Jump to content

Clive Ponting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clive Ponting
Born
Clive Sheridan Ponting

(1946-04-13)13 April 1946
Bristol,England, UK
Died28 July 2020(2020-07-28)(aged 74)
Kelso,Scotland, UK
NationalityBritish
OccupationCivil servant
Known forTheGeneral Belgranopapers
Notable workThe Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair
Criminal chargeSection 2Official Secrets Act 1911(not guilty)[1]
Spouses
  • Katherine Hannan
    ​
    ​
    (m.1969, divorced)​
  • Sally Fletcher
    ​
    ​
    (m.1973, divorced)​
  • Laura Young
    ​
    ​
    (m.1997, divorced)​
  • Diane Johnson
    ​
    (died2020)​

Clive Sheridan Ponting(13 April 1946 – 28 July 2020)[2][3][4]was a senior British civil servant and historian. In 1984, he leaked classified documents about thesinking of the ARAGeneral Belgranoin theFalklands Warin 1982, which showed that government statements about the sinking were untrue. He was prosecuted under theOfficial Secrets Act,but argued that his actions were in the public interest, and was acquitted.[5]At the time of his resignation from the civil service in 1985, he was aGrade 5 (assistant secretary),earning £23,000 per year (£70,214 in 2020).

He later wrote a number of books on British and world history. These included aGreen History of the World(1991), which was revised asA New Green History of the Worldin 2007, and a biography ofWinston Churchill(1994) and1940: Myth and Reality(1990).

Early life

[edit]

Ponting was born inBristol,the only child of Charles Ponting, who is thought to have worked in sales, and his wife, Winifred (née Wadham).[3][4]He was educated atBristol Grammar School[2]and theUniversity of Reading.[4]He joined the civil service in 1970.[6]

Bureaucratic career

[edit]

General Belgranopapers

[edit]

While a senior civil servant at theUnited Kingdom's Ministry of Defence(MoD), Ponting sent two documents, subsequently nicknamed "the crown jewels",[7][8][9]to Labour MPTam Dalyellin July 1984 concerning the sinking of the Argentine navy warshipGeneral Belgrano,a key incident in the 1982Falklands War.After Ponting admitted revealing the information, the Ministry of Defence suspended him without pay.[10]On 17 August 1984, he was charged with a criminal offence under Section 2 of theOfficial Secrets Act 1911.[11][10]The Prime Minister,Margaret Thatcher,had his pay reinstated once she had been briefed on what had happened.[10]Ponting's defence at the trial was that the matter and its disclosure to a Member of Parliament were in the public interest.[11]It was the first case under the Official Secrets Act that involved giving information to Parliament. Although Ponting expected to be imprisoned, he was acquitted by thejury.The acquittal came despite the judge'sdirection to the jury,and hence by definition a "perverse verdict".The judge, SirAnthony McCowan,"had indicated that the jury should convict him",[12]and had ruled that "the public interest is what the government of the day says it is".[13]

In 1985 Ponting came across the one file aboutOperation Cauldron—1952 secret biological warfare trials that had led to a trawler being accidentally doused with plague bacteria off theHebrides—that had not been destroyed, and confidentially toldThe Observernewspaper about it,[4]leading to a story that July headlined "British germ bomb sprayed trawler".[14]

Ponting resigned from the civil service on 16 February 1985. In May 1987 he made anextended appearanceon the first ever edition ofChannel 4'sAfter Darkdiscussion programme, alongside among othersColin Wallace,T. E. UtleyandPeter Hain.

Charges under the Official Secrets Act

[edit]

Shortly after his resignation,The Observerbegan to serialise Ponting's bookThe Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair.The Conservative government reacted by amending the secrets legislation and by introducing theOfficial Secrets Act 1989.Before the trial, a jury could take the view that if an action could be seen to be in the public interest, the right of the individual to take that action might be justified. As a result of the 1989 modification, that defence was removed. After the enactment, it was taken that"'public interest' is what the government of the day says it is ".

