Searchlight Critical Bibliography
1986

 


The Ideology of the New Right Edited by Ruth Levitas, published by Polity Press, Cambridge, (January 1986). 208 pages. Index.

This book was apparently published simultaneously in hardback and paperback.

David Edgar and Gill Seidel contribute to this book – see entries below.

Notes on Contributors at the front says Seidel has published in Langage et Société and MOTS (Paris) and has edited a collection of “feminist papers” La Nature de la Droite, (1986).

[BBIP, 1987]


The Free or the Good by David Edgar is Chapter Two (pages 55-79) of The Ideology of the New Right, (see above).


Culture, Nation and ‘Race’ in the British and French New Right, by Gill Seidel, published in The Ideology of the New Right.

Seidel’s essay is Chapter Four, and runs from pages 107-35.

On page 114, Seidel carps on “as Barker argues, the New Right’s racism does not require the hypothesis of innate superiority, only that of cultural difference.”

Cultural differences don’t exist? Is this madwoman serious?

Page 132 refers to Le fascisme dans les textes de la Nouvelle Droite, by Gill Seidel, published in MOTS, 3, (Oct. 1981), pages 49-59. [See Searchlight Critical Bibliography 1981.]


David Edgar: Playwright and Politician, by Elizabeth Swain, American University Studies Series IV, English Language and Literature, Vol. 36, published by Peter Lang, New York, (1986). 347 pages + PLAY INDEX and advertisements.

Edgar is pictured opposite the ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This is a curious book, to say the least.

Page 1: Edgar is said to be a member of the Labour Party.


The White Discursive Assault: The British New Right’s Discourse on Cultural Racism, with Particular Reference to the “Salisbury Review”.

[Not seen by compiler.]

This publication is referenced at page 143 of Discourse and Discrimination Edited by Geneva Smitherman-Donaldson and Teun A. van Dijk, published by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, (1988).

It is said to have been included in the Proceedings of the 1985 Utrecht Summer School of Critical Theory Edited by M. Díaz-Diocaretz, Teun A. van Dijk and I. Zavala, published by Benjamins, Amsterdam, (1986).


Thinking and Arguing: Inaugural Lecture, Loughborough University, 1986, by Michael Billig.

[Not seen by compiler.]


New Right, New Racism, by Paul Gordon and Francesca Klug, Preface by David Edgar, published by Searchlight Publications, (1986). 69 pages.

This piece of garbage is said to have been written by two “researchers” for the Runnymede Trust. If racism is all part of a fiendish plot to divide the workers, then how come the fiendish capitalist trusts and foundations spend so much money on “anti-racist” publications like this?

Page 13: “Traditionally, racism has been seen as an ideology, a system of beliefs, which held that white people were superior to black.”

Claptrap! Denying the relevance or even the existence of race is foolish, some would say mischievous.

Page 16: Sir Keith Joseph is quoted from the Daily Telegraph, 8.9.65 that mass immigration was against the wishes of the population and therefore represented a “serious failure of this country’s representative institutions and party system.” Sir Alfred Sherman also spoke out.

Three cheers for Sir Keith, but aren’t all Jews supposed to be engaged in a fiendish plot to promote immigration?

Page 24 alludes to the 1969 Scottish cook case.

Page 43 expresses approval of Maggie’s Militant Tendency, ie proof of a bridge between Tories and fascists. This of course was the Searchlight-inspired smear which led to the BBC paying out massive damages to people libelled in the programme and contributed to the resignation of Director-General Alastair Milne.

Page 64 repeats Searchlight’s oft’ uttered smear on Chris Tame.


AGAINST RACISM AND FASCISM IN EUROPE by Andrew Bell, published by Socialist Group European Parliament, (1986). 48 pages. Illustrated.

This has got Searchlight written all over it; Glyn Ford sat on the “Committee of Inquiry” and Searchlight get photo credits.

Page 12 mentions Column 88.

Page 23: “Ray Hill, posing as a nazi, attended meetings with FNE members in Paris who...urged him to organise a terror bombing at London’s Notting Hill Carnival.”


TURBULENT PRIESTS, by Kenneth Leech, published in Marxism Today, February 1986, pages 11-3.


PARANOIA PEDDLED, published in the International Times, VOL 86, No. 3. Full Moon, March, 1986, pages 2-3.

