Shield

Shield was the name of a secret committee set up by radical right-wing activists and former intelligence officers in 1976 to brief Margaret Thatcher and her aides on ‘subversion’. The existence of ‘Shield’ was only revealed in 1993 when Brian Crozier wrote an article in The Times.

Origins

According to Crozier Shield was set up in 1976 at the instigation of Stephen Hastings. ‘Why were we doing this?’ Crozier asked in his The Times piece, ‘The problem was subversion: the deliberate undermining of the State and society.’ Essentially Crozier and his allied believed that the Labour movement was captive to communists who wanted to create a Soviet style dictatorship in Britain. As Crozier explained: ‘The trades unions and the Labour Party had largely been taken over by the subversive Left. Many other areas of life were affected: the schools and universities, the media, the Churches.’ Crozier reportedly called ‘subversion’ the ‘political equivalent of Aids’.

Personnel

The main figures in Shield were the Conservative MP and MI6 operative Stephen Hastings and the intelligence asset and right-wing activist Brian Crozier. They were joined by Nicholas Elliott, also an MI6 operative, Harry Sporborg, of Hambros Bank, as well as two young researchers, Peter Shipley and Douglas Eden.

Activities

The committee’s first project according to Crozier was to commission a report on the current state of ‘subversion’ and on the existing official counter-subversion agencies. The report, which ran to about 100 pages, was drafted by an unidentified former senior member of the Secret Intelligence Service, an old friend of Stephen Hastings and Crozier. The final draft was completed in May 1977. The report proposed the reorganisation of the intelligence and security services, arguing that ‘MI-6 (foreign intelligence) was basically in good shape whereas MI-5 (security) was not.’ Between May 1977 and July 1979, Shield produced 15 strategic papers on similar themes and three papers on contingency planning for the forthcoming Tory government. The reports were always given to Margaret Thatcher and, on request, to Lord Carrington, William Whitelaw, and Sir Keith Joseph.

Mrs Thatcher suggested that Shield should be attached to 10 Downing Street or the Cabinet Office. Crozier claimed that both William Whitelaw and Keith Joseph. were in favour, but the plan was killed off by Carrington.