Smear claim in Ulster inquiry

Smear claim in Ulster inquiry; probe ordered into why army press officer was sacked
Christopher Bell
31 January 1990
Daily Mail
A TOP-LEVEL investigation was ordered last night into the controversial sacking of an Ulster army press officer.  The decision immediately sparked a political storm over allegations of a dirty tricks campaign to smear British politicians. It came as the Government announced an inquiry into the case of Colin Wallace, who claims he was involved in a campaign to discredit Labour ministers during the 1970s.
The inquiry is intended only to look at the dismissal of Mr Wallace from his job in 1975 for leaking secret information to a journalist, but it was clear last night that the lid had been lifted on a far wider controversy.

Among Mr Wallace's key allegations are that he was involved in an operation codenamed Clockwork Orange aimed at preventing the election of a Labour government, stopping a Lib-Lab coalition and ousting Ted Heath from the Tory leadership.

Mr Wallace has also been a central figure in the controversy over allegations of homosexual abuse at the Kincora Boys Hostel in Belfast. For some time he has said that he has been victimised because of his concern over smear campaigns and the spreading of propaganda by the security services. But his allegations were always dismissed in Whitehall.

As the Government last night admitted that Mr Wallace may have been involved in `disinformation' activities, MPs demanded a full statement into the affair today.

Their demands were led by former Home Secretary Merlyn Rees. He said: `I was the victim of a campaign, which until this happened I had no idea who was doing it.  `Now I want to know more about Wallace and what else he did.'

Shadow Northern Ireland secretary Kevin McNamara said: `This is a catalogue of cover-up.  `I welcome the decision to recognise the concern which Mr Wallace's case has aroused. I am pleased the Government has finally accepted that the circumstances surrounding the sacking of Mr Wallace must be investigated.  `There is no doubt in my mind that if this man was authorised to do what he had to do by someone in the Government - who authorised the dirty tricks against politicians? The matter will not stand still.'

Last night the Ministry of Defence said evidence had been found of operation Clockwork Orange, which was aimed at fighting the IRA. But Defence Minister Archie Hamilton admitted that the project `was not cleared.'  He also admitted that MPs had been misled. In a Commons written answer he said: `I regret that the fact that relevant records were not brought to Ministers' attention has in recent years caused inaccurate statements to be made to the House and in both ministerial and official correspondence'.

Mr Hamilton added that no evidence has been revealed to show that Mr Wallace was sacked `for reasons other than his serious lack of judgement in disclosing classified information to the media without having proper authority to do so.'

Meanwhile Home Secretary David Waddington said in a separate written reply that there was no new evidence to cast doubt on Mr Wallace's conviction for manslaughter in 1981.