Kit Knightly

In 2006, to mark the 30th anniversary of Harold Wilson’s retirement, the BBC release the above documentary: The Plot Against Harold Wilson. It details how, throughout Wilson leadership, MI5 and the CIA were engaged in plans to undermine Wilson – even to the extent of having plans in place for a full-blown military coup should the need arise.

The tactics included attacking Wilson’s staff and key allies, accusing him of being compromised by the Kremlin, and labelling him as “soft on the IRA”.

These probably sound very familiar to anyone who pays the slightest bit of attention to British politics.

Given Mike Pompeo’s recent comments about America’s willingness to overthrow Corbyn, if they deem it necessary, these past events take on a new significance.

Perhaps the greatest lesson we can take from this is just how far our media has fallen in only thirteen years.

The BBC was never the bastion of truth it pretended to be, but ask yourself: would the BBC make this documentary now? Would not this be deemed “conspiracy theory” in our modern media landscape?

Even Jonathan Freedland, writing in the Guardian in 2006, did not question the truth of this. Instead, deeming it “Britain’s Watergate”, in his usual incredibly subtle way.

And yet, that same man has systemically taken part in very similar manoeuvres to undermine both Jeremy Corbyn and Donald Trump. Smearing both as “antisemite” and “tool of the Kremlin” respectively, and even throwing around words like “traitor” and “treason”. These are moves straight out of the CIA playbook.

We know for a fact that the Israeli embassy had agents trying to undermine Corbyn, and that the US Secretary of State outright stated they would removed Corbyn from power. There’s even been rumblings of potential anti-Corbyn military coups in the past.

None of these received the coverage that the anti-Wilson plots did, just 13 years ago.

So what has happened to our media? Did they change their minds? Were they brainwashed? Bought off? Was the appearance of impartiality always just a thin veneer?

It’s impossible to say.

One key difference, of course, is the time elapsed. Writing about something that happened 30 years ago, is very different from writing about something that’s happening right now. Writing about the past, one can take the “thank god we’re not like that anymore” angle, “haven’t things improved”, “wasn’t Nixon dreadful” etc.

Writing about topical Deep State operations actually puts the agenda at risk, and that’s something the media are totally unwilling to do. They will question old narratives, but not current ones.

I wasn’t alive in 1976, but I can guess there was very little media coverage of these ideas then. I don’t know if they threw around the “conspiracy theory” epithet with the gusto they do today, but I can guess anyone suggesting the Deep State was trying to bring down Wilson’s government probably found it difficult to get column inches in the mainstream press.

It’s now a matter of record, uncontested by the British press, that the US/UK Deep State attempted to destabilise the elected government of the United Kingdom in the 1970s, they may well have succeeded in driving Wilson out of office.

It’s also a fact that the current Secretary of State has said they would do the same again against Corbyn. The increasingly controlled corporate media has shown they would be an ally in this.

It falls to the public, and the alternative media, to prevent this the only way we can. Spreading awareness. Telling the truth.

Please share widely.