The Privacy Mission

CHAPTER 2Gamekeeper Turned Poacher

Imagine what it would be like to know someone was watching your every move. You have a constant sense that you are being observed, whether you are walking down the street, watching TV in your living room, or being intimate with your partner. Your every move is tracked and monitored. Everything, down to your coffee order (and where you buy it from), is being recorded.

This sounds like a scenario out of a science fiction novel, but I promise that this happens to people right now. It has happened to me. I can tell you from personal experience what it feels like to live without privacy …

It was January 1991 when I arrived for my first day working at MI5. I remember feeling nervous and excited about starting this chapter of my life. Little did I know then that it would end so dramatically following my resignation in 1996.

My former partner and colleague David Shayler also worked at MI5 and he not only witnessed crimes, but also incompetence, cover‐ups and injustices that he felt he should go public about. I also became increasingly disillusioned by what I saw through my work, from mistakes being made to lies being told to the government. The ethical framework at MI5 felt like it was in tatters, with no notion of accountability or transparency. David and myself both raised our concerns internally, following the appropriate channels. We were both told the same thing: “Follow your orders and do not rock the boat”.

The turning point came when David ...