Rupert Allason
Encyclopedia
Rupert William Simon Allason (born 8 November 1951) is a military historian
and former Conservative Party
politician in the United Kingdom
. He was the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Torbay
in Devon
, from 1987
to 1997
. He writes books on the subject of espionage
under the pen name Nigel West.
, he and his brother, Julian, were raised as Roman Catholics, the faith of their Irish
mother, Nuala McElveen (who acted under the name Nuala Barrie), and attended Downside School
. Their father, James Allason
, was also a Conservative Party MP.
He was opposed to ceding greater power to Brussels
, in 1993 he was the only Tory
who refused to vote for the Maastricht Treaty
when it was made into a motion of confidence
. The vote was narrowly won but Allason's abstention caused him to have the party whip withdrawn for a year.
He left parliament after the landslide 1997 general election
, when he lost his seat by a margin of just twelve votes to Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders
. In 2000, Allason was reported to have considered joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP).
in November 1989. In 1984 The Sunday Times
had commented: "His information is so precise that many people believe he is the unofficial historian of the secret services. West's sources are undoubtedly excellent. His books are peppered with deliberate clues to potential front-page stories."
Allason has been a frequent speaker at intelligence seminars and has lectured at both the KGB
headquarters in Dzerzhinsky Square, Moscow
and at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia
, where he once addressed an audience that included the Soviet spy Aldrich Ames
. He continues to lecture to members of the intelligence community at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies in Washington, DC.
His special contribution to the study of modern historical espionage has been in tracking down former agents and persuading them to tell their stories. He traced the wartime double agent GARBO, who was reported to have died in Africa
in 1949. However, Allason found him in Venezuela
, and they collaborated on the book Operation Garbo, published in 1985. He was also the first person to identify and interview the mistress of Admiral Canaris, the German intelligence chief who headed the Abwehr
, and he was responsible for the exposure of Leo Long and Edward Scott as Soviet spies.
His recent titles include The Crown Jewels, based on files made available to him by the KGB
archives in Moscow; VENONA, which disclosed the existence of a GRU
spy-ring operating in London throughout the war, headed by Professor J B S Haldane
and the Hon. Ivor Montagu
; and The Third Secret, an account of the CIA's intervention in Afghanistan
. Mortal Crimes, published in September 2004, investigates the scale of soviet espionage in the Manhattan Project
, the Anglo-American development of an atomic bomb.
In 2005 he edited The Guy Liddell Diaries, a daily journal of the wartime work of MI5
's Director of Counter-Espionage. He also published a study of the Comintern
's secret wireless traffic, MASK: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and the first of a series of counter-intelligence textbooks, The Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence, The Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence and The Historical Dictionary of Cold War Counter-Intelligence.
While in the House of Commons, he campaigned against the use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates
, and exposed the arms-dealing activities of the billionaire publisher Robert Maxwell
. He was sued for libel by Maxwell but won the case, winning record damages for a litigant in person by counterclaim.
In 1996, Allason sued Alastair Campbell
for malicious falsehood with regard to an article printed in the Daily Mirror in November 1992. The case was heard by Justice Maurice Drake, without a jury. The judge ruled that Allason had failed to demonstrate that the Daily Mirror article, though inaccurate, had caused him any financial loss. In a retrial in 1998, he was awarded £1,050 in damages and 75% of his costs.
In 1998 he brought and lost a libel action against the BBC
show Have I Got News For You
, suing over comments made in a book based on the show published in 1996, which read: "...given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit". He subsequently lost the case.
In 2001, Allason sued Random House
, the publishers of The Enigma Spy, an autobiography of the Soviet agent John Cairncross
. Allason claimed he had ghostwritten The Enigma Spy in return for the copyright and 50% of the proceeds. However, Allason lost the case, and was ordered to pay costs of around £200,000. In passing judgement the trial judge said Allason was "a profoundly dishonest man" and "one of the most dishonest witnesses I have ever seen".
In September 2005, Allason was threatened with jail for contempt of court
in relation to paying the damages from the 2001 case.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and former Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He was the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Torbay
Torbay (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:-Elections in the 1980s:-Notes and references:...
in Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, from 1987
United Kingdom general election, 1987
The United Kingdom general election of 1987 was held on 11 June 1987, to elect 650 members to the British House of Commons. The election was the third consecutive election victory for the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, who became the first Prime Minister since the 2nd...
to 1997
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
. He writes books on the subject of espionage
Espionage
Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...
under the pen name Nigel West.
