A Metropolitan Police Special Branch file reporting to MI5 on photographer Lee Miller. Published here by kind permission of The National Archives.
“Glamorous socialites were spied on by MI5″ – The Guardian.
“British spies kept tabs on photographer Lee Miller” – International Herald Tribune.
“The Lee Miller file” – Today Programme, BBC Radio 4.
Over the last few days I have been reading Lee Miller’s security file and without doubt it is fascinating stuff. You can download the full file here from The National Archives for free.
After working on an investigation about police surveillance for The Guardian, which included surveillance of photographers, I wonder how many years it will take the people in our investigation to get to see their own files?
Kent police said this week that it was wrong of them to film journalists working and the National Union of Journalists said it would like all the files of journalists destroyed.
Publication: Lead story of The Guardian, 7 March 2009, plus pages 14 and 15.
Tags: Climate Camp Forward Intelligence Team Free Press Freedom Home Office Human Rights Investigation Kent Police Lee Miller Media Freedom Media Restriction Metropolitan Police MI5 Minister of State for Policing National Union of Journalists National Union of Journalists New Scotland Yard Photographers Photography Police Police Surveillance Press Freedom Special Branch State Repression Surveillance Team
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Marc
You should do a FOI request and so should all the NUJ PJ’s who have been targeted by FIT squads. I would be intresting to have an idea of the “thinking” of the boys and girls in blue as to why they imagine targeting PJ,s is in any way an effective use of police time.
Good point Alan. In The Guardian investigation we used a number of FOI requests and Data Protection requests. Maybe over time more will come out on this.