Unsigned article covering Gable’s attempts to smear anarchists. Also covers The Gable Memorandum.


‘DEATH PLOT’ PROBE AND A TORY MP
Thatcher told of conspiracy
, EXCLUSIVE, published in the Daily Mirror, March 28, 1986, page 2.

“A worried employee of the security firm first gave information of the conspiracy to the Daily Mirror”.

Apparently a private security firm planned to kidnap and murder Gable. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth...


MP in murder plot, magazine alleges by Edward Vulliamy, published in the Guardian, March 29, 1986, page 3.


MP TELLS HOW HE HIRED A PRIVATE EYE by John Merrit, published in the Daily Mirror, March 29, 1986, page 2.

Said to be an exclusive. Another one? The prosaic truth about the kidnap/murder plot against Searchlight’s macho munchkin.

“Mr. Grable” is said to be aged 48.

“He seems to spend a lot of time looking into me, so I thought I’d find out some information about him.”

No names are given, which in view of the fate suffered by Private Eye was very wise of the Mirror. A serving marine was said to have carried out the investigation.


Tory MP in plot to kill Searchlight publisher, by Graeme Atkinson, published in the Morning Star, March 29, 1986, page 1.

Report on the April issue of Searchlight. “DRAMATIC evidence was revealed yesterday of a plot to murder Gerry Gable...”

And Private Eye paid the damages. Special Branch enquiries are said to have been referred to Downing Street.


The “activist style” of hatred, a review of Noel O’Sullivan’s book Fascism, by Michael Billig, published under Reviews in Patterns of Prejudice, Volume 20, Number 2, April 1986, pages 40-1.


20/20 Vision, broadcast Channel 4, April 12, 1986.

This was the Spying for the Comrades programme which set up junior civil servant Brian Gentleman as a Czech spy. Gable’s name does not appear in the credits, he much prefers to let other people take the blame for his dirty work, especially when things go wrong.


Civil servant was spy: MI5 BLUNDER OVER THE CZECH CONNECTION by Nick Davies, published in the Observer, April 13, 1986, page 1, continued on page 3 as CIVIL SERVANT WAS SPY.

This article by the paper’s Home Affairs Correspondent – who swallowed it hook, line and sinker – reveals that Brian Gentleman made a signed confession. He was said to have handed over Rolls Royce secrets to Colonel Miroslav Merhaut, to be earning a hundred pounds a week, to have just broken up with his fiancée, to have no prospects of promotion, and of course he just happened to be in charge of sensitive information. The so-called spy, Colonel Merhaut, was said to have made no secret of his working for the Czech Embassy, which is an original cover story to say the least. Gentleman’s hostel was used by police, Ministry of Defence and GCHQ staff and was near the Czech Embassy. They met in the Prince Albert public house. This “disclosure” was said to be likely to cause embarrassment to M.I.5., who “missed” Gentleman for more than two years.


Labour Member may name “Tory assassin”, from the London Evening Standard, April 22, 1986. (Based on photocopy).

From the DIARY section. I couldn’t find this in the British Library Newspaper Library (CLOSING PRICES) edition.


Now, the truth about the spy who never was, by Barrie Penrose, and Mazher Mahmood, published in the Sunday Times, April 27, 1986, page 3.

Reports on the 20/20 Vision of April 12 in which civil servant Brian Gentleman – a twenty-seven year old junior DTI clerk – was fitted up for selling information to an alleged Czech spy. Miroslav Merhaut was a military attaché. Gable is described as an assistant producer of the programme. Also said they stood by their claims. Brian Gentleman was a none too bright civil servant living in a hostel, probably lonely, also a bit of a dreamer. He was fitted up on the strength of drinking with a middle aged Czech diplomat. He frequented public houses used by homosexuals though there is no suggestion that he was queer. The other major player was a convicted fraudster named Derek Donaldson who is alleged to have brought this to Gable’s attention.


Londoner’s Diary column, London Evening Standard, April 28, 1986, page 6. (Based on photocopy).

Brief mention of Gable. Suggests he might be a closet Tory! I couldn’t find this in the British Library Newspaper Library (CLOSING PRICES) edition.


Destiny, by David Edgar, published by Methuen, London, fully revised and reprinted edition, (May 1986). 97 pages.

Edgar acknowledges “the help and advice” of Gable, Ludmer and many others.

