MI5 spies blamed for spreading 'lurid sex scandal' rumours about Leon Brittan
- Spies said to have made baseless claims against the then Home Secretary as he was angry they failed to prevent disastrous Libyan embassy siege
- Right-wing elements in security services also allegedly disliked his Jewish background
British spies were blamed for spreading ‘lurid sex scandal’ rumours about Cabinet minister Leon Brittan
British spies were blamed for spreading ‘lurid sex scandal’ rumours about Cabinet minister Leon Brittan.
MI5 agents were said to have made the baseless claims against the then Home Secretary as he was angry they failed to prevent the disastrous Libyan embassy siege.
Right-wing elements in the security services also allegedly disliked his Jewish background.
The smears surrounding Lord Brittan became so well known, Downing Street had to issue a warning that they were untrue.
In June 1984, Private Eye revealed that gossip revolved around the Home Secretary.
It wrote: ‘The “Cabinet Minister Scandal” that surfaced after a lobby briefing by Mr Bernard Ingham, Mrs Thatcher’s press secretary, relates to Home Secretary Leon Brittan.’
The magazine said the story –‘already widely discounted as false’ – had been revived after WPC Yvonne Fletcher was shot dead outside the Libyan embassy in 1984.
Private Eye claimed ‘MI5 failed to evaluate the situation’ and that Brittan considered ‘a big shake-up in MI5’.
‘The MI5 spooks and loonies who object to having a Jewish Home Secretary retaliated by resurrecting the Brittan smear... spreading it round the Street of Shame,’ claimed Private Eye.
Last week the MoS reported Lord Brittan was questioned by police over allegations he raped a 19-year-old student in 1967.
He denies it and has not been arrested or charged.
Lord Brittan’s spokesman said: ‘He is unaware of any of the briefings to which you refer.’
MI5 agents were said to have made the baseless claims against the then Home Secretary as he was angry they failed to prevent the disastrous Libyan embassy siege (pictured above at the time)
Right-wing elements in the security services also allegedly disliked Leon Brittan's Jewish background
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