secret deposits in Swiss bank accounts. On 16 March 1976 the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, retired suddenly without any apparent reason. In the days leading up to his resignation there had been no hint that he was about to go. Two months later, on 12 May, Wilson invited two BBC reporters, Barrie Penrose and Roger Courtiour to visit him at his home at 5 North Street, near Parliament. He told the reporters that he believed members of MI5 had been involved in a plot to undermine his Government. He said that he had called in the head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield, who told him that there was a section of MI5 that "was unreliable" and that he (Oldfield) was "going to bring it out". Wilson also said that he had called in the head of MI5, Sir Michael Hanley, who confirmed the existence within his Service of a disaffected faction with extreme right-wing views. Later, the two reporters interviewed Hanley at his home and asked him if there had been talk of a coup to overthrow the Wilson Government in the mid 1970s. The former Head of MI5 replied: "I think it is generally accepted. Yes". On 19 May 1976, The Daily Telegraph published a story under the headline: "Campaign in US to smear MPs". The story claimed that "persistent efforts have been made in recent months to discredit leading members of the three major British political parties by planting derogatory stories about them in news agencies in Washington". One of the news agencies to be given such information said: "So far this year we have been offered similar matter about some eleven MPs, a Conservative, two Liberals and eight Labour". In his book, Spycatcher, former senior MI5 officer, Peter Wright stated: The information appears to bear a striking similarity to some of the material contained in the notes which Colin Wallace had been instructed two years earlier as part of the 'Clockwork Orange' project. People named in Colin Wallace's notes as having been targeted in this manner included Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, Merlyn Rees, Cyril Smith, Jeremy Thorpe, Tony Benn and Ian Paisley. Despite repeated denials in more recent years by the heads of MI5, it is now clear that members of MI5 did make attempts to undermine Harold Wilson and his Government in the 1970s. The former Cabinet Secretary, Lord Hunt, conducted a secret inquiry into