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UK: MI5 spied on leading British historians for decades, secret files reveal - Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill had phones tapped, correspondence intercepted and friends and wives monitored

24 October 2014

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"MI5 amassed hundreds of records on Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill, two of Britain’s leading historians who were both once members of the Communist party, secret files have revealed.

The scholars were subjected to persistent surveillance for decades as MI5 and police special branch officers tapped and recorded their telephone calls, intercepted their private correspondence and monitored their contacts, the files show. Some of the surveillance gave MI5 more details about their targets’ personal lives than any threat to national security."

See the story: MI5 spied on leading British historians for decades, secret files reveal - Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill had phones tapped, correspondence intercepted and friends and wives monitored (Guardian, link)

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