Character assassination
From Annie Machon Sir: As the partner of David Shayler, the former MI5 officer and whistle-blower, I read with interest Peter Obome's article (Politics, 21 August). I wholeheartedly agree with his analysis that the government deals with whistle-blowers and dissenters by 'its ability to destroy or marginalise opponents. The techniques used are ruthless. Those who challenge government orthodoxy are smeared, discredited and rubbished as liars. Their motives are questioned and their characters assassinated.'
David Shayler was the first of a number of whistle-blowers to emerge from the intelligence community since Blair came to power. He, along with Dr Kelly, Katherine Gun and even Clare Short, was traduced in four simple steps. First the whistle-blower is accused of being a 'Walter Mitty' character; then he is deemed 'too junior' to know what he is talking about; thirdly he is said to bear a grudge against his employers; and finally he is labelled a traitor.
I know for a fact that in David's case the reports that accompanied the trial seem to have been dictated by the government. We read that David Shayler was a traitor who had sold agents' lives down the river for money. I was in the courtroom. There was no evidence whatsoever in the trial about agents' lives being threatened, and the judge said categorically in his final judgment that he accepted that David had not blown the whistle for money. Were the journalists in the courtroom just supremely bad at shorthand, or do I detect the evil hand of the government spin machine at work?
More erudite sections of our press have now begun to inveigh against the destruction of whistle-blowers' reputations, postHutton and Butler. It is an incredibly difficult and brave decision for an individual to speak out against his employer and the powers that be, and to say, 'This is not right.' Without whistle-blowers, we would not have known that the government had repeatedly misled this country. Is it not time to stop vilifying people such as David? Let us look again beyond the headlines at what they actually did and said, and then have the courage to hold the government to account. Annie Machon
Osea Island, Essex
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