Shield

Shield
Founder	•  Brian Crozier •  Stephen Hastings
Type	•  secret •  think tank
Interests	Margaret Thatcher, subversion
Membership	•  Brian Crozier •  Douglas Eden •  Nicholas Elliott •  Stephen Hastings •  Peter Shipley •  Harry Sporborg •  ...?
A secret committee set up by radical right-wing activists and former intelligence officers in the UK in 1976. Their aim was quite possibly to get Margaret thatcher elected.

Shield was the name of a secret committee set up by radical right-wing activists and former intelligence officers in 1976 to brief Margaret Thatcher and her aides on ‘subversion’. The existence of ‘Shield’ was only revealed in 1993 when Brian Crozier wrote an article in The Times.

Origins

The Langemann papers reference a plan "to affect a change of government in the United Kingdom (accomplished)", which may explain the origins of this group.

According to Crozier himself, Shield was set up in 1976 at the instigation of Stephen Hastings. ‘Why were we doing this?’ Crozier asked in his The Times piece, "The problem was subversion: the deliberate undermining of the State and society." Essentially Crozier and his allied believed that the Labour movement was captive to communists who wanted to create a Soviet style government in the UK. As Crozier explained: "The trades unions and the Labour Party had largely been taken over by the subversive Left. Many other areas of life were affected: the schools and universities, the media, the churches." Crozier reportedly called "subversion" the "political equivalent of AIDS".

Personnel

The main figures in Shield were MI6 operative Stephen Hastings MP and the deep state actor, Brian Crozier. They were joined by backbench Conservative MP, Nicholas Elliott, also an MI6 operative, also a member of Le Cercle and co-founder of The 61 with Brian Crozier, WW2 spook, Harry Sporborg (who developed the Operation Gladio concept). The leadership directed two young researchers, Peter Shipley and Douglas Eden. Robert Moss has also been named as a possible member. It is unknown whether there were any more members.

Activities

The committee’s first project according to Crozier was to commission a report on the current state of ‘subversion’ and on the existing official counter-subversion agencies. The report, which ran to about 100 pages, was drafted by an unidentified former senior member of the Secret Intelligence Service, an old friend of Stephen Hastings and Crozier. The final draft was completed in May 1977. The report proposed the reorganisation of the intelligence and security services, arguing that ‘MI-6 (foreign intelligence) was basically in good shape whereas MI-5 (security) was not.’ Between May 1977 and July 1979, Shield produced 15 strategic papers on similar themes and three papers on contingency planning for the forthcoming Tory government. The reports were always given to Margaret Thatcher and, on request, to Peter Carrington, William Whitelaw, and Sir Keith Joseph.

Mrs Thatcher suggested that Shield should be attached to 10 Downing Street or the Cabinet Office. Crozier claimed that both William Whitelaw and Keith Joseph. were in favour, but the plan was killed off by Carrington.

 

Known members

4 of the 7 of the members already have pages here:

Member	Description
Brian Crozier	Arch espionage insider who founded his own intelligence agency
Nicholas Elliott	A key spook with a wide range of connections.
Stephen Hastings	MI6 agent member of Shield
Harry Sporborg	Spook alleged to have envisaged Operation Gladio.

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