Harold Wilson conspiracy theories

Since the mid-1970s, a variety of conspiracy theories have emerged centering on British Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. These range from Wilson having been a Soviet agent, to Wilson being the victim of counter-espionage plots by members of the civil service.

Background

Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn is said to have told Alec MacDonald, who set up safe houses where Golitsyn could live, that Wilson was a KGB operative and that former Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell had been assassinated by the KGB in order to have the pro-US Gaitskell replaced as party leader by Harold Wilson. David Leigh, however, claims that Golitsyn was guessing. Christopher Andrew, the official historian for Britain's MI5Christopher Andrew, , The Sunday Times, June 24, 2007

Former MI5 officer Peter Wright claimed in his memoirs Spycatcher that he had been told that Wilson was a Soviet agent. Wright states that after Wilson was elected Prime Minister in 1964 the CIA's head of the Counterintelligence Division, James Angleton, had told him that he had heard from a source (whom he did not name, but who was probably Golitsyn) that Wilson was a Soviet agent. Angleton said he would give further information if MI5 would guarantee to keep the allegations from 'political circles'.<ref...
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