Historian Phil Tinline explores the role of conspiracy, and conspiracy theory, in British politics.

In this first episode, Phil examines the rumours of plots that swirled around the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson in the late 1960s and mid-1970s.

Wilson was the subject of an extraordinary conspiracy theory harboured by disaffected MI5 officers: that he was a Soviet agent and that his predecessor as Labour leader had been assassinated to make way for him. Did this lead to a plot to oust him, as one of those officers, Peter Wright, later claimed?

Even before this, in the late 1960s, there was much talk of ousting Wilson from power. In May 1968, an extraordinary meeting took place which has long been remembered as the potential start of a coup. Alongside this, there were 'mutinous mutterings' in the military. And then there was the mysterious appearance of tanks at Heathrow, and the emergence of 'private armies'...

But did all this add up to a serious, detailed conspiracy to overthrow a democratically-elected leader? Phil explores the vital role in the construction of this narrative of Harold Wilson himself, to try to trace a clear line between fact and theory.

Series contributors include: James Ball, Nick Cohen, Stephen Dorril, Ruth Dudley Edwards, David Edgar, Steven Fielding, Simon Heffer, Dan Lomas, Andrew Lownie, Oliver Bullough, Jean Seaton, Camilla Schofield

Producer: Phil Tinline Show less