UK undercover police infiltrated 124 left-wing activist groups 1970-2007

A database compiled through investigations conducted in 2018 by the Guardian and the Undercover Research Group network of activists shows that undercover police officers spied on 124 left-wing activist groups between 1970 and 2007. The police infiltrated 24 officers over that time within the Socialist Workers Party, which, with a membership of a few thousand, advocates revolution to ablish capitalism. Four of these undercover officers began sexual relationships with deceived female members, and one married and had a child. The next-largest group - nine officers - infiltrated the campaign against the Vietnam war. The database is still being completed, but the list so far suggests an overwhelming bias: police spied on 22 left-wing, ten environmental, nine anti-racist, and nine anarchist groups, but among far-right groups only three, the British National Party, Combat 18, and the United British Alliance. So far, 65 of the 144 undercover officers have been identified. A delayed public inquiry is expected to hear evidence in 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/15/undercover-police-spies-infiltrated-uk-leftwing-groups-for-decades

writer: Rob Evans
Publication: Guardian