London - As the British government prepared for further controversial security revelations by ex-spy Mr David Shayler, the former defence secretary, Mr Tom King, yesterday criticised his actions, saying the security services had to be confident their secrets would not be exposed, writes Rachel Donnelly.
Accusing Mr Shayler and another former spy, Mr Richard Tomlinson, who was given a six-month sentence last year for breaking the Official Secrets Act, of selling their stories because they were disaffected former employees, Mr King questioned "why one or two people were ever recruited" to the security services. He made his comments as the government awaited receipt of the text of a court judgement in Paris earlier this week, which rejected its application for Mr Shayler's extradition. The French authorities ruled that the former MI5 agent's revelations were a politically-motivated act under French law and therefore he could not be extradited.