In yesterdays Sunday Herald, It reports of a letter sent by Margo MacDonald MSP to the Head of Mi5.
In her letter she asks for assurances that Mi5 will not interfere with the Scottish Independence referendum, and she asserts that there are of course Mi5 agents currently embedded and operating within the SNP.
How ludicrous a suggestion this is! may possibly be the disbelieving response of someone hearing this allegation, It sounds frankly unbelievable, but is it really so unbelievable?
In a week when a whistle-blower in the States blew the lid off something equally outrageous, that the British government had through its spy listening centre GSHQ been using American monitoring for years to access our internet communications, which of course is strictly illegal for British Intelligence to do themselves directly. It makes Margo Macdonalds allegations seem puny by comparison, and maybe not so outrageous as they seem.
However is there at all likely to be any truth in them? There does seem to be some past history to rely on, and given that the British have been at this game for a long long time, ask our Commonwealth partners in India and elsewhere what they got up to when these countries were seeking independence,or our near neighbours in Ireland. Or if you want to go back even further in time, to before the beginning of the union in 1707, and the activities of Defoe, you get the picture.
Margo, although no longer an SNP MSP and member, will no doubt have very clear memories of the activities of the 1970’s and the assertions made at the time leading up to the first devolution referendum about agitators and undercover intelligence operatives actively involving themselves in the SNP to create mayhem. I would imagine that she has these memories very clear in her own head to this day.
Many people have been looking forward to the STV Road to Referendum three part series, and despite its initial black out, have been able to repeat it. So I should imagine that anyone that has really wanted to see the first part will now have done so.
So far it has been a reasonable account, but I suspect that there will be no mention of these Mi5 activities, nor was there any mention in the first part of the top secret McCrone report which was buried for many years by successive Labour and Tory governments.
So can I suggest that as many people as possible watch Diomhair (Secret) which was originally produced by BBC ALBA, but is no longer accessible in BBC searches. It details many of the events of historical British Interference in Scottish affairs,including the McCrone report, and some of the extents they were prepared to stoop to, It really is worth the watching.
I have made it easily accessible here for those who would like to watch it. It is on YOUTUBE in 6 instalments,and is in Gaelic, but easily watchable in subtitles.
You might find yourself wondering, just what might be going on right now……After all…Mi5 have their Scottish operations right next door to the BBC in Glasgow, and in a good position to influence what we see and hear.
But make up your own minds..
Guardian Article on NSA whistleblower and surveillance
Auld Acquaintance 
Absolutely nothing any of the Agencies controlled by Wasteminster get up to would surprise me. Witness the infiltration of protest groups South of the border by ‘special branch’ officers who over-reached their remit. Also, every squaddie who patrolled the streets of N Ireland during the troubles carried a dossier on all known dissidents (of both colours) complete with photographs, addresses, lists of associates and much more.
Witness also this past revelations by the US whistleblower regarding how GCHQ use information harvested by the NSA on how UK citizens use the internet etc.
Thanks for the Domhair links Rod, I’ll make full use of them
I think you’ll find Margo was simply the rest of the country to the fact that MI5 will be playing its part and the YES personnel were aware of it and now much of the country was too.
Margo’s on our side and she’s nobody’s fool.
VOTE YES in 464 days
that should read: simply alerting the rest of the country…..
I would be surprised if the British State wasn’t using its extensive security services to monitor the activities of organisations who want to break up the state. The irony is, every tax payer in Scotland who wants independence, is paying for the running of MI6 et al. Westminster won’t let go of the last bit of its Empire without using all of its weapons to try and thwart the ‘Yes’ vote.