Harry letters affair

The "Harry" letters, written by

With Amnesty in Rhodesia, Toynbee became suspicious of the disproportionately-large amounts of money apparently at the disposal of Amnesty's mission there and the modest scale of Amnesty's operations in both Rhodesia and Nigeria. Toynbee asked Benenson about the origin of the money and pressed him on rumours that Britain was funding Amnesty's mission in Salisbury. According to her, he admitted it and referred to it as "Operation Lordship". That ran at odds with Amnesty's claimed apolitical stance.

Toynbee then acquired a set of letters that appeared to confirm her suspicions. Addressed to an Amnesty official in Salisbury, they described efforts to gain external financing for the Rhodesia mission. Toynbee made the existence of the letters public in March 1967 and alleged that Amnesty had been "bought off" by Whitehall.^[2]

When questioned in Parliament on payments by the government to Amnesty, Wilson said that his administration had indeed been "approached by a member of the organisation"

The relationship between Whitehall and Amnesty was ended as a result of the affair, with Amnesty reaffirming its official impartiality.

Rhodesia mission

In early 1966, during her gap year from studies at the University of Oxford, Polly Toynbee served as the secretary for the peer and former West Indian cricketer Learie Constantine on an Amnesty International mission to Nigeria and Rhodesia,^[1][4] two countries in Africa.^{[n 1]} In Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, Toynbee and the other Amnesty members were supposed to be helping political detainees, but Toynbee recalled, "We sat around drinking and entertaining the press. We must have spent an enormous amount but we never achieved anything. We never saw anyone important. We just got vague assurances that the prisoners were all right."^[1] The mission then went on to Rhodesia, where the predominantly-white minority government under Ian Smith had unilaterally declared independence the previous November. Since the declaration of independence, there had been reports of mass arrests of black nationalist leaders.^[1]

During Toynbee's six weeks in

Toynbee and others were expelled from Rhodesia in March 1966 for refusing information to the British South Africa Police.^[7] While she was there, however, Toynbee acquired some letters that she said had been abandoned in a safe. The letters appeared to have been written in London by Benenson between January and March 1966. Some were typed, and others were in his handwriting. Alternately signed "Margaret" or "Peter" and addressed to the Amnesty representative in Salisbury, they contained frequent references to somebody or something called "Harry", which Toynbee interpreted as code for the British government.^[1]

Many of the letters contained detailed requests for payments and funding. One of them, dated 2 February 1966, included this passage: "What with North Hull Harry wants a fair buzz of legal activity. Harry's financial problems apparently have been solved and he's in a generous mood."^[1] Toynbee construed that as a reference to the previous month's Kingston upon Hull North by-election, which had increased the Labour government's majority in the House of Commons from three to four members.^[1] Toynbee's interest was aroused as Amnesty took pride in its declared apolitical stance, a concept very much at odds with the idea of funding from a national government.^[2]

On 5 March 1967, Toynbee revealed the existence of the letters in newspaper interviews.

The letters' public appearance caused a scandal.

Benenson contended that the money had been for the prisoners and their families and had not been gifted to Amnesty by the British government. He insisted that the government had wished the payments to remain secret for political reasons.[1] A private letter written by Benenson two months before Toynbee's interviews said that a third party, the hotelier Charles Forte, had been asked by Whitehall to provide £10,000 for the Rhodesia mission. In his letter, Benenson appeared to imply that Forte's donation might lead to an honour from the British government. Benenson later returned the money to avoid jeopardising the political reputation of the government members involved in the payments.^[7]

Following a state of crisis, Amnesty held a meeting in Denmark in March 1967 at which Benenson's resignation was accepted. Benenson resigned on the grounds that Amnesty's offices had been bugged by the British government. In a report, Amnesty Chairman Seán MacBride referred to Beneson's "erratic activities" and "unilateral decisions". Benenson responded by demanding MacBride's resignation and pointed out that the American Central Intelligence Agency had funded the International Commission of Jurists of which MacBride was Secretary-General. The relationship between Amnesty and the British government was suspended.

Amnesty vowed future impartiality and said that it "must not only be independent and impartial but it must not be put into a position where anything else could even be alleged".^[7] Whitehall concurrently switched its stance towards Amnesty from one of co-operation to "one of reserve".^[7]

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Notes

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