Party politics and intelligence: the Labour Party, British intelligence and oversight, 1979-1994

For much of the 20th Century, intelligence and security was a taboo subject for Parliamentarians. While Labour backbenchers had suspicions secret state, there long-held bipartisan consensus that debates on were ‘dangerous bad’. Yet by 1970s, new disclosures activities foreign domestic surveillance eroded this with Party willing to push greater accountability oversight UK’s agencies. This article looks at how, through campaign reform oversight, pushed changes reflected in later legislation. It also explores Labour’s attitudes intelligence.