A Very British Ending (Catesby Series) (42 page)

‘Have they,’ said Wilson, ‘ever kept files on any other British prime minister?’

‘No, they haven’t – and, I must say, not all of the information that they have compiled is accurate.’ The visitor reached into his briefcase and handed over a photograph. ‘This particular one is blatant – and I’ve attached a note explaining why.’

When Sir Maurice Oldfield left 10 Downing, via the same Q-Whitehall tunnel by which he had arrived, he was feeling very pleased with himself.

10 Downing Street:
August, 1975

The Prime Minister was on the warpath and had fortified himself for the confrontation with a whisky or two. The head of the Security Service hadn’t been invited to Downing Street at a time that would be mutually convenient, he had been instructed to cancel all other appointments and come immediately.

‘You and your service have been waging a smear campaign against me and my government that has been going on for years. You have conducted illegal activities, including burglary and bugging, which you have succeeded in covering up.’

The Security Service DG was a large man with a red face, nicknamed Jumbo. He wasn’t used to being carpeted – and wasn’t completed prepared to refute the Prime Minister’s accusations. He was aware, however, that someone had stabbed him in the back – and he had a good idea who it was. Whitehall was a bear pit and things were getting worse. The best thing to do in his current situation was the tried and tested one: shit over your subordinates.

‘There may, Prime Minister, be a small number of disaffected officers who have been plotting against you. They do not represent the Security Service as a whole – and their activities have been completely unauthorised. I am currently engaged in a root and branch review to put an end to it.’

‘And you have never been personally involved in a campaign to smear me or my ministers?’

‘No.’

‘That’s a lie – an outright lie.’ The Prime Minister was seething.
‘You have repeatedly tried to smear Judith Hart, until recently my Minister of Overseas Development. You have made her life and the lives of her family a misery with false accusations and innuendo.’

Jumbo turned even redder. ‘I am not sure, Prime Minister, that I know what you are talking about.’

‘This is what I’m talking about.’ Wilson pushed an old photograph from the
Daily Worker
across his desk. The photograph showed a ‘Mrs Tudor-Hart’ at a Communist-sponsored meeting in Warsaw. ‘Your smear describes the woman in this photo as Mrs J. Tudor-Hart, my former minister. The woman in this photo is Edith Tudor-Hart, an Austrian-born British photographer, who died two years ago. She was a Communist sympathiser, married to a GP called Alex Tudor-Hart. It is possible that she spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s, I’m not denying that.’ The Prime Minister raised his voice. ‘But Edith Tudor-Hart, as you well know, was no relation to Judith Hart – who was never a
Tudor
-Hart – and they never met. The only
J
. Tudor-Hart in the equation is not even a woman, but Edith’s son, Julian, who, like his father, is a GP in Wales.’ Wilson picked up the photo and pointed it at Jumbo. ‘This is not just a vile smear, but a feeble one too. And yet you have been passing this photo around – and the lies that go with it – to the press in unattributable briefings.’ Wilson paused. ‘How do you explain it?’

Jumbo twisted in his chair. ‘It is unfortunate.’

‘And you have tapped her telephone as well. You have targeted her because she is a fierce opponent of apartheid and Pinochet’s coup in Chile. You hate her because she stands up for fairness, peace and human decency – everything you despise.’ Wilson stared hard at the head of the Security Service. ‘You are a shit – and a fucking disgrace to your office. Get out.’

London:
August, 1975

Ferret was playing complex office politics. Neither his job nor his pension was secure. And FURIOSO’s sacking had deprived Ferret of his most important American ally. His vindictiveness was only
tempered by his financial need. Aligning himself with JJ’s plots was an option, but there were other possibilities. Ferret was one who could run with the hares and the hounds at the same time. JJ had already heard the rumours – Whitehall was abuzz with them – and was pleased that Ferret had suggested a visit to his house. JJ’s home was spartan, except for a few artefacts received as presents from his time in the Middle East, but he did serve good whisky.

‘The leader of the Communist cell in Number 10 just threw his toys out of his pram?’

‘So, I’ve heard,’ said JJ, ‘pouring a top-up.’

‘Shouting, swearing; a force 10 tantrum.’

