Understanding British Secret Intelligence with Dr. M Hanif Majothi (Part 3)

Understanding British Secret Intelligence with Dr. M Hanif Majothi (Part 3)

Black Spy Podcast number 266 Season 27, Episode 0004

THE BLACK SPY PODCAST — SPECIAL THREE-PART SERIES

Who really created Britain's secret intelligence system?

In this compelling three-part series, Carlton King is joined by Dr. Mohamed Hanif Majothi to examine the origins of one of the least understood — yet most important — institutions in British national security: Metropolitan Police Special Branch.

The conventional history places its creation in 1883. Dr. Majothi challenges that accepted date, arguing that 1887, when funding was provided for the organisation, is the more meaningful starting point.

But the discussion goes much further than dates.

Carlton and Dr. Majothi trace the extraordinary chain of development from Special Branch to MI5, MI6 and ultimately the wider intelligence architecture incorporating military intelligence and GCHQ — examining how these organisations evolved, overlapped and operated alongside one another.

And there is a crucial question at the heart of the series:

Why is the police role in British secret intelligence so rarely acknowledged today?

Special Branch was not simply another police department. For generations, it sat at the intersection of policing, intelligence, counter-subversion, terrorism and national security, investigating and monitoring organisations and individuals considered threats to the British state.

From the late 19th century, through the First World War and beyond, Carlton and Dr. Majothi explore how those early intelligence practices helped shape the organisations that followed — and how Special Branch personnel and expertise contributed to the development of Britain's emerging intelligence services.