Spies, Lies & Whistleblowers
M15, M16 & the Shayler Affair

By Annie Machon
December 2005
Book Guild
ISBN: 185776952X
397 pages, Illustrated, 6 ½” x 9 ½”
$38.95 Hardcover


David Shayler and Annie Machon worked for M15’s political and counter-terrorism departments in the 1990s. They were so disgusted by its crimes and incompetence that they left and David went on the record about the service’s failings. Ministers refused to hear his evidence. Instead, they have used the official Secrets Act and injunctions to stop his disclosures.

This has led to a life on the run, exile in Paris, a 2-year court case and two spells in prison. Here, for the first time, Annie writes about her experiences at the heart of the secret state and what happens when you stand up to it. Her revelations about illegal intelligence operations, cover-ups to ministers, and M16 funding of Al Qaeda operations will shock anyone that likes to think security services are doing everything in their power to fight terrorism.

In a world where countries are taken into illegal wars on flawed evidence, where people in the UK can be imprisoned without trial on the word of the intelligence services, and where the threat of terrorist attack is a daily fear, we need to know that those responsible for Britain’s security are really doing all they can to protect the public. It’s time for those in power to pull their heads out of the sand and listen to the evidence – and give M15 and M16 a radical overhaul.


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