None of us should be surprised either. We have been here before. In the late 1960s and early 1970s serving British generals, former generals, members of the royal family and the British security\u00a0services\u00a0regularly spoke in such terms to each other \u2013 and even occasionally on prime-time television.<\/p>\n
More than that, when they believed their privileges were under serious threat, as they did during\u00a0Harold Wilson\u2019s various governments of that period, they actively plotted for \u201cregime change\u201d, or a military takeover.<\/p>\n
In what became a self-serving vicious spiral, the establishment\u2019s fears were further\u00a0stoked by the stream of black propaganda being fed to the British media by MI5, Britain\u2019s version of the FBI. It\u00a0painted Wilson\u2019s government and the trade union movement as overrun with Communists trying to bring down the UK. One can imagine a Corbyn government will receive no better treatment from\u00a0the UK media than Wilson’s did.<\/p>\n
Like Corbyn today, Wilson was seen in the 60s and 70s as a major threat to the entrenched privileges of British elites.<\/p>\n
There is a wealth\u00a0of evidence for all this, though perhaps unsurprisingly many sources, including Wikipedia, casually dismiss these accounts as \u201cconspiracy theories\u201d \u2013 the ultimate way\u00a0to\u00a0shut down scrutiny.<\/p>\n
But the evidence was so compelling even the BBC, hardly a risk-taking broadcaster at the best of times, girded its loins back in 2006 to make a documentary called \u201cThe Plot Against Harold Wilson\u201d. In fact, as the 90-minute film makes clear by interviewing many of those directly involved, there was not one plot but many against Wilson. You can watch it below.<\/p>\n
It probably all seemed like old, slightly quaint history to the BBC nine years ago. Now it sounds frighteningly relevant again.<\/p>\n
Here is a fascinating line from one plotter, Sir General Walter Walker, at about 1hr 2 mins in. Speaking in the early 1970s, he says on film:<\/p>\n
If you plot to destroy this present system, what are you doing? You are committing a form of treason. I have taken an oath of allegiance to my Queen and I am not prepared to see that oath interfered with.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
For me at least, that puts the ludicrous current debate about Corbyn refusing to sing the national anthem in an even more sinister light. It also makes me wonder how the armed forces read the recent comment from the prime minister, David Cameron,\u00a0that Corbyn poses a “threat to national security”.<\/p>\n
Lord Mountbatten, the Queen\u2019s cousin, a mentor to Prince Charles, and the chief of the defence staff at the time, became a figurehead for this group (45.30) and even approached the Queen Mother to seek her blessing for a military takeover. Walker says Mountbatten\u00a0told him: \u201cIf you want help from me, will you let me know?\u201d<\/p>\n
David Stirling, the founder of Britain\u2019s most elite military unit, the SAS, also confirmed\u00a0to journalists that a coup against Wilson was seriously being considered (1.03). He contemplated bumping off trade union leaders to foment so much anger among workers that the military would be forced to move in to restore order.<\/p>\n
Soon, the army, members of the royal family and the intelligence services were all considering how they might launch a military coup to stop\u00a0a Communist takeover (the one that had been created\u00a0in MI5’s\u00a0lurid imagination). Brian Crozier, a former intelligence officer who supported\u00a0a coup, says there was\u00a0a \u201cwidespread attitude\u201d in\u00a0favour\u00a0of\u00a0it among the military (1.05)<\/p>\n
It culminated in a show of force by the armed forces, which briefly took over Heathrow airport (1.06) without warning or coordination with Wilson’s government. Marcia Williams, Wilson\u2019s secretary, called it a \u201cdress rehearsal\u201d. Wilson resigned unexpectedly soon afterwards, apparently as the pressures started to get to him.<\/p>\n
As the BBC concludes:<\/p>\n
The actions of Lord Mountbatten and senior military and intelligence officers undermined democracy and brought this country to the brink of a coup. Yet no one has been held accountable, there has been no proper inquiry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Such an\u00a0inquiry might have served at least as a small deterrent for those, like the general who approached\u00a0the Sunday Times, who are thinking once again in terms\u00a0of a coup.<\/p>\n
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