Labour M.P. ‘was a Soviet spy’

Press, 26 March 1981, Page 6

Labour M.P. ‘was a Soviet spy’

NZPA-Reuter London A former chairman of the Labour Party was a British and Soviet double-agent, the London “Daily Mail” alleged yesterday. Tom Driberg, a self-con-fessed homosexual and member of Parliament for 32 years who was. made a life peer shortly before his death in 1976, was a double-agent for MIS, the British counterespionage agency, and the Soviet K.G.B. the paper said.

A front-page report by its veteran defence correspondent. Chapman Pincher. said Driberg “reported on the personal and political activities of his friends and colleagues in Parliament” to both agencies throughout his political career.

“Both MIS and the KGB had no illusions about the fact that he was working for the other side. Both sought to use him for their own purposes ” Pincher said. Driberg, who became Lord Bradwell on the recommendation of the former Labour Minister, Harold Wilson, was chairman of the Labour Party from 1957-58 and a member of its national executive for 23 years. On Monday Pincher alleged that Sir Roger Hollis, Director-General of MIS from 1956 until his retirement in 1965, was a top-level

Soviet agent. Sir Roger died eight years ago. The Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) returned to London yesterday from a European summit meeting in The Netherlands to face the allegations, the latest in a string of post-war scandals in Britain's intelligence network. Mrs Thatcher is due to make a statement in the House of Commons about the Hollis affair today. Pincher's allegations are taken from his book, "Their Trade is Treachery,” due to be published at the end of this week. Extracts are being serialised in the "Daily Mail.” Driberg, a member of Parliament from 194,2-74, was paid for his information, and ■ it also saved him regularly from prosecution on charge’s of homosexuality — only legalised between consenting adults in 1969. Driberg was charged once — with indecent assault in 1935 — and acquitted at the Old Bailey. Pincher said that in later years Driberg was “repeatedly caught either procuring or committing a homosexual act,” but escaped prosecution by referring the police to an MIS telephone number. The agency then “put the mantle of its protection round him,” ’ Pincher alleged.

He said that unlike Hollis who some members of Parliament say could have been Britain's most damaging spy, Driberg had no access to’ State secrets. Driberg lent his flat to fellow members of Parliament, including senior Ministers, for "sexual liaisons,” and over 30 years reported on their private lives, Pincher said. MIS stored the information “as part of their file on Members of Parliament they were worried about,” while for the KGB it meant potential blackmail material, Pincher said. In a frank autobiography, “Ruling Passions,” published posthumously in 1977, Driberg said he first sought homosexual experiences at the age of 11, and later pursued his homosexual desires whenever the opportu- > nity arose. Although he married in 1951, Driberg’s book gave no indication that he had heterosexual relations, and little is' known about his wife. He died at the age of 71 before completing the manuscript. The Oxford-educated Dri- : berg, a Left-winger, was a noted journalist. He worked for the “Daily Express” as a reporter and later started its gossip column under the pen name William Hickey.