This is one of Edgar’s better known plays. No prizes for guessing what the Nation Forward Party is supposed to represent.

Page 83: TONY (simply). No, no, Paul. It never happened. Auschwitz, n’all. Just factories. The holocaust, just photos forged. Invented by the Jews.

********************

I wouldn’t say that within earshot of Woburn House, if I were you. And how about this gem from page 65?

CLEAVER. And so – the others?

Pause.

Warburg. Marx. Schiff. Rosa Luxemburg. Rothschild. Lev Davidovitch Trotsky. What have they in common.

********************

The same as Billig, Gable and Ludmer, evidently. Pure anti-white poison.

[BBIP, 1987]


Private Eye, untitled article from the COLOUR SECTION column, issue 636, 2nd May,’86.

Reports on the non-existent plot to kidnap and murder Gable.


Police question TV men over Czech spy claims, by Barrie Penrose and Mazher Mahmood, published in the Sunday Times, May 25, 1986, page 5.

Gentleman, 27 years old, said he was misled by Gable. Him and twenty million others. Gable and co said to have been interviewed at great length at (New) Scotland Yard. Gable had pretended to be filming itinerant workers; he is said to have told the Sunday Times to fuck off.


REVIEWS, published in Searchlight, issue 132, June 1986, page 10.

This reviews New Right, New Racism. Favourably, needless to say.


It wasn’t so naff in the 60s after all, by David Edgar, published in the Guardian July 7, 1986, page 21.


SPY TRIAL BY TELEVISION, by Duncan Campbell, Patrick Forbes and Jolyon Jenkins, published in the New Statesman, July 25, 1986, pages 10-11.

Coverage of a particularly nasty smear in which Gable played a part in his role as a TV “researcher”. This is a more detailed report on the Brian Gentleman affair in a left wing magazine.


INVESTIGATION published in Black Flag – The Anarchist Fortnightly, issue 160, 25-8-86, page 7.

Covers the Brian Gentleman frame-up. Gable said to work for Special Branch and to have a reputation to protect. Not now, he hasn’t. Same page SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION, Gable’s, that is, (see entry below).


SOUTH AFRICAN CONNECTION published in Black Flag – The Anarchist Fortnightly, 25-8-86, issue 160, page 7. See also INVESTIGATION, (above entry).


The Holocaust Denial: Antisemitism, Racism & the New Right, by Gill Seidel, published by Beyond the Pale Collective, Leeds, (September 1986). 202 pages. Index.

Beyond the Pale is, apparently, “a radical Jewish publishing collective”. This is a book which smears Holocaust Revisionism as the latest update of the Protocols Of Zion. However, it also relies on Searchlight for some of its research. On page 148 it gives space to the mythical Gable murder plot: “This plan suggests the lengths a member of the government is prepared to go in order to control anti-racist activity.” Ms Seidel is such a sap she probably believes everything her hatemongering co-racialist Gable feeds her. Chapter 3 relies particularly heavily on Searchlight’s “researches”, and gives credence to Tory “links” with the far right. This is referring, obviously, to the bogus Young Conservatives Report. Gable is said to be largely responsible for Searchlight’s “revelations” [sic!] in this department.

The Introduction by Seidel’s co-racialist Michael Billig is pages xxiv-xxx, who tells us on page xxiv that:

“There are people with all manner of strange beliefs. Some people are convinced that flying saucers regularly circle the night skies.”

On page xxviii, of Nazi-Zionist collaboration, Billig writes: “This myth serves to give concrete form to unthinking slogans, which equate Zionism and Nazism.”

Myth it is not.

[BBIP, 1987]


Reporter “was asked to trace KGB defector” published in the Times, September 16, 1986, page 3.

This is a report of Atkinson’s unfair dismissal case against the Morning Star. See also related entries below.


Morning Star reporter loses sacking case, published in the Daily Telegraph, September 17, 1986, page 8.


Morning Star succeeds over sacking of ‘spy case’ reporter, published in the Guardian, September 17, 1986, page 3.


Reporter who talked of KGB loses appeal, published in the Times, September 17, 1986, page 3.


Yard probes Len’s sorties in Sofia, by Barrie Penrose and David Connett, published in the Sunday Times, September 21, 1986, page 4.

More on Atkinson’s Bulgarian spy fantasy.


“BE A SPY” APPROACH: New Mills journalist tells of contact by Bulgarian Intelligence, published in the High Peak Reporter, September 26, 1986, pages 1-2.

