posted on Aug, 16 2007 @ 04:19 PM
Originally posted by stanboy
But do the secret service actually have the right to override a democratically elected Prime Minister from power when the people clearly voted him
into powr in the first place?
The answer is no they can't do it - legally, but obviously they can do it illegally. Harold Wilson was a socialist, in the true sense of the world.
He was anti-priviledge and he was sick of the corruption that existed within the permanent civil service. Add to this the tax thresh-holds and you
have a threat to anyone who likes making money.
After the end of the First World War, government revenue for intelligence services was cut in half and then reduced further, going from 250,000 to
90,000 pounds per year. By the beginning of the Second World War the services were a shadow of their former selves. The Germans on the other hand
had invested heavily in developing the Abwehr and the SD. The British were no competition.
In order to boost the funds available a proposal was accepted from an American businessman, Chester Beatty. In return for help in protecting his
mining operation in Serbia he would invest in SO1/2. It later turned out, after someone thought to investigate, that Beatty's main client was
Germany. If this were not bad enough, the minerals that Beatty mined were used in weapons manufacture.
Though this is not directly linked to Wilson, it does show that the permanent civil service are not above making deals with private companies in
return for funding. The cash for questions row shows similar traits in peers, though this time under the table. IG Farben is also said to have made
a deal with the British for neutrality from bombings - another fund raising exercise?
The civil service would have come under intense pressure from its sponsors to prevent Wilson from increasing tax thresholds further. And the service
would have done anything to prevent investigations of corruption so that they could keep feathering their nest egg. They decided that Wilson had to
go, and despite his popularity he went.
Excellent documentary, thanks for posting it.