Thin Pinstriped Line

  In 1960 the Joint Intelligence Committee found itself with an unexpected problem. Among the challenges of the Cold War and attempting to predict what the Soviet Union may attempt next, it was also identified that the content of some of Sir Winston Churchills papers, then under transfer to the   Archives   was potentially about to cause a major diplomatic incident with the USA. This led to urgent ‘action this day’ to resolve the matter. This is the previously untold story of the Churchill papers. Like many leaders, Churchill accrued a significant amount of files governing his personal life, as well as records of his time in public office. To this day they remain accessible via the ‘ Churchill Archives’ which stores thousands of papers linked to his time in public office including as Prime Minister during the 2 nd World War (known as the ‘Chartwell Papers’) and also the later period of his life after July 1945 (known as the ‘Churchill Papers’).   The Chartwell Pa...

  In 1971 at the Paris Air Show, the senior Russian scientist, Anatoly Fedoseyev defected to the West. Escaping his minders, he managed to make contact with representatives of the British Government, and was given shelter in the West. His work was publicly described as ‘working on vacuum tubes with applications for radar’, and was sufficiently important to the Soviet Union that he was twice awarded the Order of Lenin for his work. Once in the safety of the West, British intelligence officials began debriefing Fedoseyev and trying to understand the many secrets that he held. It was clear that the information he held was of critical importance to the British independent strategic nuclear deterrent. Top Secret MOD files from 1972 show that Fedoseyev was in fact absolutely critical in providing information that shaped one of the most expensive and complex nuclear weapon programmes ever carried out by the UK. A DIS report to the Chiefs of Staff, setting out its activities for the year...

  A new Labour government has been elected, and a defence review commissioned. There are tensions between the Chancellor and Secretary of State for Defence over spending plans, the MOD seeking more money, the Treasury seeking to cut the budget. The Prime Minister is keen to use defence as an asset to enhance the UK’s international standing, while the Treasury is reluctant to spend a penny more on the MOD. All of this sounds strangely familiar, yet in fact refers to the period between 1997 and 2002 and the early years of the Blair government. Files released in the National Archives have revealed the depth of difficulties faced between the ‘holy trinity’ of No10, HMT and the MOD in trying to agree spending priorities and the difficulties faced by the Prime Minister in trying to persuade the Treasury to increase the Defence Budget. At its heart is an extraordinary two page memo to the Prime Minister that encapsulates in a few words the tensions inherent at the heart of the UK debate...