Overview
Harold Wilson, the British Prime Minister during the 1960s and 1970s, was the subject of intense suspicion by his own intelligence services. Defectors and high-ranking MI5 officers alleged that Wilson was a secret KGB agent code-named "Old-man."
The Sources
- Anatoliy Golitsyn: A Soviet defector who claimed that Wilson was a KGB asset, though many historians now view Golitsyn's claims as "fantasies."
- Peter Wright: A former MI5 officer who claimed in his banned book Spycatcher that a group of MI5 officers actively plotted to bug Wilson's office and force him from power.
The "Clockwork Orange" Plot
Rumors of a plot code-named "Clockwork Orange" suggested that military and intelligence officials were planning a coup to replace Wilson with a military-led government, fearing his policies were too favorable to Moscow. Wilson eventually resigned abruptly in 1976, a move that theorists still link to the pressure from these secret plots.