Background
Born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, he and his brother, Julian, were raised as Roman Catholics, the faith of their Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
mother, Nuala McElveen (who acted under the name Nuala Barrie), and attended Downside School
Downside School
Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent school for children aged 11 to 18, located in Stratton-on-the-Fosse, between Norton Radstock and Shepton Mallet in Somerset, south west England. It is attached to Downside Abbey...
. Their father, James Allason
James Allason
Lieutenant Colonel James Harry Allason OBE was a British Conservative Party politician, sportsman, and former military planner who worked with Mountbatten and Churchill...
, was also a Conservative Party MP.
Political career
Rupert Allason contested Kettering (1979) and Battersea (1983) before finally being elected as Conservative MP for Torbay in 1987.He was opposed to ceding greater power to Brussels
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, in 1993 he was the only Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
who refused to vote for the Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty...
when it was made into a motion of confidence
1993 vote of confidence in the government of John Major
The 1993 confidence motion in John Major's government was an explicit confidence motion in the Conservative government of John Major which was proposed in order to ensure support in Parliament for the passing of the Maastricht Treaty...
. The vote was narrowly won but Allason's abstention caused him to have the party whip withdrawn for a year.
He left parliament after the landslide 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
, when he lost his seat by a margin of just twelve votes to Liberal Democrat Adrian Sanders
Adrian Sanders
Adrian Mark Sanders is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. He is the Member of Parliament for Torbay in Devon.-Personal life:...
. In 2000, Allason was reported to have considered joining the UK Independence Party (UKIP).
Literary career
As an historian, Rupert Allason has concentrated on security and intelligence issues and his controversial books have frequently made headlines. He was voted 'The Experts' Expert' by a panel of other spy writers in The ObserverThe Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
in November 1989. In 1984 The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
had commented: "His information is so precise that many people believe he is the unofficial historian of the secret services. West's sources are undoubtedly excellent. His books are peppered with deliberate clues to potential front-page stories."
Allason has been a frequent speaker at intelligence seminars and has lectured at both the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
headquarters in Dzerzhinsky Square, Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
and at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia
Langley, Virginia
Langley is an unincorporated community in the census-designated place of McLean in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States.The community was essentially absorbed into McLean many years ago, although there is still a Langley High School...
, where he once addressed an audience that included the Soviet spy Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Ames
Aldrich Hazen Ames is a former Central Intelligence Agency counter-intelligence officer and analyst, who, in 1994, was convicted of spying for the Soviet Union and Russia...
. He continues to lecture to members of the intelligence community at the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies in Washington, DC.
His special contribution to the study of modern historical espionage has been in tracking down former agents and persuading them to tell their stories. He traced the wartime double agent GARBO, who was reported to have died in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
in 1949. However, Allason found him in Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, and they collaborated on the book Operation Garbo, published in 1985. He was also the first person to identify and interview the mistress of Admiral Canaris, the German intelligence chief who headed the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, and he was responsible for the exposure of Leo Long and Edward Scott as Soviet spies.
His recent titles include The Crown Jewels, based on files made available to him by the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
archives in Moscow; VENONA, which disclosed the existence of a GRU
GRU
GRU or Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye is the foreign military intelligence directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation...
spy-ring operating in London throughout the war, headed by Professor J B S Haldane
J. B. S. Haldane
John Burdon Sanderson Haldane FRS , known as Jack , was a British-born geneticist and evolutionary biologist. A staunch Marxist, he was critical of Britain's role in the Suez Crisis, and chose to leave Oxford and moved to India and became an Indian citizen...
and the Hon. Ivor Montagu
Ivor Montagu
The Honorable Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu was a British filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, film critic, writer, table tennis player and apparent Soviet spy...
; and The Third Secret, an account of the CIA's intervention in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
. Mortal Crimes, published in September 2004, investigates the scale of soviet espionage in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
, the Anglo-American development of an atomic bomb.
In 2005 he edited The Guy Liddell Diaries, a daily journal of the wartime work of MI5
MI5
The Security Service, commonly known as MI5 , is the United Kingdom's internal counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its core intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service focused on foreign threats, Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence...
's Director of Counter-Espionage. He also published a study of the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
's secret wireless traffic, MASK: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and the first of a series of counter-intelligence textbooks, The Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence, The Historical Dictionary of International Intelligence and The Historical Dictionary of Cold War Counter-Intelligence.
Legal actions
Allason has been involved in a number of legal cases, in which he represented himself without lawyers.While in the House of Commons, he campaigned against the use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates
Public Interest Immunity
Public-interest immunity is a principle of English common law under which the English courts can grant a court order allowing one litigant to refrain from disclosing evidence to the other litigants where disclosure would be damaging to the public interest...
