The Black Door: Spies, Secret Intelligence and British Prime Ministers
Written by Richard Aldrich and Rory Cormac
Narrated by Tom Clegg
4/5
()
About this audiobook
The Black Door explores the evolving relationship between successive British prime ministers and the intelligence agencies, from Asquith’s Secret Service Bureau to Cameron’s National Security Council.
Intelligence can do a prime minister’s dirty work. For more than a century, secret wars have been waged directly from Number 10. They have staved off conflict, defeats and British decline through fancy footwork, often deceiving friend and foe alike. Yet as the birth of the modern British secret service in 1909, prime ministers were strangers to the secret world – sometimes with disastrous consequences. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill oversaw a remarkable revolution in the exploitation of intelligence, bringing it into the centre of government. Chruchill’s wartime regime also formed a school of intelligence for future prime ministers, and its secret legacy has endured. Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and David Cameron all became great enthusiasts for spies and special forces. Although Britain’s political leaders have often feigned ignorance about what one prime minister called this ‘strange underworld’, some of the most daring and controversial intelligence operations can be traced straight back to Number 10.
Richard Aldrich
Richard Aldrich is a regular commentator on war and espionage and has written for the ‘Evening Standard’, the ‘Guardian’, ‘The Times’ and the ‘Telegraph’. He is the author of several books, including ‘The Hidden Hand: Britain, America and Cold War Secret Intelligence’ which won the Donner Book Prize in 2002.
Related to The Black Door
Related audiobooks
GCHQ: Centenary Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Secret War: Spies, Ciphers, and Guerrillas, 1939-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Secret Army: A Hidden History of Spies, Saboteurs, and Traitors in World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Women in Intelligence: The Hidden History of Two World Wars Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe London Cage: The Secret History of Britain's World War II Interrogation Centre Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Intrepid's Last Case Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dark State: A Novel of the Merchant Princes Multiverse (Empire Games, Book II) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5History Revealed: Sex Lies and Spies: Episode 23 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEspionage: A Concise History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Military Intelligence Blunders Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Secret History of MI6: 1909-1949 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Would You Kill the Fat Man? Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Snowden's Box: Trust in the Age of Surveillance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Pawn: The Boy Assassin and the Holocaust Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killer Memory: Jeannie Rousseau: A True WWII Female Spy Story Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Crash of Flight 3804: A Lost Spy, a Daughter’s Quest, and the Deadly Politics of the Great Game for Oil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDead Doubles: The Extraordinary Worldwide Hunt for One of the Cold War’s Most Notorious Spy Rings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life of a Spy: An Education in Truth, Lies, and Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hunting the Nazi Bomb: The Special Forces Mission to Sabotage Hitler's Deadliest Weapon Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hitler's Last Days: The Death of the Nazi Regime and the World's Most Notorious Dictator Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spymaster: The Man Who Saved MI6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEmpire Games: A Tale of the Merchant Princes Universe Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Keep Calm: A Thriller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Takedown: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Spying on the Reich: The Cold War Against Hitler Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Spectre of War: International Communism and the Origins of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Spy Ring in America: Hitler's Agents, the FBI, and the Case That Stirred the Nation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Politics For You
The 48 Laws of Power Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Behold a Pale Horse Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prince Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You Can't Joke About That: Why Everything Is Funny, Nothing Is Sacred, and We’re All in This Together Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Sinners Bleed: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Franklin Scandal: A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Elon Musk Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Overstory Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nordic Theory of Everything: In Search of a Better Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Cult of Trump: A Leading Cult Expert Explains How the President Uses Mind Control Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The MAGA Diaries: My Surreal Adventures Inside the Right-Wing (And How I Got Out) Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackout: How Black America Can Make Its Second Escape from the Democrat Plantation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Black Door
3 ratings0 reviews