CIA's UK Defence Secretary Is In (Not Enough) Trouble

[Stephen Morgan]

Le Cercle.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Yep, I think you're right there Stephen.

The goals of Le Cercle Pinay:

In 1979, Mr Crozier presented a "planning paper" to the group. Among its aims was to secure changes of government in the UK and Germany. Mr Crozier noted that in the UK, with the accession of Mrs Thatcher, this had been achieved.

Other listed objectives were:

"Undercover financial transactions for political aims";

"International campaigns aiming to discredit hostile personalities or events";

"Creation of a (private) intelligence service specialising in a selective point of view";

"Establishment of offices under suitable cover each run by a co-ordinator from the central office. Current plans cover London, Washington, Paris, Munich and Madrid."

Despite the ending of the Cold War, the group is stronger than it ever was. The source of its funding is a mystery. Mr Clark and Robin Ramsay, editor of Lobster, the magazine that attempts to monitor the intelligence services, say it is the CIA. One member maintained that each person attending was asked to pay $500 to cover travel and that it was "entirely self- financing."
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/aitke ... 58522.html

Well, that's the Atlantic Bridge, innit? The Bridge was reasonably public, though, unlike Le Cercle.

"This Atlantic Bridge must connect the brightest minds, the soundest ideas, and the boldest young leaders of the future. It should serve at once as a memorial to our heritage, as an investment in our prospects, and as a bulwark against the good - and not so good - people on the Left, who always turn out to have such very bad ideas.

But remember: bridges have to be defended - like that other Bridge across the river Tiber in Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome. You may recall the challenge of Horatius:

In yon strait path a thousand

May well be stopped by three.

Now who will stand on either hand,

And keep the bridge with me?

Well, my friends, the presence of so many fine conservatives here tonight proclaims that there will be more - and many more - than three to fight this battle.

Don't hold back on the creepiness there, Mrs. T. Go on, let it all out.

[Stephen Morgan]

The last Private Eye, you see, mentioned some MI6 man who was on the board of a company that was funding Werrity, who knew one of them, Fox or Werrity or someone, from their period together in Le Cercle.

ETA:

From http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/ ... -werritty/

When Fox resigned, Guido Fawkes wrote, ‘Sources confirm he has gone and it was his connections to private spook outfit G3 that pushed him over the edge’.
http://www.g3.eu/

@Nuid: G3 appear in Private Eye today, in relation to another of their employees, an MI6 man called Geoffrey Tantum who, as Gulf Consulting Services, was meeting with Alan Duncan, the minister at DfID. DfID refuse to publish details. Tantum and Duncan were both in Le Cercle, and old favourite of the Project for the Exposure of Hidden Institutions.

[AhabsOtherLeg]

Thanks Stevo, Private Eye is hard to come by up here nowadays - no place seems to sell it anymore. I saw your comment over on Murray's blog. This is good stuff. Direct links to G3 and Le Cercle itself. No wonder there'll never be a proper official investigation.

Werritty's own unilluminating article for The Spectator can be found here: http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7 ... ence.thtml

He says he's just an average Joe who likes to hang out with his mates and go to meetings with the Israeli defence minister with them in his spare time.

He denies being an intelligence agent or having any defence interests, of course, but I have to wonder - didn't Israeli intelligence know who he was? I'm pretty sure if their defence minister is going to be sitting in a meeting with representatives of a foreign power, Mossad knows exactly who is going to be in attendance, down to the last detail - their background and current role. It stands to reason. And if he's just some geezer then he wouldn't get in. So they know who, or what, he is.

Kind of obvious that, I know. Should've said it at the start.

[Stephen Morgan]

I subscribe to Private Eye. Cheaper. They send it through the post. Also, I got a free pack of Christmas cards.

[semper occultus]

.....para.4.....

[AhabsOtherLeg]

That's a great find Semper, I should've thanked you for it ages ago but I've been offline.

Atlantik Brucke, eh? A shadowy cabal or right-wing businessmen, media magnates, and politicians with a heavy (non-public) role in high-level political decision-making. And with NATO links too. Sadly I don't know how to do the diacritical marks, but I've had a quick look for a translation of Brucke (assuming it's German) and haven't found anything so far. Seems strange for what should be such a common word.

I think both Mac and Jack have a bit of German - can anyone tell me if Brucke translates literally as Bridge?

EDIT: Ah yeah, it does, I was spelling it wrong in the translator.

This little piece from Newsnight is a useful reminder of what the UK branch of Atlantic Bridge is/was (or at least appeared to be) and the fact that half the current Tory Cabinet were members.



As for Liam Fox, he has been very vocal recently, claiming that the UK suffered a "socialist coup" a decade ago (I don't remember it happening) and saying that the Right-eous need to fight back by ending universal benefits, removing the ring-fencing round the NHS budget so Circle Health can get further dug in, and cutting taxes (especially on the wealthy).

All very Peter Lilley-ish stuff, though so far Fox has restrained himself from adapting Gilbert and Sulivan lyrics and sticking them into his speeches.

The former defence secretary, who has his eye on a return to cabinet after his resignation in 2011 over the role played by an informal special adviser, has been going out of his way in recent months to be supportive of George Osborne.

I would like to say he's got no chance, but these days - after Mandelson and David Laws - who knows?

I see Michael Gove has been ranting about "Marxists" in education recently as well. He is angry that they are holding back his reforms by pointing out in public how incredibly stupid they are.

This turns up on Youtube under Atlantic Brucke too. Helmut Schmidt, Warburg Award, and an appearance at Bohemian Grove. Not sure what the sound dubbed over it is all about though.