, and exposed the arms-dealing activities of the billionaire publisher Robert Maxwell
Robert Maxwell
Ian Robert Maxwell MC was a Czechoslovakian-born British media proprietor and former Member of Parliament , who rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire...
. He was sued for libel by Maxwell but won the case, winning record damages for a litigant in person by counterclaim.
In 1996, Allason sued Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...
for malicious falsehood with regard to an article printed in the Daily Mirror in November 1992. The case was heard by Justice Maurice Drake, without a jury. The judge ruled that Allason had failed to demonstrate that the Daily Mirror article, though inaccurate, had caused him any financial loss. In a retrial in 1998, he was awarded £1,050 in damages and 75% of his costs.
In 1998 he brought and lost a libel action against the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
show Have I Got News For You
Have I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, suing over comments made in a book based on the show published in 1996, which read: "...given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit". He subsequently lost the case.
In 2001, Allason sued Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, the publishers of The Enigma Spy, an autobiography of the Soviet agent John Cairncross
John Cairncross
John Cairncross was a British intelligence officer during World War II, who passed secrets to the Soviet Union...
. Allason claimed he had ghostwritten The Enigma Spy in return for the copyright and 50% of the proceeds. However, Allason lost the case, and was ordered to pay costs of around £200,000. In passing judgement the trial judge said Allason was "a profoundly dishonest man" and "one of the most dishonest witnesses I have ever seen".
In September 2005, Allason was threatened with jail for contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
in relation to paying the damages from the 2001 case.
Honours and awards
Allason is the recipient of the U.S. Association of Former Intelligence Officers (AFIO)'s Lifetime Literature Achievement Award, and in 2011 he was elected to the Honorary Board of that association. He is the European Editor of the World Intelligence Review, published in Washington DC.Personal life
In 1979 Allason married Nikki van Moppes. They divorced in 1996. The couple had two children, the elder of whom is entrepreneur Tom Allason.Publications
- Spy! (by Richard Deacon with Nigel West), London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1980.
- MI5: British Security Service Operations, 1909-1945, New York: Stein and Day, 1982, 1981.
- A Matter of Trust: MI5, 1945-72, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1982; published in the U.S. as The Circus: MI5, operations 1945-1972, New York : Stein and Day, 1983.
- MI6: British Secret Intelligence Service Operations: 1909-45, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1983.
- Unreliable Witness: Espionage Myths of the Second World War, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984.
- The Branch: A History of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch. By Rupert Allason
- Operation Garbo: The Personal Story of the Most Successful Double Agent of World War II, co-written by Juan Pujol and Nigel West, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985.
- GCHQ: The Secret Wireless War, 1900-86, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1986.
- Molehunt: The Full Story of the Soviet Spy in MI5, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987.
- The Friends: Britain's Post-War Secret Intelligence operations, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1988.
- Games of Intelligence: The Classified Conflict of International Espionage, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989.
- The Blue List (novel), London: Secker & Warburg, 1989, ISBN 0-4365-6602-8
- Cuban Bluff (novel), London: Secker & Warburg, 1990.
- Seven Spies Who Changed the World, London: Secker & Warburg, 1991.
- Secret War: The Story of SOE, Britain's Wartime Sabotage Organisation, London : Hodder & Stoughton, 1992.
- Murder in the Commons (novel), London: 1992
- The Faber Book of Espionage: Faber & Faber, Dec 1994
- Murder in the Lords (novel), London: 1994
- The Secret War for the Falklands: SAS, MI6 and the War Whitehall Nearly Lost : Little Brown, Jan 1997, ISBN 0-7515-2071-3
- The Faber Book of Treachery: Faber & Faber, March 1998
- The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets Exposed by the KGB Archives, London: HarperCollins, 1999, 1998.
- Counterfeit Spies: Time Warner Paperbacks, March 1999
- VENONA: The Greatest Secret of the Cold War: HarperCollins, May 2000 ISBN 0-00-653071-0
- The Third Secret: The CIA, Solidarity and the KGB's Plot to Kill the Pope: HarperCollins, Oct 2000.
- Mortal Crimes: The Greatest Theft in History: Soviet Penetration of the Manhattan Project, New York : Enigma Books, 2004.
- The Guy Liddell Diaries: 1939-1942 Volume 1: Frank Cass Publishers, Feb 2005
- The Guy Liddell Diaries: 1942-1945 Volume 2: Routlege, London, June 2005
- Historical Dictionary of British Intelligence: Scarecrow Press, London, June 2005
- Mask: MI5's Penetration of the Communist Party of Great Britain: Frank Cass Publishers, July 2005
- On Her Majesty's Secret Service: The Chiefs of Britain's Intelligence Agency, MI6: Greenhill Books, London Oct 2006