Thread by @anthonydaly01

Part 1: The PINCHER/HAVERS document - background and context.
Sir Michael Havers (later Lord Chancellor) had for years been friends with the journalist Chapman Pincher. They went pheasant shooting occasionally. Pincher wrote...

“the most delightfully indiscreet oyster I ever met was Michael Havers, the Tory Attorney-General for many years and, briefly, Lord Chancellor.”

It was Havers for example who, during a pheasant shoot in 1986 revealed to Pincher that Sir Maurice Oldfield was homosexual and had been lying for years in order to clear security vetting.

He also surprised Pincher by revealing that Peter Wright (author of Spycatcher) had accused both Pincher and Lord Rothschild of being double agents who were also working for the KGB. “I might have to do something,” Havers warned.

Pincher and Havers’ relationship had become strained as a result of the Spycatcher affair, following the (in)famous court case in Australia in 1986, when the British Government tried to prevent the publication of Wright’s book.

Havers consulted the DPP and in December 1986, inquiries were instituted by the Serious Crime Squad of the Met. Pincher was subjected to three interrogation sessions lasting 12 hours at his home which began in February 1987.

A detective chief superintendent then produced a search warrant. Pincher wrote about the affair in the uncensored, reprinted version of his book, (2012 edition) Treachery:

“In particular, I made sure they left with a rather fat folder marked “Havers”… Those who had to read the documents would realise that I would be likely to divulge the information in my defence and the damage to the government would be catastrophic...

...with at least one high-profile resignation inevitable and labour having a field day. When my documents were returned, I was told that some of them had been copied, and I suspect that they resulted in one major political action, for which I have no regret.”

The case against Pincher and Rothschild had collapsed by April 1987, yet the following month Havers told Parliament that the DPP was considering a report by the police, who might have to make further enquiries; but the police had already been taken off the case.

Finally, in July 1987, Havers admitted to Parliament that there was no evidence to justify proceedings against Pincher or Rothschild. That same month Pincher presented Havers with a signed copy of his latest book, Traitors: The Anatomy of Treason. In it he wrote:

"to Michael - for good fellowship in the shooting field." Knowing that the police now had damming information on Havers, was the gift a gesture of friendship and of no hard feelings for what Havers had put him through...

or was there a deeper meaning around fellowship, honour and betrayal; which after all, was what the book was all about? This is the book that contained an old Foyles Bookshop business card, which apparently had been used as a bookmark.

In any event, Pincher’s prediction of a high-profile resignation, came to pass. Havers had been appointed Lord Chancellor in June but suddenly resigned just four months later in October 1987.

After 17 years in Parliament, Havers wrote a very brief (7 sentence) letter of resignation to Margaret Thatcher, who wrote back acknowledging “the strains upon your health.” In part 2, I will release the full PINCHER/HAVERS document, that I believe led to his resignation.

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