Czech archivist: Fernyhough had no idea he was dealing with handlers

Harold Wilson Fernyhough an aide to Prime Minister Harold Wilson who was reported to have spied for Czechoslovakia in the 1950’s and 1960s, was very likely unaware that he was not associating with diplomats, but communist secret police handlers, according to Czech archivist Svetlana Ptáčníková.

Ptáčníková, who heads the Security Services Archive, said that according to the secret police files Fernyhough shared information willingly, but without knowledge of who he was dealing with. The archivist noted that secret police handlers were often placed in diplomatic posts in order to acquire information.

According to the files Fernyhough never revealed anything confidential, only sharing information that was either common knowledge or was later made public.

Reports that Harold Wilson Fernyhough had spied for the Czechoslovak communist secret police appeared in the British press at the weekend.