Rupert Allason
 Rupert Allason     (historian, politician) | |
|---|---|
| Born | 8 November 1951 |
| Member of | Le Cercle |
Rupert Allason, under the pen name 'Nigel West', has written books and articles on the subject of espionage.
Official narrative
Nigel West's website reports him as "an author specialising in security, intelligence, secret service and espionage issues".
He was voted 'The Experts' Expert' by a panel of other spy writers in The Observer in November 1989. In 1984 The Sunday Times commented: "His information is so precise that many people believe he is the unofficial historian of the secret services. West's sources are undoubtedly excellent. His books are peppered with deliberate clues to potential front-page stories."
Allason has been a frequent speaker at intelligence seminars and has lectured at both the KGB headquarters in Dzerzhinsky Square, Moscow and at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
Legal actions
Allason has been involved in a number of legal cases, in which he represented himself without lawyers.
While in the House of Commons, he campaigned against the use of Public Interest Immunity Certificates, and exposed the arms-dealing of the billionaire publisher Robert Maxwell. He was sued for libel by Maxwell but won the case, winning record damages for a litigant in person by counterclaim.[citation needed]
In 2001 Allason sued Random House, the publishers of The Enigma Spy, the autobiography of the former Soviet agent John Cairncross. Allason claimed he had ghostwritten The Enigma Spy in return for the copyright and 50 per cent of the proceeds. However, Allason lost the case and was ordered to pay costs of around £200,000. In passing judgment the trial judge said that Allason was "a profoundly dishonest man" and "one of the most dishonest witnesses I have ever seen".[1][2][3] In September 2005, Allason was threatened with jail for contempt of court in relation to paying the damages from the 2001 case.[4][5][6]
Criticism of John Ainsworth-Davis
John Ainsworth-Davis's close confidante, investigative journalist Laurence de Mello reports receipt of a 2012 email by Allason that: "My connection with 'Creighton' is simply that I was employed by one of his sponsors (Milton Schulman) to investigate his claims (OpJB) and establish his true identity. I did both. He is a charlatan but I suspect he probably believes his own fantasies. Alas, I cannot account for others, such as Lady Mountbatten who, you say, have appeared to give him some credence." This seems difficult to square with the fact that Milton Schulman supported Ainsworth-Davis.[citation needed]