Report of Atkinson’s fantasy of being approached by a Bulgarian secret agent in February 1985.


Tips that spotlight the Nazi tendency, by Denis Campbell, published in the Guardian, September 29, 1986, page 15.

Gable’s poodle reports on “the success of a 12-year fight against racism” [sic]. Says the magazine’s editor, “a television journalist, does not want to be named.” Could this have been Andrew Bell? The article also reports on the history of the magazine, one of the many versions of it.


October 1986: SEARCHLIGHT THE ANTI-FASCIST MONTHLY INCORPORATING CARF, issue 136 costs 70p and runs to 20 pages.

The front page is a montage of photographs from the Battle of Cable Street, October 4, 1936. The unsigned article appears on pages 9-12. Along with the Spanish Civil War, this is a perennial favourite of Gable’s.

It is a common belief that this was a victory over Oswald Mosley; in reality it was a victory for mob rule, however ill-advised Mosley may have been.

The Editorial on pages 2-3 is called A DIRTY LITTLE WAR AGAINST ANTI-RACISTS; the GLC and the misnamed Institute of Race Relations are said to have been targeted by various media outlets, including Channel 4.

Page 5 reports on two nazi thugs who had tried to enforce a Whites Only Zone in the East End of London. Three decades on, Moslems were enforcing a no gay zone in the same area. Sweet irony.

There are various reports on court appearances by so-called racists, and a 2 page smear on the World Anti-Communist League, credited to an unnamed individual who attended its recent conference.


EIR SPECIAL REPORT: A classical KGB disinformation campaign: Who killed Olof Palme?, published October 1986. (Based on photocopy).

Apparently published in the Executive Intelligence Review issue for October 1986, Searchlight gets a mention under two sub-headings Searchlight for the KGB and Who runs Gerry Gable?. Executive Intelligence Review is published by the Lyndon LaRouche organisation, which, to put it mildly, holds to some bizarre conspiracy theories. However, when they stick to facts, their reports are well worth reading. But even if Gable has traded info with the KGB and the ADL, that hardly places this hate-filled little Jew at the centre of a worldwide conspiracy.


Christian’s soldiers march onward – into fascist history, by Kim Fletcher, published in the Daily Telegraph, October 14, 1986, page 21.

Quotes arch-liar Gable in an article on the Friends of Oswald Mosley. Says the common denominator of all extremist groups is racial hatred. He should know.


Panorama ‘lied to hurt Tory party’, published in the Times, October 14, 1986, page 2

The barrister opening the case for the plaintiffs said the purpose was “plainly to discredit the Conservative Party and destroy the reputation of Mr Hamilton and others it named.” He likened the disinformation tactics of the programme makers to those of the Nazis. Which of course sums up Gerry Gable in a nutshell. It was described as “this stinking cesspit of unbelievable evil”.


MP did not goose-step, QC says, published in the Times, October 15, 1986, page 2


MP denies the Nazi salute, published in the Times, October 16, 1986, page 5

Hamilton described the programme as a total fabrication. The goose-stepping incident was said to have been done by Dr Julian Lewis, a Tory Party member who happened to be Jewish! And Edward Leigh, a Conservative MP. It was clearly done in jest. Hamilton denied belonging to Tory Action.


MP impersonates Hitler for judge published in the Times, October 17, 1986, page 5.

Hamilton described the programme as character assassination.


IN THE COURTS published in Private Eye, October, 17, 1986, issue 648, page 8.

Report on the Gable kidnap/murder fantasy.


BBC admits MPs libel claim in Panorama report, by Jonathan Miller, published in the Times, October 22, 1986, page 1.

Reports that the BBC withdrew the allegations unreservedly and agreed to make a full apology. £20,000 damages and costs of £240,735 to the plaintiffs. The total cost to the BBC estimated at £500,000.
Page 24 (from page 1) MPs in Panorama libel win settlement papers said to be in contempt over leaking details of settlement allegations said to be “not deliberate falsehoods”.
Page 2 sub-heading The Panorama countdown
February 6, 1984: writ issued by Hamilton and Howarth.
February 16: Panorama team produces detailed response.
February 26: claims allegations “very strongly founded” said Alistair Milne.
February 29: Milne says “It seems to me the research is rock solid”.
March 5: new complaints raided by Conservative Chief Whip John Wakeham.
March 8: Milne rejects them.
Summer 1984: BBC rejects out of court settlement terms.
October 16, 1986: case settled.


