An English Affair: Sex, Class And Power In The Age Of Profumo - Plot & Excerpts
He did so, however, at an Oxford dinner of 1981 held in honour of Hugh Trevor-Roper. Sir Michael Howard, one of the official historians of wartime intelligence, had just made a jocular speech referring to the double agent codenamed Garbo. The ex-Prime Minister rose to declare that he had never heard such a shocking speech in his life: national security was no joking matter; indeed, it should seldom be mentioned. This represented the uniform view of intelligence held in Whitehall. ‘In Britain the activities of the intelligence and security services have always been regarded in much the same light as marital sex,’ as Howard explained four years later. ‘Everyone knows that it goes on and is quite content that it should, but to speak, write or ask questions about it is regarded as exceedingly bad form. So far as official government policy is concerned, the British security and intelligence services, MI5 and MI6, do not exist. Intelligence is brought by the storks, and enemy agents are found under gooseberry bushes.
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