Many will have read in the Guardian of a secretive government department that conducted intelligence operations against those who could termed political dissidents.
A Socialist Party member, the late Peter Newell, had did his own research and investigation some years ago into this tool of the police state.
The Information Research Department was formed in 1948. The then junior minister at the Foreign Office in Attlee's Labour Government, Christopher Mayhew, claims the credit for its creation.
Ostensibly concerned to combat Soviet "imperialism" and "communism", the IRD also actively aided right-wing politicians in the Labour Party and within the trade unions, collaborating with various CIA fronts. It was financed in the same way as the other British spying and security services are funded, with no transparency or accountability to Parliament. The IRD infiltrated and influenced the media and in particularly the BBC.
Peter Newell references the Information Research Department in two articles.
Marx, the Cold War and the Spooks: Marx, the Cold War and the "Spooks"
His notes and sources can be read here:
Marx, the Cold War and the Spooks: Information Research Department - Notes and Quotes
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