in Moby Dick. During the period under review, 1968–1980, Oldfield and his ilk unleashed assassins, bombers, bank robbers, AN ENEMY OF THE CROWN 20 blackmailers, brothel keepers and child traffickers to further London’s interests in Ireland. This book, however, will focus primarily on the manoeuvrings against politicians, especially Haughey.2 The task involved the assembly of massive amounts of information from disparate sources about Haughey and his associates, and tracking the incessant circulation of smears that impugned Haughey’s character on a multiplicity of fronts. The English spymaster was assisted in his machinations by a shadowy group of conspirators inside Dublin’s security apparatus who shared Oldfield’s distrust of Haughey. They have escaped scrutiny for their actions until now. As this history unfolds, more than a dozen instances of their activities will be described; many of which employed dirty tricks. Crucially, some of these operations involved a high- level official from the Department of Justice (DoJ). In addition, a number of gardaí lent a helping hand. Oldfield was ideal for the secret world of espionage and dirty tricks. He was conspiratorial by nature and lacked a moral compass. It is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the most noteworthy figures of the early years of the Troubles. He was assisted by an array of spies, ambassadors, diplomat–spies and black propaganda operatives in his campaign to thwart Haughey. The most important of these are outlined below: Peter Evans who presented himself to the Irish public as the innocuous sounding ‘information’ officer at the British embassy in Dublin, 1970–72. He was in fact one of Oldfield’s most valuable operatives. Insofar as it is possible to disinter the bones of MI6’s activities in Ireland in the early 1970s, he In the early 1970s, Sir Maurice Oldfield of the British Secret Service, MI6, embarked upon a decade-long campaign to derail the political career of Charles Haughey of Fianna Fáil. Dirty tricks were employed by the Englishman to thwart Haughey’s efforts to revive his career in the wake of his dismissal from cabinet in 1970, after he was alleged to have attempted to import arms illegally. The dismissal was followed by MI6 intrigues aimed at impeding his bid to secure a position on Fianna Fáil’s front bench and a return to respectability while his party was in opposition from 1973 to 1977. After Fianna Fáil returned to power in triumph in 1977 with a large majority, there was no let-up in the drive against Haughey by Oldfield. At this juncture, Haughey was seeking a place in Jack Lynch’s new cabinet, and Oldfield also played a part in trying to prevent Haughey from succeeding Lynch as taoiseach in 1979. While Haughey was suspicious of MI6 interference, he had no inkling of the full extent of Oldfield’s clandestine efforts to destroy him. The English spy did not understand the intricacies of Irish politics and believed Haughey was close to the Provisional IRA and therefore, in his eyes, a threat to Britain. Oldfield’s obsession with the Irishman can be aptly compared to Ahab’s fixation with the whale in Moby-Dick. During the period under review, 1968–1980, Oldfield and his ilk unleashed assassins, bombers, bank robbers, blackmailers, brothel keepers, and child traffickers to further London’s interests in Ireland. This book, however, will focus primarily on the manoeuvrings against politicians, especially Haughey. The task involved assembling massive amounts of information from disparate sources about Haughey and his associates, and tracking the incessant circulation of smears that impugned Haughey’s character on a multiplicity of fronts. The English spymaster was assisted in his machinations by a shadowy group of conspirators inside Dublin’s security apparatus who shared Oldfield’s distrust of Haughey and have escaped scrutiny for their actions until now. As this history unfolds, more than a dozen instances of their activities will be described, many of which employed dirty tricks. Crucially, some of these operations involved a high-level official from the Department of Justice (DoJ), and in addition, a number of gardaí lent a helping hand. Oldfield was ideal for the secret world of espionage and dirty tricks—he was conspiratorial by nature and lacked a moral compass. It is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the most noteworthy figures of the early years of the Troubles. He was assisted by an array of spies, ambassadors, diplomat–spies, and black propaganda operatives in his campaign to thwart Haughey. The most important of these include Peter Evans, who presented himself to the Irish public as the innocuous-sounding ‘information’ officer at the British embassy in Dublin from 1970 to 1972, but was in fact one of Oldfield’s most valuable operatives. Insofar as it is possible to disinter the bones of MI6’s activities in Ireland in the early 1970s, he emerges as one—if not the most significant—of the dirty tricks operatives to serve in Dublin. Another was Hugh Mooney, who worked for the Information Research Department (IRD), Britain’s black propaganda and forgery directorate, which worked closely with MI6. Mooney was a key figure in the smear campaigns directed against Haughey and other Irish politicians, including John Hume of the SDLP. He was an ideal choice for the task, having studied at Trinity College Dublin before working as a sub-editor at The Irish Times. Sir Andrew Gilchrist, Britain’s ambassador to Dublin from 1966 to 1970, was what can be fairly described as a ‘diplomat-spy’, given his special forces and intelligence background. His actions in trying to unravel Fianna Fáil ministers’ activities during the Arms Crisis will be examined in the first part of this book. He was succeeded by Sir John Peck (1970–73), a master of dirty tricks who had served as director of the IRD in the 1950s and was central to multiple regime change plots, including the one that succeeded in ousting the prime minister of Iran in 1953. There was as much intrigue in Dublin in the 1970s as there was in Berlin, Moscow, or Havana. The full extent of it has been buried so deeply that it may never see the light of day. This book is an attempt to shed light on at least some of the conspiracies that took place on this island during the 1960s to the early 1980s. An even fuller picture may eventually emerge if MI6’s files become available one day.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: The Mercier Press
• Date d'édition: 2022
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1781178216
• ISBN 13: 9781781178218
• Reliure: Broché
• Numéro d'édition: 1
• Nombre de pages: 320
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Europaallee 1; Bad Hersfeld; 36244; Allemagne