TO CATCH A SPY

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to mislead and deceive This is a tale of high treason and low farce Drawing on thousands of pages of previously unpublished court transcripts the contents of secret British government files and original interviews with many of the key players in the Spycatcher trials it draws back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