Tag: mi5

MI5 directors who plotted IRGC ‘terror’ ban exposed in leaked emails

Leaked emails reviewed by The Grayzone show both a current and former MI5 director secretly lobbied for the British government’s move to label the IRGC a terrorist entity as well as the UK’s adoption of the draconian National Security Act.

The correspondence reviewed here offers extraordinary insight into how the MI5 influences Downing Street and manipulates public perceptions of dubious or non-existent threats.

On July 13, the government of former Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially listed the IRGC as a terrorist organization, citing supposed kidnapping and assassination plots by the Iranian military branch. Now, merely publishing Iranian-supplied casualty figures could be categorized as “terrorism,” potentially landing British citizens in prison for up to 14 years.

Leaked correspondence reviewed by The Grayzone reveals that when first proposed in 2023, the push to proscribe the Iranian military branch was coordinated among the former heads of British intelligence agency MI5. Those plotting the designation included the MI5’s current Director General Ken McCallum and previous Director General Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller – who was privately credited with the passage of Britain’s draconian National Security Act.

The spymasters appeared to view Labour’s then-Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper as a key ally in constricting civil liberties and convincing government officials to formally designate the IRGC a terrorist entity.

In private discussions, McCallum acknowledged the “direct operational benefit” of proscribing the IRGC was likely to be “modest.” The MI5 chief nonetheless considered it “sensible to contemplate” such powers, and potentially extending them to include a ban on supposedly state-affiliated factions such as the now-defunct Russian private military company Wagner.

McCallum’s behind-the-scenes lobbying of Cooper and Starmer was the culmination of a wider effort by veteran MI5 officials who’d sought to “help the opposition to be ready to govern” once they took office in July 2024. 

Starmer and his shadow cabinet proved highly receptive to clandestine approaches from McCallum and his veteran MI5 forebears. Meanwhile, McCallum deployed scaremongering about the supposed threat of China, Iran and Russia – frequently coordinated with Manningham-Buller – to justify ratcheting up budgets and powers for the spy agency, whose ultimate targets appear to be domestic dissidents.

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How the MI5 ‘allowed Britain’s top agent inside IRA to get away with murder’… these are the damning findings of a report into mole ‘Stakeknife’

Britain’s top spy inside the IRA was effectively allowed to get away with murder because the security services felt ‘a perverse sense of loyalty’ to him, a damning report has concluded.

The Daily Mail can reveal that the double agent codenamed ‘Stakeknife’ was even taken on holiday by his handlers to evade arrest when he was wanted by police.

The extraordinary revelation was contained in MI5 files disclosed to Operation Kenova, the nine-year police investigation into the man unmasked in 2003 as Freddie Scappaticci.

Once celebrated as Britain’s most prized asset in the intelligence war with the IRA, he is now thought to have cost more lives than he saved.

Directly linked to at least 13 murders, Stakeknife was a senior member of the terror group’s internal security unit, known as the ‘Nutting Squad’, which abducted, tortured and killed suspected informers.

Operation Kenova – led by Sir Iain Livingstone, the former Chief Constable of Police Scotland – slams MI5, accusing it of ‘serious organisational failure’ for trying to restrict the investigation. 

Sir Iain’s report, leaked to the Daily Mail, takes issue with a former head of MI5 for stating that the agency had ‘limited knowledge’ of Stakeknife’s activities. In fact, it says, MI5 was involved in running him ‘throughout the entirety of his operation as an agent’.

Astonishingly, the report reveals Stakeknife’s Army handlers ‘took him out of Northern Ireland on holiday when they knew he was wanted by [police] for murder’.

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Spies were ‘gagged’ from objecting to new Chinese mega embassy plans

British spies were ‘gagged’ from raising objections to a new Chinese embassy in east London, documents suggest.

The revelations about the proposed embassy – dubbed a ‘spy campus’ – are likely to increase concerns about the development on the site of the Royal Mint buildings near the Tower of London.

A final decision on whether to approve the plan, revived by No 10 despite being blocked by the previous government after warnings from MI5 and Scotland Yard in 2022, has been deferred while the row about the collapsed Chinese spy trial continues.

Now unearthed documents show inspectors were denied access to key secret documents by Labour when approving the ‘mega embassy’ which will be ‘crawling with spies’.

The documents include a critical assessment from security services – the contents of which have been redacted. 

Ministers refused to allow a private inquiry, which would have allowed secret evidence to be considered.

Critics have accused ministers of trying to ram the application through and shut down any dissent or security concerns which might jeopardise it.

Officials in the Communities Department, which is handling the planning case, are preparing to announce the October 21 deadline will be pushed back. 

The department declined to comment.

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MI5 to shift focus from terrorism

Britain’s MI5 counter-intelligence service has shifted its focus from potential terrorist threats to challenges posed by spies of near-peer adversaries, including Russia, China, and Iran, The Telegraph reported on Saturday, citing sources.

While the UK authorities still deem international and domestic terrorism a priority, the agency is now reportedly devoting more resources to counterintelligence efforts. MI5’s calculus has changed because of the Ukraine conflict and the West’s stand-off with Russia, China’s alleged massive espionage campaign, and Iran’s alleged push to recruit criminals to target those who oppose the government in Tehran, The Telegraph said.

”Counterterrorism has not been deprioritized but this has been prioritized alongside it,” a senior government source told the outlet, adding that MI5’s “workload has definitely shifted in that direction.”

The Telegraph also claimed that Britain’s support for Ukraine has led to increased spying by Russia. “The more you step out, the more you find yourself in their crosshairs,” one of the sources said.

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MI5 spy who fantasised about ‘eating children’s flesh’ escaped prosecution despite machete attack

An MI5 spy was able to leave the country whilst under investigation for having Nazi paraphernalia and threatening to kill, it emerged on Thursday night.

The informant, whose identity remains a secret after the Government won an injunction against the BBC, also escaped prosecution despite attacking his girlfriend with a machete.

As counter terror officers investigated Nazi paraphernalia and a diary in which he had written about killing “Jews” found at his home in the wake of the attack, the man moved abroad and began working for a foreign intelligence agency.

It is alleged officers had passed the allegations to MI5, who were effectively allowed to investigate one of their own.

As details emerged on Thursday night of his reign of violence and abuse against his former partners, officials were facing questions over how he got a job with MI5 and why taxpayer money was used to protect his identity.

His former girlfriend, known only as Beth, told the corporation: “I couldn’t speak out, he had men in high places who always had his back who would intervene and kill me if I ever spoke out.”

After she filmed him attacking her with a machete, she informed the police, but the case was dropped after they failed to take statements or copies of the video.

The whereabouts of the man known only as X, who is a foreign national, are currently unknown.

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