350 • MAYHEW, CHRISTOPHER
MAYHEW, CHRISTOPHER.Born in June 1915 and educated at
Haileybury and Christ Church, Oxford, Christopher Mayhew visited
Moscow in 1935 withAnthony Blunt. He went to France as a gunner
with the Surrey Yeomanry in September 1939 and was evacuated in
May 1940. Mayhew was invited byHugh Dalton, an old friend, to
joinSpecial Operations Executive(SOE) as his staff officer, but
when Dalton was moved to the Board of Trade in February 1942
Mayhew obtained a transfer toPhantom’s J Squadron and was
posted to the Mediterranean. He landed in Normandy two days after
D-Day, attached to Special Forces Headquarters to act as a liaison
officer with SOE.
In 1945 Mayhew was elected the Labour MP for south Norfolk.
As minister of state in the Foreign Office in Clement Attlee’s admin-
istration, Mayhew promoted, and in February 1948 gained approval
for, the creation of theInformation Research Department. He also
appointedGuy Burgessto it, but then had him sacked, observing
that he was ‘‘dirty, drunken and idle.’’
In 1974 Mayhew resigned from the Labour party but failed to be
reelected to the Commons as a Liberal. He was elevated to the House
of Lords in 1981. His memoirs,Time to Explain, were published in
1987.
MAZZINI, GUISEPPE.In 1854 the home secretary, Sir James Gra-
ham, authorized the interception of mail to Italy from Guiseppe Maz-
zini, a known political extremist. Altogether, between 70 and 80
letters were read and translated and the contents shared with the Aus-
trian embassy in London. When Mazzini became aware that he was
the target of interception, he persuaded the radical MP Thomas Dun-
combe to raise the issue in the Commons, and as a consequence a
committee of inquiry was formed, which recommended in 1846 the
closure of theSecret Officethat hitherto had been responsible for
the interception and decryption of suspect correspondence.
MEAL TICKET.An expression common in the intelligence commu-
nity for the valuable information supplied by adefectorin return for
resettlement.
MEERUT CONSPIRACY.In March 1929, 32 Communists were ar-
rested in Bombay and charged with conspiracy to deprive the king-