What’s been said about Michael Foot is wrong!

Dear Ed, I READ with amusement Tower Hamlets Cllr Alex Heslop’s appraisal of Michael Foot who died last weekIt is a shame that what he says about Foot is wrong

Dear Ed,

I READ with amusement Tower Hamlets Cllr Alex Heslop’s appraisal of Michael Foot who died last week (Advertiser website letters, March 5).

It is a shame that what he says about Foot is wrong. Foot won libel damages against a Sunday newspaper in 1995 over allegations about links to the KGB during the Cold War. These accusations came from Oleg Gordievsky, the KGB officer who defected from the Soviet Union to Britain in 1985. Note that Foot did not sue Gordievsky.

As for Jack Jones, after he died last year Christopher Andrews’ official history of MI5 confirmed that he had been a known KGB agent. Gordievsky was also proved right about other KGB contacts, who admitted that he had taken “Moscow gold”.

Michael Foot was no hero. He ensured that Thatcher won the 1983 General Election with a landslide, so at least we have to thank him for that.

Robert Edwards

Stephenson Street, Canning Town