Review: To Catch A Spy by Tim Tate

Synopsis: The Spycatcher affair remains one of the most intriguing moments in the history of British intelligence and a pivotal point in the public's relationship with the murky world of espionage and security. It lifted the lid on alleged Soviet infiltration of British services and revealed a culture of law-breaking, bugging and burgling. But how much do we know about the story behind the scandal?

In To Catch a Spy, Tim Tate reveals the astonishing true story of the British government's attempts to silence whistleblower Peter Wright and hide the truth about Britain's intelligence services and political elites. It's a story of state-sanctioned cover-up plots; of the government lying to Parliament and courts around the world; and of stories leaked with the intention to mislead and deceive.

This is a tale of high treason and low farce. Drawing on thousands of pages of previously unpublished court transcripts, the contents of secret British government files, and original interviews with many of the key players in the Spycatcher trials, it draws back the curtain on a hidden world. A world where spies, politicians and Britain's most senior civil servants conspired to ride roughshod over the law, prevented the public from hearing about their actions and mounted a cynical conspiracy to deceive the world. It is the story of Peter Wright's ruthless and often lawless obsession to uncover Russian spies, both real and imagined, his belated determination to reveal the truth and the lengths to which the British government would go to silence him.

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This is definitely a valuable companion piece to Wright's "Spycatcher".

I got my copy of "Spycatcher" as soon as I could when it hit the shelves here Australia - it is well worn and much read. So to say that I was eager to get my hands on Tate's book with its updated (and newly released) documentation pertaining to the court case to prevent the publication of "Spycatcher" would be an understatement.

It is a meticulously researched and documented account of the "Spycatcher" court case, of its author, Peter Wright, and of the UK governments attempts to keep the long hidden secrets of the British secret service, long hidden still. As mentioned, recently released archived documents have supplemented this work, meaning that much written directly after the original case, has been fleshed out and given context, and in some instances, superseded (and not to the detriment of the original authors).

Tate compared the UK government's attempts to silence Wright to Lewis Carroll's "Hunting of the Snark" - a pointless and uniquely British farce! And this sums things up quite well.

This book, in addition to refreshing my memory of the case (causing me more than once to glance at my copy of "Spycatcher" on my bookshelves) and also reminded me that the counsel for the defence (ie: Malcolm Turnbull) later wrote a book on the trial, titled "The Spycatcher Trial", and rose to become Australia's 29th Prime Minister.

This is definitely one for those interested in the history of the British secret service and of the "Spycatcher" case. One I will be adding to my own library.