| AdminHistory | In June 1970 Bethell was appointed a Lord in Waiting (Government Whip) in Sir Edward Heath's government.
Less than one year later in January 1971 Bethell was forced to resign after the magazine 'The Private Eye' made allegations against him regarding his role in publishing Solzhenitsyn's work, which he was able to refute in open court.
Thirty one years later the main file of British government documents - records of the Prime Minister's Office (PREM 5/519 entitled 'Edward Heath, 19 June 1970: resignation of Lord Bethell as Lord in Waiting') was opened to the public and released in advance to Bethell. He was advised that he might ask for the file to be closed under the Data Protection Act (1998) for another ten years since the papers might cause him distress, however he informed the Cabinet Office that he had no objection to their being opened. Additionally, the Security Service (MI5) sent Bethell some selected and edited extracts taken from the documents (relating mainly to 1970) after enquiries under the Data Protection Act.
The series also includes correspondence with the Security Service and a complaint made to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal by Bethell in 2004 relating to minutes written by the Security Service (MI5) regarding Bethell's character at the time of his membership of the Government. |