1986 Cabinet Office Files: Why Thatcher Government Tried to Block Former Spy’s Memoir

Cabinet Office files, just released by the National Archives, show how concerned Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s government were when a maverick former MI5 agent decided to publish his memoirs in Australia. In 1986, the British government asked Australia’s attorney general to put an injunction on the publication of Spycatcher by 71-year-old Peter Wright, who they claimed was still subject to the Official Secrets Act. Spycatcher contained a number of allegations, including that Mr. Wright himself unmasked Sir Roger Hollis, MI5’s director general between 1956 and 1965, as a Soviet agent. The allegations against Sir Roger had first been aired in Chapman Pincher’s book, “Their Trade is Treachery,” in 1981, eight years after Sir Roger’s death....