‘It sounds like Wilson is losing what little grip he ever had.’ JJ looked hard at Ferret. ‘I don’t suppose this incident had anything to do with you?’

‘In what way?’

‘There’s a rumour that someone, perhaps from your own department, might have leaked info – and disinfo – to SIS which made its way to Downing Street and prompted Wilson’s rage against Jumbo.’

Ferret gave a sly smile. ‘Nothing to do with me personally. But it might have been a good idea for two reasons. One, it will help push Wilson over the edge. Two, it will keep Jumbo in his place.’

‘Why does he need keeping in his place?’

‘He’s a bit too ready to dump on other people to save himself.’

‘That’s not the way we play the game. You have to be true to the cause and to your friends even if it means taking a bullet or two.’

‘What’s next?’

‘The current situation,’ said JJ with what some would have called a demented stare, ‘cannot go on. The unions have got the country by the throat and are choking us to death. Every time you turn on the television you see factory car parks full of Communist-led trade unionists raising their fists to call for more strike action. Car parks, can you imagine? In the Russia, that our union leaders so much admire, the enslaved workers don’t have cars.’ JJ sipped his whisky. ‘And speaking of cars, why has no one done anything about Red Robbo?’ Red Robbo was the press’s nickname for Derek Robinson, a shop steward at Leyland.

‘The trade union movement is controlled by the Communist junta in Downing Street. They’re all protected.’

‘We can’t wait. We need to take action.’

Century House, Lambeth:
11 November 1975

It was 9 a.m. and Catesby was in his office staring at a bare blank wall. The last two months had been miserable and tense. The atmosphere in Whitehall was now so full of hate and malice that Catesby, still a firm non-believer, wouldn’t have objected if every Whitehall department was assigned a resident C of E exorcist. SIS and the Security Service would require several.

Catesby was waiting for news from Australia, as were many of his colleagues, and couldn’t concentrate on anything else. The situation in Canberra was still on edge. Australia had nothing to do with Catesby’s job as Head of Sov Bloc T Section, but everything to do with his position as a worried British citizen who was privy to insider information. If it could happen in Canberra, it could happen in London.

There was a firm knock on his door. Catesby got up and opened the door and took the cable from a cipher room clerk. It was from SIS Head of Station Canberra and was marked UNCLASSIFIED.

Australian Prime Minister Dismissed by Governor-General

Prime Minister Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party has been sacked. Governor-General Sir John Kerr has appointed the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Fraser, as caretaker prime minister.

FYI: The Australian Constitution firmly places the prerogative powers of the Crown in the hands of the Governor-General as the representative of the Queen of Australia. The only person with the authority to appoint an Australian prime minister is the Governor-General. The Queen has no part in the decisions that the Governor-General takes in his interpretation of the Constitution.

Gough’s dismissal has received mixed coverage in the press ranging from approval to condemnation as a ‘constitutional coup’.

An hour later, Catesby was in Bone’s office discussing the implications of the Australia situation.

‘It is ominous,’ said Bone. ‘The role of Governor-General is supposed to be ceremonial. What he’s done is like Black Rod arresting the Prime Minister.’

‘You know,’ said Catesby, ‘that the US Ambassador in Canberra is a total shit.’

‘So I’ve heard.’

‘His American colleagues call him “the coup maestro”. He helped bring a general to power in South Korea. He got rid of Sihanouk in Cambodia – which was an open sesame for the Khmer Rouge. He had a role in the Suharto coup against Sukarno in Indonesia – which resulted in more than 500,000 dead. And now he’s done the deed in Australia.’ Catesby paused. ‘I wonder when they’re going to send him to London.’

CIA HQ, Langley, Virginia:
11 November 1975

The DCI was extremely pleased. After the partial institutional paralysis brought on by Angleton’s paranoia, the CIA was back on its front foot again – however cloven a foot – and waging offensive operations again. The CIA’s relationship with the State Department had also much improved since Angleton’s dismissal. The appointment of Marshall Green as US Ambassador to Australia had been carried out in consultation with the CIA – and proved a marvellous move.

