Straw promises to check on Rimington role in Northern Ireland
Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday May 23, 2000
The Guardian
Jack Straw yesterday promised to look into allegations surrounding the role
in Northern Ireland of Dame Stella Rimington, the
former MI5 chief at the centre of a row in Whitehall over her decision to
write her memoirs.
The new twist in the controversy over MI5's past activities emerged in the
House of Commons where the home secretary was
asked about allegations relating to Dame Stella and the former MI5 officer,
Michael Bettaney. The Labour MP, Tam Dalyell, asked
Mr Straw: "Can you give a careful and considered look at the very serious
allegations contained in this weekend's Sunday Times in
relation to Mrs Rimington and Mr Michael Bettaney and, in particular,
whether Mr Michael Bettaney was an alcoholic who had
absolutely no business to be operating in the most sensitive areas of the
security services of this country?"
The newspaper reported that an MI5 informant working with the IRA made a
"colossal misjudgment" by keeping on Bettaney as
his handler. Bettaney was subsequently jailed for passing secrets to the
Russians.
Mr Straw told Mr Dalyell: "I will certainly look into the matter that you
raise."
The Labour MP then told him: "Unlike you, I do bear a grudge and it's
against Mrs Stella Rimington for what she did to the miners
in 1984, abusing the security services."
Earlier, the home secretary told MPs that he did not bear a grudge against
MI5 for investigating him during the 1970s as a
suspected subversive.
"Events showed at the time, as they have since, that it was, generally
speaking, a waste of public money.
"I would also say that if there is a responsibility for the fact that in any
period of our history the activities of the security service
have ranged more widely than they would do today, then that responsibility
is ultimately with one of those ministers directly
involved, namely the home secretary and the prime minister of the day, and
not of those who are public servants."
Richard Dearlove, the chief of MI6, and Stephen Lander, head of MI5, are
understood to have reacted angrily to Dame Stella's
decision to write her memoirs, fearing it could lead to a flood of books by
intelligence insiders.
* A laptop stolen from a senior naval officer contained sensitive
information about plans for a new stealth fighter aircraft being
developed by the US with British cooperation, the Ministry of Defence
confirmed yesterday.
It was taken from the officer as he sat on a train at London's Paddington
station two weeks ago by a thief who is believed to have
had no idea of its contents.
The Mirror newspaper said yesterday that the �2,000 computer came into its
possession when it was contacted by a computer
specialist who said a contact wanted to wipe a laptop of "fighter plane
stuff". It returned the laptop to the ministry.
Full article at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4021146,00.html
Michael Keaney
Mercuria Business School
Martinlaaksontie 36
01620 Vantaa
Finland
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
