Queen’s press man source leaks?

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 6

Queen’s press man source leaks?

NZPA-AAP London The Queen’s press secretary, Michael Shea, is reported to have been the source of disclosures about the Monarch’s dismay at many of her Prime Minister’s policies. The disclosures, published last week in the “Sunday Times,” have caused a constitutional and political controversy. “The Observer” yesterday named Mr Shea as the previously unidentified Palace source of the information, quoting him as saying to friends: “I’m the ‘mole’ if there is one.” Mr Shea admitted briefing the “Sunday Times” reporter who wrote last week’s sensational frontpage story, “The Observer” said, but had told friends he was not the source of assertions that the Queen was critical of Government policies.

“I’m the ‘mole’ if there' is one, but I have no direct knowledge of the Queen’s views on Mrs Thatcher,” Mr Shea is quoted as saying; “That is not something she would ever talk to me about or which I would need to know in order to do my job. I have no idea what goes on between them when they meet.”

He had briefed the newspaper for an article published in its main feature section after a reporter telephoned and asked for help on a nonattributable basis (which permits a newspaper to use the content of a conversation without identifying the source). However, “The Observer” said, the "Sunday Times” . editor, Andrew Neil, decided the material the reporter had gathered was strong enough to justify front-page

treatment. Asked about the Queen’s views on political divisions within the Commonwealth, Mr Shea had agreed that it was perhaps reasonable to infer that she was closer to Commonwealth opinion than to the Prime Minister’s. He also was asked about her views on unemployment and had replied that the Queen naturally was concerned about the unemployed. After publication of last week’s front page story in the "Sunday Times,” Mr Shea issued an unqualified denial, saying it was “entirely without foundation.”

The “Sunday Times” gave the story front page treatment again yesterday, revealing that it spoke to its “key source” five times before publication of the initial article.