The Times newspaper in London has reported that
documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher was infuriated by the campaign of
“misinformation and smears” suggesting that MI6 bombed the Greenpeace
flagship in Auckland and framed French secret agents, or that MI6 knew
in advance of the mission.
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, then a Foreign
Office minister, told UK diplomats in Paris to demand an end to media
reports, but they continued to appear.
Sir John Fretwell, the
British Ambassador in Paris, wrote of French officials’ “desperate
attempts to find answers which will somehow satisfy public opinion
while keeping the then President, Francois Mitterrand, above the
controversy”.
Sir John privately warned the British Government
that President Mitterrand could be forced to resign in a
Watergate-style scandal, the Guardian newspaper reported.
The
July 11, 1985, bombing, which killed Greenpeace photographer Fernando
Pereira, was carried out by French agents, including Alain Mafart and
Dominique Prieur, who were arrested in less than a week.