MI5 Monitored NHS Founder Nye Bevan for Over Two Decades, Files Reveal

Newly released files indicate that MI5 monitored Aneurin "Nye" Bevan, the architect of Britain's National Health Service (NHS), for more than 20 years. The security service first took an interest in Bevan in the 1930s, regarding him as a left-wing firebrand with links to prominent communists.

Despite Bevan's later role as a minister in the post-war Labour government, where he championed the creation of the NHS, the surveillance continued. The files reveal that at one point, the MI5 director general expressed concerns about Bevan's connections to a suspected Russian spy and briefed Prime Minister Clement Attlee on the matter.

However, some within MI5 questioned the necessity of monitoring Bevan, given that his political activities were conducted openly. One MI5 officer, writing after Bevan's death in 1960, described the contents of the file as "remarkably tame."

MI5 initially opened a file on Bevan in 1933 when he was serving as the Labour Member of Parliament for Ebbw Vale. Early reports detailed his participation in an anti-Nazi rally in Montreal, Canada, in 1934. One assessment stated that Bevan "has inherited the evangelical fervour of his Welsh forebears and knows how to use it in the Communist cause."

By 1943, Roger Hollis, who would later become director general, summarized MI5's knowledge of Bevan's activities. He noted that Bevan had been in close contact with Harry Pollitt, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and had supported plans to form "workers' freedom groups" to counter capitalist influence.

Although the released documents do not suggest that MI5 tapped Bevan's phone or intercepted his mail, some officers questioned the rationale for surveillance. In 1943, one officer wrote, "I do not think that Bevan's activities are a matter in which we, the security service, should be involved." The officer added that Bevan frequently made similar remarks in Parliament.

Post-War Surveillance

The monitoring extended into the post-war period when Bevan was appointed Minister of Health. In 1949, MI5 grew increasingly concerned about Bevan's association with Wilfred Macartney, an individual convicted of espionage for Russia in 1928 and described by MI5 as an "unsavoury, unscrupulous character."

Intelligence gathered from conversations suggested that Macartney might have been relaying information obtained from Bevan to the leader of the Communist Party. In response, MI5 chief Sir Percy Sillitoe presented evidence to Prime Minister Attlee in May 1949. While Attlee dismissed Macartney's claims as baseless, he agreed to caution Bevan about his associate.

One of the final reports in the file dates from 1954, detailing an invitation for Bevan, then in opposition, to meet the Soviet ambassador, Yakov Malik, at London's Polish embassy. The meeting reportedly concluded poorly, partly due to communication difficulties stemming from Bevan's accent, leading to misunderstandings and an "unfriendly atmosphere."

The MI5 file on Nye Bevan was not officially closed until 1975, 15 years after his death.