Paul Mercer

The Vision of St Kinnock

According to Brian Crozier, The vision of St Kinnock, a pamphlet attributed to Mercer which appeared in the run-up to 1987 election, was actually an initiative of Crozier's secretive private intelligence network, The 61. Crozier describes Mercer as "one of the best of our activists."

=BAE

It emerged in 2007 that Mercer was involved in monitoring the Campaign against the Arms Trade (CAAT) for defence firm BAE.

BAE's head of security Michael McGinty, and a colleague, Martin Carroll, ran the operation through another company Global Open Ltd, which contracted Mercer's company, LigneDeux Associates.

Mercer obtained a CD with details of CAAT's confidential legal advice, which he passed to McGinty at the end of 2006. This came to light when it was disclosed to CAAT by BAE's lawyers, Allen & Overy in legal proceedings.

Following the disclosure the Guardian interviewed MP Julian Lewis about his relationship with [Mercer:

Mr Lewis, Conservative MP for New Forest East, denied last night having any knowledge of Mr Mercer's work for BAE. He said: "I worked closely with Paul in the 1980s. He became a Conservative councillor and he did a lot of good work exposing the far left."

Asked if he had been in touch with Mr Mercer during his recent undercover BAE work, Mr Lewis said: "I am in social contact with him. I regard him as a friend."

External Resources

• Campaign Against the Arms Trade, Campaign Against the Arms Trade v Paul Mercer & Lignedeux Associates - Briefing (pdf)
• Corporate Spy was active Nottingham, 9 February 2011.
• Richard Bartholomew, Paul Mercer: The Spy Who Came into the Spotlight, Bartholomew's Notes on Religion, 12 February 2011.