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Winter 2001/2

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Issue 42

When David met Stella

Dr. David Turner
Dr David Turner went to former MI5 Director-General Stella Rimington's book-signing at Hatchard's, Piccadilly, on 18 September 2001, where the following exchange took place.
Turner (presenting book for signing after queuing briefly behind several people, including a woman wearing an Anarchist badge)
'Hello. Do you mind a lengthy inscription?'

Rimington (smiling, flanked by several suited goons and book shop staff)
'That depends what it is. If it's a long one, I'll put my glasses on.'
Turner:
'Can you put 'To David Turner -- from a spook to a subversive?²'

[Rimington begins writing.]

'And please can I know what's on my file?'

[Laughter from book shop staff.]
Rimington (smiling like an indulgent headmistress) 'I'm sure you haven't got one!'
Turner:
'I was a member of the Militant Tendency for 13 years, so I think I probably do have one.'

[Rimington looks uncomfortable]

'I would love to know what you and Tony Crassweller and Ray Whitby' [two 1980s MI5 officers in F Branch who monitored Trotskyists] 'and all those other people were writing about me.'

[Rimington looks shocked that I can name two of her colleagues and that I know exactly what kind of work they did. Actually their names have appeared in print, although they are not well-known; Rimington is clearly ill-informed about such things.]
Rimington (condescendingly, with a half-smile):
'Well, you'll have to apply to, er, the relevant authorities! '

[Rimington is clearly very ill-informed about MI5's archival policy too.] Turner:

'But I can't -- counter-subversion files aren't being released. If it was an ASIO file I could see it.'

[Comparatively recent counter-subversion files of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, a clone of MI5, are freely available at the National Archives in Canberra].

'But the counter-subversion files aren't being opened in this country - and I think they should be.'

[Goon takes hold of my elbow and leads me away.]
Rimington (smiling nervously) 'I'll pass on the message!
[How? She's persona non grata in Thames House and Whitehall now!]
Since that encounter Norman Baker MP's case before the Data Protection Tribunal's national security appeals panel resulted in a ruling that MI5's blanket ban on disclosing the contents of personal files is wrong in principle. Whether in practice this results in the sort of openness that exists in Australia remains to be seen; it seems highly unlikely - but then so did a number of things that have happened in recent years.

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