I’m sure most spy fiction writers would dismiss such an idea as absurdly extravagant
I’m sure most spy fiction writers would dismiss such an idea as absurdly extravagant.
But perhaps I should not have been too surprised by the story. WHEN I saw the story about Hola in this morning’s paper it seemed more like a hoax than reality. How wonderfully inconceivable that this grey-haired granny should actually have sold atom secrets to the KGB. The attempt to “rehash” the allegations was clearly designed to do maximum damage to Mr Edmonds and the GMB on the eve of the TUC conference.He said that the GMB would “fervently deny” the accusations made by Ms Wright and that the case would be “vigorously contested”.Despite repeated requests, no formal allegations had been submitted against Mr Gregory via the region’s procedures for dealing with grievances.. In particular, they will draw attention to the alleged harassment of nine officials in the union’s West Midlands region who claim they have been repeatedly “humiliated” by Ken Gregory, the regional secretary.Mr Edmonds is understood to have blocked an independent investigation of the claims against Mr Gregory.A spokesman for the GMB said that in recent months Mr Edmonds, his friends and colleagues had been the victims of a concerted campaign of “smears and innuendoes”. Ms Wright believes the sender was a senior GMB officer, although there is no suggestion that it was Mr Edmonds.At the TUC conference in Brighton next week the GMB leader will be greeted with a demonstration by his members against bullying in the union.
She claims that she was given menial tasks to perform when she came back from maternity leave. On one occasion, police were called to the union’s headquarters after she was sent hate mail and a “living will” by the “Voluntary Euthanasia Society”. Last week, Mr Edmonds hosted a conference on stress in the workplace.The case by Ms Wright, who was a shop steward at the GMB headquarters, will be brought under sex discrimination law. The accusations against Mr Edmonds, general secretary of the 700,000- strong GMB general union, emerge on the eve of the TUC annual conference, amid claims that he presides over an organisation in which “harassment and intimidation” are widespread.
The GMB leader is due to face an employment tribunal hearing in January, where he will be accused of victimising a senior secretary. Elaine Wright, who worked at the union as a PA, told the Independent on Sunday that Mr Edmonds “screamed” at her, stopped her pay and refused to allow her to go on holiday after she took time off because of stress. JOHN EDMONDS, the leader of one of the country’s biggest unions and the scourge of bad bosses, is facing charges of bullying and sex discrimination.
“Questions need to be asked about who knew what and why there were no prosecutions,” he said.Michael Howard, Mr Straw’s Conservative predecessor, said he had “no knowledge” of the case. Kenneth Clarke, Home Secretary from 1992 to 1993, and Kenneth Baker (1990-92) will also be quizzed.REPORTS, PAGES 2 AND 3. In 1967 she allegedly helped the agency recruit a civil servant who was codenamed “Hunt”. Through the 1970s he was a paid agent and provided information on British arms and arms deals.The imminent publication of the Mitrokhin archive has sent shockwaves through Whitehall, with departments rushing to wash their hands of the matter. Questions will now be asked about how much ministers knew, and whether the director general of the security services decided not to inform them of the contents of the archive.Mr King said his committee would conduct a thorough investigation into the documents, and also into the handling of the case by both Conservative and Labour administrations. You have to spend weeks, sometimes months, painstakingly going through file after file checking codenames and places then trying to match them with the names of real people who are either still living or existed.”Some of the files deal with KGB agents in Britain who were active right up to the end of the Cold War.
Mrs Norwood, codenamed “Hola”, is herself believed to have helped to recruit agents for the KGB. He said that there would be further revelations in the coming days.A British intelligence officer agreed yesterday that further major KGB spies would be revealed “There could be up to 12 more names to come out. He smuggled out six trunks of files from the KGB’s most secret archive.According to Professor Andrew, the files identify KGB agents and operations in virtually every country outside the Communist bloc.Tom King, the former Tory Secretary of State for Defence, and now chairman of the Parliamentary Security and Intelligence Committee, said the unmasking of Mrs Norwood was part of “the most complete and extensive intelligence ever received from any source”. Jack Straw, the Home Secretary, yesterday asked the director general of MI5, Stephen Lander, to prepare a full report on the case. The Home Office insisted he had not been involved in the decision not to prosecute.Earlier this year, John Morris, then Attorney General, had been made aware of Mrs Norwood’s identity, but decided that “it was by then too late to undertake a prosecution”.At a press conference outside her home yesterday, Mrs Norwood said: “I did what I did not to make money but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares they could afford, a good education and a health service.” Asked if she regretted her actions, she said: “No, no, no.”The identity of Mrs Norwood and the other spies is contained in a huge archive of files brought out of Russia by a defector, Vasili Mitrokhin, in 1992. UP TO 12 more Britons recruited into the KGB will be unmasked later this week Some are understood to be still alive and living in the UK.
Last night, Professor Christopher Andrew of Cambridge University, the secret service historian who identified the 87-year-old great-grandmother Melita Norwood as a Soviet agent, said: “One of those named will be a prominent public figure who is now dead.”
The disclosures will increase pressure on the Government, which is facing intense criticism for not prosecuting Mrs Norwood, who was unmasked yesterday as a Soviet spy of 40 years’ standing and the KGB’s most important catch. If you need two additional beds, go for a “state room”, £250. Prices exclude VAT.
Address
Stapleford Park, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire LE14 2Ef (01572 787522, fax: 01572 787 651, e-mail: reservations stapleford.co.uk. “manor rooms”, large enough for a cot and an additional bed, cost £200 per night. Children’s high teas from 5.50pm to 6.30pm.
Beach
Brick paths twist through the resort, down to a long beach.
Activities
How long have you got? Archery, croquet, falconry, fly-fishing, riding, hot-air ballooning, clay pigeon shooting, off-road 4×4 driving, golf, mountain biking, spa and beauty centre, indoor swimming-pool and gym, tennis (outdoor).
Fellow guests
Moneyed, youngish set who revel in the laid-back atmosphere; plenty of families, quite a lot of Americans.
Sample prices
Rooms from £165 for two, B&B. Most rooms, however, are in styles more typical of a country-house hotel, with four-poster beds.
Refuelling
The dining-room has a gourmet menu that includes an “adult nursery dish” such as fish and chips or shepherd’s pie, just in case the likes of guinea fowl with truffle oil polenta fail to turn you on. Informal atmosphere, no dress code.
Accommodation
More than 50 designer bedrooms, each one themed and many of them sponsored.