A former deputy leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party has called on the spooks to stay out of the debate on Scotland’s constitutional future.
A former deputy leader of the Scottish National Party has called on the spooks to stay out of the debate on Scotland’s constitutional future.
Margo MacDonald, now an independent MSP, has argued that she believes MI5 agents are already operating undercover within the SNP as part of the security service’s remit to protect the UK “against threats to national security”.
In 2007 Scotland on Sunday revealed that classified government documents showed that secret service and special branch agents and officers infiltrated the SNP in the 1950s in an attempt to undermine efforts and support for independence.
Many nationalists believe the same occurred in the 1970s when Scotland’s oil boom raised fears in the heart of Whitehall that it could revive calls and support for independence.
The Sunday Herald has quoted MacDonald’s letter to Andrew Parker, director general of MI5, as saying:
“I will be obliged if you can give me an assurance that UK Security Services will not be used in any respect in the lead-up to the Scottish referendum on sovereignty, unless, of course, the Scottish police have sufficient evidence to justify normal responses to potentially overtly criminal acts.
“I do understand that the Security Services are vital to all the countries and regions of the British Isles and the potential for law-breaking may be heightened during the forthcoming campaign.
“As action on the Security Services’ part is calculated to keep communities safe and aid cohesion, I would welcome an assurance from you that this will continue, and that no other consideration will inform your Department’s work.”
Fuelling the suspensions likely to be felt by many in the nationalist movement, Crispin Black, a former intelligence adviser to Tony Blair and the Joint Intelligence Committee, has argued that MI5 will in all likelihood have the referendum debate and campaign on its radar.
Arguing that the vote next year is likely to have a knock on effect in Northern Ireland, Black was quoted in the Sunday Herald as saying:
“My guess is that MI5 would have the referendum on its radar, primarily to ensure its fairness. There’s definitely a national security angle to Scottish independence that the security services would be aware of, but my sense is that they would be stopping dirty tricks, rather than trying to initiate them.”
A spokesperson for Better Together told Left Foot Forward:
“The idea of MI5 getting involved in the referendum is pretty fanciful.
The real issue is what happens to our security and intelligence services if we separate from the UK. The nationalists need to bring forward credible answers to this important question, not more bluff and assertion.”
Both the Scottish government and Home Office declined to comment.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
24 Responses to “Scottish Nationalists spooked by the spooks”
Jeanne Tomlin
From The Guardian yesterday: “It’s not just a US problem. The UK has a huge dog in this fight,” Snowden told the Guardian. “They [GCHQ] are worse than the US.”
Also from The Guardian: “Britain’s technical capacity to tap into the cables that carry the world’s communications – referred to in the documents as special source exploitation – has made GCHQ an intelligence superpower.”
Also from The Guardian: “The Guardian understands that a total of 850,000 NSA employees and US private contractors with top secret clearance had access to GCHQ databases.”
But I’m glad to know that you have such absolute trust in the government not to interfere in the electoral process.
Jeanne Tomlin
Even worse, there was at least one witness who said they saw he was being tailed by SOMEONE that night. And the issue of how the gun got outside the car if he shot himself in the head.
Alec
Sounds terrible. What does it have to do with some nobody getting hosted on the state television state of the Khomenists?
~alec
Alec
Drop the sarcastic teenager act. You’re constructing your own fantasies… which is especially rich from someone claiming to oppose the totalitarian approach of spooks.
~alec
Alec
If there were state collusion in his death, blathering about it on the Internet is one of the most bone-headed approaches I can think of.
The crime scene was contaminated from the start given the presumption he’d been involved in an RTA, and lackadaisal police procedures as per the day.
Here is what tends to happen to your adducing murderous nefarious conspiracies (which, for whatever reason, is letting you reveal it on the Internet).
~alec