THE Government yesterday was asked to investigate allegations, raised
by two MPs, that the Foreign Editor of the Daily Mirror, Nick Davies,
was a high-level spy for Israel.
The Mirror's publisher, Robert Maxwell, also has been named as having
''a close relationship'' with the Israeli intelligence service Mossad.
Both men strongly denied the allegations and said they were consulting
their lawyers about suing the American author and publishers of the book
in which the claims were made.
One of the MPs, Tory Rupert Allason, who as Nigel West writes about
spying, called in the Commons for the Prime Minister, as head of the
security services, to order an immediate inquiry into the alleged
connection between the two men and Israeli intelligence.
Leader of the House John MacGregor was standing in for Mr Major, who
was returning from the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference at
Harare -- where Mr Davies was a member of the press corps.
Mr MacGregor said that if evidence was provided that Mr Davies was
involved in sales of Israeli military equipment to Iran that justified
an investigation, he was sure the Department of Trade and Industry would
hold one.
Later, Government sources indicated that they do not believe that
allegations made in a book, The Samson Option, by American writer
Seymour Hersh, are enough to justify an inquiry.
Mr George Galloway, Labour MP for Glasgow Hillhead, used another
privileged Commons motion to express deep concern about allegations in
the book, including one that Mr Davies betrayed the whereabouts in
London of Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu -- who told a
British newspaper about Israel's secret nuclear bomb -- to Mossad, who
then lured him from the country and kidnapped him.
Today's Daily Mirror carries a leader attacking Mr Allason and Mr
Galloway. It challenges the MPs to repeat the allegations outside the
privilege of the House of Commons.
''The rumours about Mr
Davies are old hat, peddled by an Israeli whom he knew many years
ago,'' it says. The American authorities looked into them a year ago and
dismissed them as without foundation.''
The motion by Mr Allason expressed concern at the book's disclosure
''that the Daily Mirror and its proprietor Robert Maxwell have
maintained a close relationship with the Israeli intelligence service,
Mossad''.
Mr Galloway's motion said: ''That this House is deeply concerned by
the allegations made by the senior American journalist Seymour Hersh in
his new book The Samson Option, published by Faber and Faber, that Mr
Nicholas Davies, Foreign Editor of the Daily Mirror, has been involved
in substantial arms sales of Israeli equipment to Iran and other
countries over the last 10 years.''
The motion by Mr Allason also calls on the Department of Trade and
Industry to inquire into whether UN sanctions against Iran were broken
and urges the Foreign Office to ban Mirror reporters from its
confidential briefings ''until an investigation by the appropriate
authorities has been completed''.
Speaking from his hotel in Harare, Mr Davies said last night: ''I
categorically and totally deny all the allegations contained in the
House of Commons motions. They are a complete falsehood. I have no idea
what the MPs are up to. I shall be seeing lawyers as soon as I get
back.''
Robert Maxwell, who is on a business trip in New York, said he was
taking legal action against the book's publishers and planned to block
further sales.
He added: ''The accusations against me are lies, a total invention. We
will be taking immediate legal action in defence of Nick Davies and to
refute the absurd allegations against me.''
Mr Davies said he had had no contacts with Mossad.
''I have nothing to do with Mossad. I had nothing to do with the
Vanunu story. I never touched the Vanunu story at all, ever.
''And I was never engaged in supplying arms to Iran.''
Mr Davies confirmed that he had been to Israel a few times, saying:
''Before 1983 I used to do all the Arab side of the story.
''I was invited to Israel in about 1983 in the same way that many
other journalists are for a facility trip for 10 days.
''It is the sort of trip where you meet very high people.
''Everyone does it, not just me. You go around in a party of about a
dozen.''
He added: ''I did not meet the guy who wrote the book.
''I have had only one phone call from him, one in which I
categorically denied all this.
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