The fact that America’s two most important English-speaking allies – Great Britain and Australia – both had governments and prime ministers who were hostile to the United States was an intolerable situation. One prime minister had refused point-blank to send troops to Vietnam and the other had not only pulled out troops sent by previous Australian administrations, but had insulted America by condemning the US bombing of Vietnam as ‘corrupt and barbaric’ – a step further than Wilson went. The British PM, of course, lived in constant fear of the US Treasury pulling the plug on the pound.

The DCI picked up the cable from Canberra. It was going to be sweet reading.

TOP SECRET/DO NOT FILE/DESTROY AFTER READING

DISSEMINATION CONTROL:

NOFORN

NOCON

ORCON

PROPIN

DISTRIBUTION LIST:

EYES ONLY

POTUS

DCI

NSA

SECSTATE

FROM: OSO CANBERRA

DATE: 11 NOVEMBER 1975

REPORT ON THE DISMISSAL OF PRIME

MINISTER GOUGH WHITLAM

Gough Whitlam was Australia’s Salvador Allende, but compared to Allende he will get off lightly – even though he doesn’t deserve a soft landing. In addition to pulling Australian troops out of Vietnam, Whitlam ended conscription and released draft resistors from jail. But more worryingly, Whitlam was moving Australia towards membership in the Non-Aligned Movement – following India, Ghana and Egypt out of the Western camp. This would, of course, have meant Australia leaving SEATO and reneging on Australia’s responsibilities for regional security. Whitlam also supported so-called ‘zones of peace’ and was fiercely opposed to nuclear weapons. In effect, Australia would have become the Cuba of the South Pacific. The Head of CIA/EAST was completely justified in describing Whitlam as a ‘serious threat to Australia’s national security.’

The most pressing and immediate issue facing US interests in Australia was Whitlam’s threat to close the
CIA listening station at Pine Gap. Whitlam’s first words to Marshall Green after Green arrived as US Ambassador were: ‘Try to screw us or bounce us and you can kiss Pine Gap goodbye.’ As you know, when Ambassador Green reported this conversation, the NSA nearly had a heart attack en masse. In those words, Whitlam wrote his own obituary.

What more can you say? There’s a lot more to say. The socialist Whitlam said that he would ‘reclaim’ ownership of Australia’s oil refineries and mining industries. In response, we covertly cultivated the news empires that control the Australian media.

The hero in this affair has been the Governor-General Sir John Kerr. Kerr is, not just ‘the Queen’s man’, but our man too. He is a longstanding member of the Australian branch of the Congress for Cultural Freedom. In return, we have paid Kerr’s travel expenses and built up his prestige. We shall also underwrite his probable relocation to London as it is likely that his recent intervention may make him a target of left-wing factions in Australia.

Throughout this affair we have had the cooperation of Australia’s Defence Signals Directorate, their equivalent of our NSA. The day before Whitlam’s dismissal, Kerr was briefed by them on Australia’s ‘security crisis’ which had become a matter of ‘extreme urgency’. Basically, Kerr did what he was told to do – and none too soon. Whitlam was reportedly about to address parliament about CIA activities in Australia. Any such speeches now would be regarded as sour grapes.

The Whitlam problem has been solved. One down, one to go. Best wishes to our colleagues in Britain.

The DCI sat back and reflected. The previous April had seen the fall of Saigon. America had been humiliated in Vietnam and it was never going to happen again. A wounded beast of prey is a dangerous animal. The USA was rising from the ashes of Vietnam and would never back down again.

The DCI began to dictate a cable for his London Head of Station.

A Regimental Officers’ Mess, London:
14 November 1975

There were only a handful of officers present – and none below the rank of major.

‘I know,’ said the general, ‘that all of you are familiar with
The Manual of Military Law
. You probably refer to it most often when sending some hapless squaddie to Glasshouse for the usual drunken offences. So you might have forgotten that
The Manual of Military Law
goes beyond sentences for pub fights or cacking on the parade ground. The manual also defines the situations in which the military, not only
can
– but is
required
– to intervene by long-established standards of military law and usage.’ The general paused. ‘In certain circumstances, it is our
duty
to take action,
whether or not
we have been ordered to do so by the government. These circumstances include: riot, insurrection and unlawful assembly.’