Harold Wilson

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Lore & Background

Wilson's political life was shadowed by intelligence controversies. Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn allegedly told a British officer that Wilson was a KGB operative and that former leader Hugh Gaitskell had been assassinated to clear the way for him. Christopher Andrew, MI5's official historian, dismissed Golitsyn as an "unreliable conspiracy theorist." Former MI5 officer Peter Wright claimed in his 1987 memoir Spycatcher that CIA's James Angleton told him Wilson was a Soviet agent upon his 1964 election win. Wright also alleged that by the end of the 1960s, two Czechoslovak defectors listed Labour MPs as Soviet agents. Despite these claims, MI5 maintained a file on Wilson under the name "Henry Worthington" for decades before officially concluding he had no relationship with the KGB.

In Their Own Story

In May 1968, Cecil King, head of IPC, arranged a meeting at the request of Lord Mountbatten. Attending were King, Mountbatten, Hugh Cudlipp, and Sir Solly Zuckerman. King proposed that if the government disintegrated amidst crisis and bloodshed, Mountbatten should become the titular head of a new administration. Zuckerman labeled the plan treason and left; Mountbatten agreed and departed. King later forced the Daily Mirror to publish an article calling for Wilson's removal via extra-parliamentary action, leading to his dismissal by the IPC board on 30 May 1968. Later, in 2006, a BBC program reported that Wilson told journalists he feared MI5 plots in the late 1960s and mid-1970s. He alleged plans to install Mountbatten as interim PM and claimed ex-military leaders were building private armies for "wholesale domestic liquidation." Wilson also stated that elements within MI5 spread black propaganda labeling him a Soviet agent and an IRA sympathiser.

Reader's Guide

Harold Wilson faced intense scrutiny regarding security and loyalty. In 1974, after losing the February election to Edward Heath but then winning narrowly back the mandate, rumors swirled of another military coup with Mountbatten as interim head. That year, the army occupied Heathrow Airport for alleged IRA training without Downing Street's prior knowledge, which Wilson viewed as a warning. Peter Wright claimed MI5 colleagues told him "Wilson's a bloody menace" and planned to leak damaging information to sympathetic journalists, a scheme they called a "carbon copy" of the Zinoviev letter. Although Wright said up to thirty officers approved this plan, he refused access to files, and it was never executed. Additionally, in July 1987, Ken Livingstone raised allegations from Colin Wallace about "Clockwork Orange," an Army press office smear campaign against Wilson. Christopher Andrew's 2009 history of MI5 stated no conspiracy existed, though 2010 reports suggested bugging of 10 Downing Street was omitted from the official record.

Did You Know?

• MI5 maintained a secret file on Harold Wilson under the alias 'Henry Worthington' for several decades.
• In 1968, Cecil King was dismissed by his own board after attempting to force the Daily Mirror to call for Wilson's removal.
• Harold Wilson alleged that ex-military leaders were building private armies in anticipation of 'wholesale domestic liquidation'.
• Peter Wright claimed a plot involving up to thirty MI5 officers was prepared to leak damaging intelligence about Wilson before the 1974 election, but it was never carried out.
• Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn allegedly claimed former Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell was assassinated by the KGB.