Is it possible that Lancaster House is the most bugged building in London? Do the opposing teams know that their united fronts are seen through and the constant arguing behind closed doors listened to? Do they never wonder why their moves are anticipated? Or is it that coming from Northern Ireland, all are well used to such skulduggery?
Quidnunc is indebted to a well-known Dublin spook-watcher for this alarming news. He supplied her with the relevant passages from Peter Wright's Spycatcher, banned in Britain in 1987 and published in Australia. Wright says: "the most extensive microphoning operation Winterborn and I ever undertook was in Lancaster House, the ornate building which hosted the Colonial Conferences of the 1950s and 1960s". Finding it was almost impossible to cover effectively in a piecemeal way in that "we could never be sure which rooms were going to be used, and this seriously impaired our intelligence-gathering", he details how he and his pal Winterborn "proposed that MI5 install a comprehensive microphone system throughout the building which could be used whenever and wherever it was required".
"The Colonial Office agreed enthusiastically to our request, and Lancaster House was closed for `renovations' for a fortnight while an A2 team moved in. Hugh [Winterborn] and I had already studied the room plans with great care and drawn up a circuit diagram specifying the locations of each microphone. We supervised the installation, and throughout the rest of the 1960s and the 1970s the system was used whenever high-level diplomatic negotiations took place in London. "
Quidnunc's friendly spook has studied Lancaster House. "All those ornate windows and long columns provide plenty of opportunity for running wires," he says. He's convinced the place is still bugged.