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Spymaster: The Life of Britain's Most Decorated Cold War Spy and Head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield

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In his history of MI6, Dorril claims that Oldfield assured Wilson's successor James Callaghan that the Service was 'not involved in nefarious activities', but that he had in fact been using MI6 agents to spread anti-Labour stories and gossip about MI5 to right-wing journalists. [37] In his autobiography, the veteran journalist Harry Chapman Pincher revealed that Oldfield had been one of his sources. [38] Wilson burglary claim According to Richard Deacon, Oldfield asked to be relieved of his position in May 1980, after the diagnosis of an inflammatory bowel condition. His departure was formally announced on 12 June. [44] Deacon's 1985 biography described claims circulating in Fleet Street that Oldfield had left Northern Ireland because he had not been cleared by positive vetting as 'ridiculous' and 'a smear'. [45] My information is that the first report came not from the IRA, but from an undisclosed Ulster Defence Regiment source. Later sources suggested that the stories came from inside the British Army. [45]

In early August 1975, Prime Minister Harold Wilson called in Oldfield and demanded to know if MI5 were plotting against him. Oldfield conceded that an element of MI5 was unreliable. Author David Leigh notes of this episode: Oldfield was posted to Cairo in early 1945. He replaced Trethowan as head of A section of SIME and eventually became the right hand man of SIME's commanding officer, Brigadier Douglas Roberts. [11] In an interview included in the BBC's DVD release of Smiley's People (1982, DVD release 28 June 2004), Le Carré says of Oldfield:

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When your uncle is a spymaster, all you really know about him is his name and job title – everything else is just speculation,” said Mr Pearce in the book’s introduction.

I was just getting used to being alive, a human being, and the last thing I wanted was to pose for cameras or anything. Richard [Branson] was desperate for me to tour the States. He was on the phone non-stop: “We can get you here, we can get you there.” I knew nothing of this conversation. In London I get a call from Alec: "We're having a marvellous time, but I must tell you a very tragic thing has happened. A very dear friend of ours is very ill in London and we shall have to visit him immediately." Coogan, Tim Pat (2002). The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal and the Search for Peace. Macmillan. p.346. ISBN 978-0-312-29418-2. I was called in by the Prime Minister yesterday," he said, his tone suddenly changing. "He was talking about a plot. Apparently he's heard that your boys have been going around town stirring things up about him and Marcia Falkender, and Communists at No. 10." He trailed away as if it were all too distasteful for him. It's serious, Peter, " he began again. "I need to know everything. Look what's happening in Washington with Watergate. The same thing will happen here unless we're very careful. [6] Writing in the book's introduction, Mr Pearce said: 'When your uncle is a spymaster, all you really know about him is his name and job title - everything else is just speculation.Sir Maurice Oldfield had a philosophy of interrogation, perfected during his rise to the very top of MI6. People, so Britain’s most decorated Cold War spy used to say, are like grapes - “the first pressings are always the best”. Only at the very end of his life would Sir Maurice really know what it meant to be squeezed. Well, I can tell him there was a lot of information on Kincora, but people who know about it are dying and files may be destroyed. This is the last big opportunity to put Kincora and the other children’s home allegations to rest for good.” Janet Wadsworth, an education officer for Granada Television, is commemorated in a poem by George Herbert: ‘Teach me thy love to know; That this new light, which I now see, May both the work and the workman show: Then by a sunne-beam I will Climbe to Thee’.

In 1950, Oldfield was sent to Singapore on the staff of the Commissioner-General for the United Kingdom in South East Asia, Malcolm Macdonald. [18] He served as deputy head of the MI6 station under James Fulton. [19]

Authors Robin Ramsay and Stephen Dorril say of this episode: "This is perhaps the most remarkable passage in Spycatcher. The Personal Assistant of the Director General of MI5 'regularly' dining with the head of MI6?" They go on to ask: Had Oldfield not recruited him, 'turned' him? Had Wright not 'defected' to MI5's arch-enemy, MI6?" [8] Brian McDermott – aged 11, was found in the River Lagan, Sept. 1973, not far from the Kincora home. His body had been mutilated.

I put all the elements together, like chemicals in a big Petrie dish. I didn’t try to interfere too much. Bit by bit, as I heard little tunes, it just grew. Introduced three years before, this policy gave the RUC, rather than the Army, the leading role in the fight against terrorism.What was mysterious about Uncle Maurice was that, given he was a spymaster, he really never seemed very mysterious at all. While in the Army he believed well-connected paedophiles were using the home, including Sir Knox Cunningham, who was parliamentary private secretary to former PM Harold Macmillan. In 1854, the settlement had been on the point of expanding significantly when gold was discovered in one of the local lead mines. The fascinating life story of one of Britain’s most decorated spies is told in intimate detail by his nephew Martin Pearce in his book, Spymaster. The book is published by Corgi. The extent of these activities indicates a thriving community, despite the small size of the present village.

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