
To Catch a Spy
How the Spycatcher Affair Brought MI5 in from the Cold
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Narrated by:
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Tim Tate
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By:
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Tim Tate
About this listen
The Spycatcher affair remains one of the most intriguing moments in the history of British intelligence and a pivotal point in the public's relationship with the murky world of espionage and security. It lifted the lid on alleged Soviet infiltration of British services and revealed a culture of law-breaking, bugging and burgling. But how much do we know about the story behind the scandal?
In To Catch a Spy, Tim Tate reveals the astonishing true story of the British government's attempts to silence whistleblower Peter Wright and hide the truth about Britain's intelligence services and political elites. It's a story of state-sanctioned cover-up plots; of the government lying to Parliament and courts around the world; and of stories leaked with the intention to mislead and deceive.
This is a tale of high treason and low farce. Drawing on thousands of pages of previously unpublished court transcripts, the contents of secret British government files, and original interviews with many of the key players in the Spycatcher trials, it draws back the curtain on a hidden world. A world where spies, politicians and Britain's most senior civil servants conspired to ride roughshod over the law, prevented the public from hearing about their actions and mounted a cynical conspiracy to deceive the world. It is the story of Peter Wright's ruthless and often lawless obsession to uncover Russian spies, both real and imagined, his belated determination to reveal the truth and the lengths to which the British government would go to silence him.
Expertly researched never boring!
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Fascinating exploration of Spycatcher affair
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That single-theme focus contrasts sharply with a general (e.g. my own) perception of the news on a multi-themed level. To give an example: at present (9.2024) one might follow Ukraine + US election + Winter Fuel Allowance + boats in English channel + war in M. East + test cricket + Premier League etc etc etc.
As a result one overlooks the massive force of one topic as I did in the 1980s whereby I completely missed what the 'Spycatcher' scandal was all about. It is very much to the author's credit that he fully explains the major shift in UK policy re intelligence which resulted from the total debacle (based on bad faith) re 'Spycatcher'. In addition it very correctly raises rogue elements in MI5 who attempted to blackmail then UK premier Harold Wilson out of office, and their totally bugging of his 10 Downing Street for many years not to mention how 'bugged and burgled' their way across London (in the words of Peter Wright).
On the other hand, the book is badly edited i.e. too many unexplained loose ends and confusing grammar + an apparent ignorance of relevant literature e.g. Andrew Lownie's biography of Guy Burgess 'Stalin's Englishman'.
The author's reading is quite adequate and didn't irritate me.
So all in all, I definitely recommend this book as essential to comprehend e.g. the Thatcher administration, attacks by elements in MI5 attacks on Labour administrations, and other related themes.
issues re editing but essential re UK history
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Very interesting book and nicely read
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What was most eye catching however was the expose of the tangled web, arrogance and sheer incompotence of both our security services and successive governments. Though the Spycatcher matter is consigned to history I suspect this status quo is not so consigned. I'm afraid to say that Margaret Thatcher has gone down in my estimation.
Thanks to the author for this important work, which (to borrow a frequent line from the book) 'is in the public interest.
Eye Catcher!
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To Catch a Spy. Author Tim Tate
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