Category Archives: MI6

Angry TV film-makers stop release of lauded Iranian documentary

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Coup 53, which charts MI6’s role in the shah’s restoration, has been blocked by makers of an 1985 show, who say it sullies their names

Coup 53 was heralded by critics this summer as a “powerful and authoritative” documentary “as gripping as any thriller”, and judged by historians as crucial to understanding Britain’s relationship with the Middle East.

Made over 10 years by Walter Murch, the celebrated editor of Apocalypse Now and The English Patient, in collaboration with the Anglo-Iranian director Taghi Amirani, it tells the story of covert British intervention in Iran after the second world war and stars Ralph Fiennes, left, as an MI6 spy in a reconstruction of a key incident.

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British spy’s account sheds light on role in 1953 Iranian coup

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Interview given by MI6 officer in 1980s was discovered in research for new documentary

A first-hand account of Britain’s role in the 1953 coup that overthrew the elected prime minister of Iran and restored the shah to power has been published for the first time.

The account by the MI6 officer who ran the operation describes how it took British intelligence years to persuade the US to take part in the coup. Meanwhile, MI6 recruited agents and bribed members of Iran’s parliament with banknotes transported in biscuit tins.

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MI6, the coup in Iran that changed the Middle East, and the cover-up

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Documentary reveals evidence confirming a British spy’s role in restoring the Shah in 1953 – and how the Observer exposed the plot

The hidden role of a British secret service officer who led the coup that permanently altered the Middle East is to be revealed for the first time since an Observer news story was suppressed in 1985.

The report, headlined “How MI6 and CIA joined forces to plot Iran coup”, appeared in the 26 May edition but was swiftly quashed. It exposed the fact that an MI6 man, Norman Darbyshire, had run a covert and violent operation to reinstate the Shah of Iran as ruler of the country in 1953. Yet just a few days after the newspaper came out, all fresh evidence of this British operation and of Darbyshire’s identity disappeared from public debate.

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Timid, incompetent … how our spies missed Russian bid to sway Brexit

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MPs who compiled the Russia report were incredulous at Britain’s reluctance to tackle Kremlin

In September 2015 a tall young man with jet black hair and a pleasant grin made his way to Doncaster. His name was Alexander Udod. With the EU referendum vote on the horizon, Udod was attending Ukip’s annual conference. In theory he was a political observer. Actually Udod was an undercover spy, based at the Russian embassy in London.

Udod chatted with the man who would play a key role in Brexit – the Bristol businessman Arron Banks. The spy invited Banks to meet the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko. What allegedly followed was a series of friendly encounters between Leave.EU and the Russians in the crucial months before the June 2016 poll: a boozy lunch, pints in a Notting Hill pub, and the offer of a Siberian gold deal. (Banks denies receiving money from Russia and previously stated his only contact with the Russian government in the run-up to the referendum consisted of “one boozy lunch” with the ambassador.)

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British security services to get extra powers in wake of Russia report

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Counter-espionage laws to be strengthened as government accused of failing to respond to security threat

Legislation to clamp down on foreign spying is being considered by Downing Street in the wake of a damning report laying bare the impact of Russian influence in Britain and accusing the government of “badly” underestimating the threat posed by the Kremlin.

Under the new legislation, foreign agents would have to register in the UK in a move modelled on similar requirements in the US and Australia.

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Russia report to be released on Tuesday after nine-month delay

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Document on Russian interference into UK politics blocked by Boris Johnson before election

The long-awaited Russia report from the UK parliament’s intelligence and security committee is due to be released on Tuesday morning, nine months after its publication was blocked by Boris Johnson before the general election.

An examination of the reach of the Kremlin into UK politics and public life, the document is the product of 18 months’ work by a cross-party committee taking evidence in secret from British intelligence and independent experts.

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Johnson and May ignored claims Russia had ‘likely hold’ over Trump, ex-spy alleges

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Exclusive: Christopher Steele claims May government turned blind eye to Trump allegations

Boris Johnson and Theresa May ignored claims the Kremlin had a “likely hold” over Donald Trump and may have covertly funded Brexit, the former spy Christopher Steele alleges in secret evidence given to MPs who drew up the Russia report.

In testimony to MPs, the MI6 veteran accused the government led by May and in which Johnson was foreign secretary for two years of turning a blind eye to allegations about Trump because they were afraid of offending the US president.

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Trump-Russia dossier author gave evidence to UK intrusion inquiry

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Exclusive: Report allegedly being withheld by No 10 contains submissions from ex-head of MI6’s Russia desk

A report on Russian interference in British politics allegedly being sat on by Downing Street includes evidence from Christopher Steele, the former head of MI6’s Russia desk whose investigation into Donald Trump’s links with Moscow sparked a US political scandal.

Steele made submissions in writing to parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC), it is understood. A counter-intelligence specialist, Steele spent his career tracking Russian influence operations around the world and investigated Alexander Litvinenko’s 2006 murder.

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MI6 accused of thwarting effort to solve 1961 killing of UN chief

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Files on Dag Hammarskjöld plane crash are being withheld, says inquiry

MI6, the secret intelligence service, is under pressure to share its files on the mysterious death of a UN secretary general who was killed in an air crash almost 60 years ago.

Dag Hammarskjöld died with 13 others in September 1961, when his plane crashed near Ndola, in what was then Northern Rhodesia. There has been speculation that the plane was brought down deliberately. A film released this year, Cold Case Hammarskjöld, a winner at the 2019 Sundance film festival, has continued to stir interest.

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Confession of British spy for the Soviets made public for first time

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Double agent Kim Philby’s confession partially released to National Archives

Extracts from Kim Philby’s official confession to the UK’s security services in which he likens joining the Soviet secret police to signing up to the army, have been made public for the first time.

Philby, one of the Soviet Union’s most notorious British cold war spies, fled to Moscow shortly after his 1963 admission of guilt.

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Sajid Javid announces overhaul of espionage and treason laws

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New bill needed to tackle hostile activity by Russia and others, says home secretary

Hostile state actors – spies, assassins or hackers directed by the government of another country – are to be targeted by refreshed espionage and treason laws, the home secretary has announced.

In a speech to security officials in central London, Sajid Javid revealed plans to publish a new espionage bill to tackle increased hostile state activity from countries including but not limited to Russia.

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Shamima Begum may have criminalised herself, says senior terrorism officer

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Family calls for her return to UK and considers legal action to stop government blocking it

The UK’s most senior counter-terrorism officer has said that Shamima Begum, who left the UK to join Islamic State as a 15-year-old, had “potentially criminalised” herself as her family considers court action to stop the government blocking her return to Britain.

Government and counter-terrorism officials are still considering what to do after Begum, now 19, was discovered in a Syrian refugee camp after fleeing Isis’s last stronghold and said she wanted to return to Britain.

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