MPs get damages over‘Panorama’, by David Sapsted, published in the Times, October 20, 1986, pages 1 & 24.

Reports out of court settlement of more than £300,000 made up of £20,000 damages each plus an apology and their costs. This was the first of two libel cases. Roger Moate MP for Faversham and Harvey Proctor settled out of court.

Page 24 of this story under MPs given damages in ‘Panorama’ libel case BBC governors were said to have agreed there were “factual inaccuracies in the programme, based largely on a confidential report prepared by the Young Conservatives.”

Page 2 BBC costs‘could have exceeded £1m’, by Jonathan Miller.

Howarth and Hamilton’s bill said to be expected to exceed £300,000. Roger Moate settled out of court in a separate writ a year ago. Page 2 – different story – also reported Harvey Proctor in a spanking scandal – says he denounced this as a tissue of lies.


Pressure to end BBC libel case by Jonathan Miller, published in the Times, October 21, 1986, page 2.

Says reports in the previous day’s and Sunday’s papers about the settlement had been “deplorable and mischievous”.


MY BATTLE WITH THE BEEB, by Neil Hamilton MP, published in the Sunday Times, October 26, 1986, pages 25 & 34.

According to Hamilton, the programme had all the hallmarks of Gable’s conspiracy theories. “Panorama’s main claim was that three obscure organisations – Tory Action, Focus Policy Group and Wise (Welsh, Irish, Scots, English) – were acting as a bridge between the Tory party and the extremist right.”

Much irrelevant footage is used, eg David Irving and film of National Front marches. His wife was extremely upset, she interpreted it as an attempt to destroy Hamilton’s career. It caused great concern to his family and friends. He and Howarth were accused of being members of Tory Action. He received letters calling for his resignation. Speaking engagements were cancelled, the first legal bill came to £875.

“During the 1983 election campaign Labour Weekly ran a story claiming right-wing extremists were standing as Tory candidates. It seemed to be based on stuff that had already been published in the anti-fascist magazine, Searchlight.”

The first hint of trouble came with a phone call from a newspaper on October 9th 1983 saying his name was going to be used in connection with alleged right wing infiltration of the Young Conservatives. He threatened to sue if they named him.

Page 34: “Panorama eagerly swallowed the line peddled by the far-left Searchlight journalists it employed to do the digging for dirt.” Including Gerry Gable and Manny Carpel!

“Gable was very clever. He printed his false allegations first in Searchlight. The YCs gobbled them up and reproduced them in their report on alleged extremist infiltration in the Tory party. That gave them a spurious stamp of Conservative approval and credibility. Next the YC report was fed into Panorama, where Gable and friends then did the background research. This broadcast the lies to millions.”

Says Tory Action was essentially a one man band.

The BBC repeatedly refused to settle out of court. Both he and Howarth had to secure guarantees.


Very ordinary life and the Young Conservatives, by Michael Billig, is chapter 4, pages 67-94 of Getting into Life, Edited by Halla Beloff, published by Methuen, London, (November 1986).

[BBIP, 1987]


Anti-fascists rally at Cenotaph, published in the ASIAN TIMES, Issue No 197, Friday 21st November to Thursday 27th 1986, page 3.

Searchlight magazine said to have laid a wreath on Remembrance Sunday. Gable is pictured with Jeremy Corbyn. The story is said to continue on page 44 but actually continues on page 48, ie the back page. A photograph here of nationalists carrying Union Jacks is captioned Fascist scum littering the streets Gerry Cable is quoted!


Lobster, issue 12, undated but circa December 1986.

Brief mention of Gable, see in particular page 35 which identifies him as a former member of the 62 Group.


EXPOSING THE HATEMONGERS SEARCHLIGHT – Time to come out of the closet, by A. Drummond, A VANGUARD EXCLUSIVE, published in Vanguard, December 1986, ISSUE No. 4, page 13.

Exposé of sordid Jewish pimp, one of Gable’s heroes.

Says Bidney’s first conviction was 1950, for selling black market silk stockings in Boston, Lincolnshire. This is not true.

Says too that Bidney was the leader of the 62 Group and that the 62 Group was itself an off-shoot of the 43 Group.


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