Spy story

How fake news created the British secret service

During the ongoing investigations of Russian involvement in President Trump’s campaign, the “Trump dossier” gained legitimacy in the minds of many when reports emerged that the document had been compiled by an ex-agent of MI6. In the age of fake news, many in the media seized on the foreign arm of the British intelligence services as an impeccable source.

What few people realize — and what startled me when I began researching my latest spy novel — is that MI6 itself came about as a result of an elaborate campaign of misinformation. In fact, it is fair to say that fake news created both arms of the British secret service, foreign and domestic.

By the start of the 20th century, the British empire was the largest and richest in history. Too big to defend, even — a fact brought home by a rather unsatisfactory series of wars in South Africa. The British government had reluctantly curbed its high-handed tendencies and entered into agreements with its imperial rivals, in particular France and Russia.