Michael Hanley

Michael Hanley
© Crown Copyright 2007

Sir Michael Hanley (1918-2001) was head of the Security Service MI5 from 1972 to 1978.

Director, C Branch

Hanley was Director of MI5 C Branch in 1965, when a security commission set up in the wake of the Profumo Affair proposed periodic searches of civil servants. Hanley opposed the proposal as impractical. In 1966, Hanley was questioned by Director-General Martin Furnival Jones, as part of the search for a suspected middle-ranking spy. Furnival Jones concluded he was innocent, a verdict with which Peter Wright agreed.

Director-General

Hanley was Deputy Director General in 1972, when he was appointed Director-General in preference to a candidate from the Civil Service, J.H. Waddell.

Hanley inspired the formation of the interdepartmental committee on Subversion in Public Life in September 1972.

In late 1972, Hanley and Sir Philip Allen of the Home Office discussed the relationship between opposition leader Harold Wilson and Donald Kagan, who was regarded as a security risk.

In December 1972, Hanley told Sir Philip Allen of the Home Office that he would 'stretch the charter as far it would go' in response to concerns about subversion and industrial action, but would not seek a warrant against anyone without adverse security information.

Henley's tenure included the 1973 Lord Lambton affair which he regarded as a potentially major security scandal.

During his tenure, Hanley told the Home Office that Bert Ramelson was providing Labour Party and TUC material to the Russians, and that this was a potential security risk if Labour came to power.

Wilson Era

Although Hanley claimed not to be anti-Labour, he had poor relations with Labour Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan, who he regarded as 'amateurish', in contrast to his rapport with Edward Heath.

He had a better relationship with Labour Home Secretaries. In March 1974, he found the incoming Roy Jenkins 'exceedingly interested' in Communist penetration of the NEC and TUC.

In response to a may 1974 inquiry by Wilson's principal private secretary, Sir Robert Armstrong, Hanley said Soviet intelligence had taken a close interest in Wilson's friend Rudy Sternberg.

Sir John Hunt told Hanley in late 1974, that Wilson insisted on blaming the Security Service for a leak the previous May suggesting that junior ministers were a security risk. Christopher Andrew has claimed that George Young was the probable source of the leak to Chapman Pincher.

Hanley assured Wilson that MI5 officers were not authorised to speak to Pincher. However, Hunt felt compelled organise a clear the air meeting between Wilson and Hanley in the summer of 1975. This was a 'terrible row' according to Hanley, who said Wilson 'got the idea I was his worst enemy'. Hanley briefly considered resigning as a result. This may be identical with the meeting referred to by David Leigh below.

Worthington File

According to a 2009 account by the official MI5 historian Christopher Andrew, Hanley concealed the existence of a file on Prime Minister Harold Wilson, held under the pseudonym 'Norman John Worthington' by removing it from the central index.

An earlier account by David Leigh described the document as the 'Henry Worthington' file:

The Worthington file was not kept in the main registry to be handled by the scores of 'registry queens'. Nor was it kept in the rows of locked 'y-boxes' in the K6 secret registry, along with the identities of agents. It was kept permanently in the safe of Director-General Martin Furnival Jones, a practice which was continued by his successor Michael Hanley.

According to Andrew, Hanley went to even further lengths than his predecessor to keep the file secret:

“In March 1974, the DG instructed that the card referring to the file should be removed from the Registry Central Index, with the result that ‘a look-up on Harold Wilson would therefore be No Trace’.” Access to the file required the personal permission of Sir Michael.

Northern Ireland

During the 1975 IRA ceasefire, Hanley was briefed by the relevant desk officer every Thursday morning. He was instructed by Wilson not to brief Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, but only himself and the Northern Ireland Secretary.

In February 1976, Hanley announced the new MI5 FX Branch focused on Irish counter-terrorism.

From 1972, Hanley had followed a policy of helping the Army first, rather than RUC Special Branch. This order of priorities was reversed after he undertook a 3-day visit to Northern Ireland in May 1976, during which he was impressed by the Special Branch and the new Chief Constable Kenneth Newman. He concluded that the Provisional IRA was being slowly isolated but that 'the joker in the pack was the politician.'

Wilson Plot

Andrew's official history of MI5 rejects claims there was a plot against Wilson during Hanley's tenure.

However, journalist David Leigh records that Wilson called in Hanley in August 1975, saying that he had been told by MI6 chief Maurice Oldfield that there was an unreliable element in MI5.

The present British government has tried to pretend that this conversation never took place. But Penrose and Pincher, two journalists from different political sides, both testify that it did. Penrose tape-recorded Wilson saying that Hanley had confirmed there was a 'problem' with some officers, but that it had all been dealt with by him. Pincher testifies: 'Wilson .. told me personally... that Hanley had replied that he believed this to be true, but that only a handful of officers were concerned.' This seems good enough testimony to concluded that the Prime Minister of Britain was not telling lies...

Callaghan era

Hanley told Prime Minister Jim Callaghan on 22 June 1977, that the service had still not identified the Fifth Man in the Cambridge Spy Ring, but was hoping for a breakthrough from work on VENONA traffic by the National Security Agency.

The Observer reported on 17 July 1977 that Hanley had admitted there was a 'disaffected faction' within the Security Service at a meeting with Harold Wilson in 1977. Hanley briefed Merlyn Rees and Callaghan on the allegations on 3 August 1977. Callaghan was particularly concerned that Wilson might reveal the investigation of Roger Hollis.

Callaghan's poor relations with Hanley influenced his decision to appoint an outsider, Howard Smith, as his successor on 19 December 1977. Hanley insisted on appointing several directors before his departure. He also secured a meeting with opposition leader Margaret Thatcher. Hanley regarded Smith as an 'appeaser' in his dealings with the Soviet Union and in Northern Ireland.