After the events of that bank holiday weekend, however, it was clear to both London and Dublin that they were now facing a reinvigorated, more deadly IRA. Sir Maurice Oldfield was the head of MI6 from 1973 to 1978 and was the first Chief to be named and pictured in the press, leading to the allegations that he was the model for the screen versions of both Ian Fleming’s ‘M’ and John Le Carre’s George Smiley. He was one of the first to suspect that Kim Philby was a Soviet spy, helped to keep Britain out of the Vietnam war and restored MI6’s reputation after the scandals and disasters of the 1950s, 60s and early 70s involving enemy agents, coups and assassination plots. Maurice Oldfield, the northern former grammar school boy invited by John le Carré to meet Alec Guinness before the actor played George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, was sometimes also described as a model for Ian Fleming’s M. Yet the “owlish son of a farmer”, as Martin Pearce, his nephew, calls him, was hung out to dry by Margaret Thatcher after smears relating to his sexuality.

Keir Starmer pleads for Labour to focus on Israeli hostages and Gaza civilians rather than ceasefire wrangling after he suffered 10 frontbench resignations in huge Commons revoltMI5 saw him as a threat to their activities in Northern Ireland," claimed Colin Wallace, who served in the Army's Intelligence Corps here in the 1970s. Deacon, Richard (1985) ' C': a biography of Sir Maurice Oldfield. London: Macdonald ISBN 0-356-10400-1 John Colin Wallace is a former British member of the Intelligence Corps in Northern Ireland and a psychological warfare specialist.

The police force with an appalling record of protecting women from stalkers: Gracie Spinks becomes the latest woman let down by Derbyshire Police in catalogue of failures - with four murdered since 2004 Bounty hunters rushed to the village to seek their fortune, but their optimism was short-lived, because the deposits proved to be so deep and to be present in such small quantities that exploitation of the ore would not have been profitable. Another astonishing story came from an equally surprising location — Clowne, a small village in North East Derbyshire. After a tip-off from a local church rector, who also happened to be the brother of the paper’s chief sub, Neil managed to chase down a story that two teenage girls from the village had poisoned their headmaster’s tea with substances they had found in the school’s chemistry lab. Thankfully, after a few days off work, the headmaster made a full recovery, while the girls were, understandably, suspended from school. The fascinating life story of one of Britain's most decorated spies – who died aged 65 in 1981 - has now been told in intimate detail by his nephew Martin Pearce in a book called Spymaster, published by Corgi.Sir Anthony noted how some concerns have been expressed by some that the ability of this inquiry to investigate matters relating to Kincora is handicapped by the absence of powers of compulsion. “The inquiry has powers of compulsion which it does not hesitate to rely on if necessary,” he said. Gerry Moriarty Chris Ryder's Sunday Times story appeared a few days later, publishing for the first time details of the alleged incident at The Highwayman, and claiming it was the reason Oldfield's positive vetting had been withdrawn. [43] Connections When I pulled into The Highwayman car park an hour later, a blizzard was raging. There were arc lights and a police mobile incident room in the pub car park - sure signs that something big was going on. Two journalists had got there before me: Martyn Sharpe, of The Sun, and the Daily Express’s legendary North of England reporter Peggy Robinson. I knew both of them by reputation. Neither of them knew me from Adam. We chatted guardedly for a few minutes, trying to glean snippets of information from each other. The two experienced national reporters were giving nothing away, and I had nothing to give. What was mysterious about Uncle Maurice was that, given he was a spymaster, he really never seemed very mysterious at all. Maurice Oldfield being awarded the KCMG in 1975, with his chauffeur and, left to right, his sisters Renee and Sadie, and his long-serving bodyguard, Ken Dyer. Martin Pearce / mediadrumworld.com

I didn’t want to talk to anybody. Someone called Caroline Coon wanted desperately to interview me. I did one interview for Melody Maker and it was horrible, intrusive, rude, wanting to know ‘why’ to everything. Go away and leave me alone! Introduced three years before, this policy gave the RUC, rather than the Army, the leading role in the fight against terrorism. 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]

Maurice Oldfield

Chapman Pincher, Treachery, Betrayals, Blunders and Cover-ups: Six Decades of Espionage, Mainstream Publishing, 2012, pp.630-632. The IRA) are continually learning from mistakes and developing their expertise,” Glover wrote. “We can, therefore, expect to see increasing professionalism and the greater exploitation of modern technology for terrorist purposes.” Mr Wallace stated: “When I was working with military intelligence the Army did want to expose Kincora but MI5 didn’t. That led me to the conclusion that MI5 had some extra interest.