A memory of Michael Foot

@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
January 16, 2019 4:03am CST
I am currently reading a book about Oleg Gordievsky, a former KGB agent who spied for the British secret service and eventually escaped from Russia to exile in the UK. I have just come across a passage that describes Gordievsky in Moscow reading the KGB files on Michael Foot, who was the leader of the UK Labour Party from 1980 to 1983 and could have become Prime Minister had he not lost a general election to Margaret Thatcher's Conservatives. As has long been asserted, Michael Foot had contacts with the KGB, although how serious a threat he was to British security is debatable. However, the thing that leapt off the page to me was the mention that Foot met his KGB contact in a restaurant in central London. This brought a memory flooding back to me. I worked in London in the late 1970s and once caught a glimpse of Michael Foot in a central London street. What was he doing? Walking into a restaurant, that's what! Had I actually seen a suspected agent of the KGB about to meet his contact over lunch? If only I'd known at the time!
2 people like this
2 responses
• New Delhi, India
16 Jan 19
Seems like he was a very famous person in your area
1 person likes this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
16 Jan 19
He certainly was. He was also very noticeable and unlikely to be confused with anyone else.
@Fleura (35031)
• United Kingdom
16 Jan 19
You missed the chance for a scoop there!
1 person likes this