13. The Forgery That Decided an Election
Ramsay MacDonald’s Labour Party formed a UK government for the first time in early 1924. However, it was a minority government in a House of Commons split between Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberals. To say that the British establishment was unhappy with a Prime Minister from a socialist-leaning party would be an understatement. So it set out to undermine him and his government at every turn. On October 10th, 1924, MI5 – Britain’s version of the FBI – received a copy of the Zinoviev letter, dated September 15th. It was determined to be a fake, and after it was shown to the Prime Minister, MI5’s chief Vernon Kell agreed that it should remain secret.
However, at the most damaging moment for Ramsay MacDonald, Kell or one of his subordinates leaked the letter in order to incriminate the Prime Minister and damage his electoral prospects. A review by Britain’s Foreign Office concluded that the letter was likely forged by Russian Tsarist exiles. They were angry that the Labour government had signed a treaty with the USSR, and agreed to extend it a loan. They saw to it that the forged letter reached MI5. Between MI5 and MI6 – Britain’s version of the CIA – conservative British intelligence officials ensured that the letter reached the press just in time to shiv and ruin the Labour Party.