This deserves some publicity:
The French Government tried to blame the 1985 sinking of the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior on MI6, according to official documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
The campaign of “misinformation and smears” — suggesting that MI6 bombed the ship in New Zealand and framed French secret agents, or that MI6 knew in advance of the French mission — infuriated Margaret Thatcher’s Government. Malcolm Rifkind, then a Foreign Office minister, told British diplomats in Paris to demand an end to the stories in the media, but they continued to appear.
Sir John Fretwell, the British Ambassador in Paris, wrote of French officials’ “desperate attempts to find answers which will somehow satisfy public opinion while keeping the president [François Mitterrand] above the mêlée”.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, the Foreign Secretary, said he was “disturbed” that stories still appeared after he complained to his French counterpart.
Sir Geoffrey Howe, “disturbed”? Phew!
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