Does the panel agree that spies such as Melita Norwood should be arrested and charged with treason?
John Maples: If she stole secrets and committed an offence, and if there is enough evidence then she should be prosecuted. A number of the people named were ‘agents of influence’ and probably didn’t commit any offence. The way the whole thing has been handled is extraordinary. Shirley Williams: I find the people who have been caught in the net by the media worrying. There’s a slight whiff of McCarthyism about the whole thing. The Home Secretary should investigate and make it quite plain that in the majority of the cases there is no evidence. I think civil servants knew about it and didn’t tell politicians. Mary Ann Sieghart: I don’t think age should be a bar. If General Pinochet is old enough to be prosecuted then Melita Norwood is too. Now that she has confessed to it, she should certainly be prosecuted. Nick Brown: Of course age isn’t a bar to prosecution. As I understand it, the Attorney General’s view is that the lack of hard evidence makes it difficult to mount prosecutions. Mike