The events of Ponting's charge and trial were dramatized by Richard Monks onBBC Radio Fourin May 2022.[15]

Academic career

[edit]

Following his resignation from the Civil Service, Ponting served as areaderin the Department of Politics and International Relations at theUniversity of Wales, Swansea,until his retirement in 2004. He was one of the pioneers ofBig History.[16]

His historical works have attracted attention from other academics, with scholar Paul Addison writing that "Ponting writes well and the clarity with which he summarises the issues calls to mind a model civil servant briefing his minister. He swoops like a hawk on the damning quotation or the telling statistic."[17][18][19]C. J. Coventryreviewed Ponting's biography ofChurchill,writing that "Ponting shattered the Churchill illusion for his readers leaving them little to piece together, just marble shards on the floor of his looted temple".[20]

Personal life

[edit]

Ponting was married four times. In 1969 he married Katherine Hannan.[6]After their divorce in 1973 he married Sally Fletcher, who also worked in theMinistry of Defence.[6]Laura Young, a teacher, was his third wife, whom he married in 1997.[6]His fourth wife, Diane Johnson, died in March 2020.[4]

Retirement

[edit]

In November 2018, by then a resident ofKelso, Scottish Borders,Ponting gave a speech in which he warned fellowScottish National Partymembers that aNo-deal Brexitwould be used as context in which to disband or constrain theScottish Parliament.[21]

Ponting died at home on 28 July 2020, at the age of 74.[4][6]

Works

[edit]
  • The Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair(1985), Sphere Books,ISBN0-7221-6944-2
  • Whitehall - Tragedy and Farce(1986), Hamish Hamilton,ISBN0-241-11835-2
  • Breach of Promise - Labour in Power, 1964-70(1989), Hamish Hamilton,ISBN0-241-12683-5
  • Whitehall: Changing the Old Guard,(1989), London, Unwin Paperbacks, The Fabian Series.
  • 1940: Myth and Reality(1990), Hamish Hamilton,ISBN978-0-241-12668-4
  • A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations(1991), Penguin,ISBN0-14-017660-8
  • Churchill(1994),Sinclair-Stevenson,ISBN1-85619-270-9
  • Armageddon - The Second World War(1995), Random House,ISBN0-679-43602-2
  • Progress and Barbarism: The World in the Twentieth Century(1998), Chatto & Windus,ISBN1-85619-610-0;published in the US asThe Twentieth Century: A World History(1999),Henry Holt & Co.,ISBN978-0-8050-6088-1
  • World History - A New Perspective(2000), Chatto & Windus,ISBN0-7011-6834-X.
  • Thirteen Days - Diplomacy and Disaster, the Countdown to the Great War(2003), Pimlico,ISBN0-7126-6826-8
  • The Crimean War - The Story Behind the Myth(2004), Pimlico,ISBN0-7126-6826-8
  • Gunpowder - The Story(2005), Chatto & Windus,ISBN0-7011-7752-7
  • A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations(2007), Penguin,ISBN0-14-303898-2Penguin's description of the bookArchived21 August 2008 at theWayback Machine

See also

[edit]
  • Katharine Gun– British linguist, translator and whistleblower (formerly of GCHQ). Charged with breach of the Official Secrets Act, the case was dropped because the prosecution declined to offer evidence.
  • Sarah Tisdall– FCO whistleblower (1983)
  • Jury nullification– Type of jury verdict in criminal trials that occurs when the jury in a criminal trial gives a not guilty verdict, regardless of whether they believe a defendant has broken the law.

Sources

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^BBC, On this day, 16 February 1985, Falklands' row civil servant resigns
  2. ^abRichard Norton-Taylor, "The Ponting Affair", Cecil Woolf, London, 1985, p. 14.
  3. ^ab"Clive Ponting obituary".The Times.1 August 2020.Retrieved5 August2020.
  4. ^abcdefDavid Leigh (6 August 2020)."Clive Ponting obituary".The Guardian.
  5. ^"1985: Falklands' row civil servant resigns".BBC News.16 February 1985.
  6. ^abcdeNorton-Taylor, Richard(2024). "Ponting, Clive Sheridan (1946–2020), civil servant and historian".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography(online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.90000381689.(Subscription orUK public library membershiprequired.)
  7. ^Elton, Rodney (20 March 1985)."Official Secrets Legislation".Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).HL Deb vol 461 c613.Retrieved1 December2017.the highly classified chronology prepared by Mr. Ponting now known as 'the crown jewels'
  8. ^Kaufman, Gerald (3 April 1985)."The Tribunal".Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).HC Deb vol 76 c1242.Retrieved1 December2017.those fabulous Belgrano 'crown jewels', which we were told were matters of the greatest secrecy
  9. ^Dalyell, Tam (13 June 1985)."Defence Estimates 1985".Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).HC Deb vol 80 c1057.Retrieved1 December2017.Ponting... compiled the 'crown jewels'
  10. ^abcMalnick, Edward (30 December 2014)."Margaret Thatcher warned officials not to be too harsh on Belgrano whistleblower".The Daily Telegraph.Retrieved17 December2017.
  11. ^abRosenbaun, Martin (18 March 2011)."Clive Ponting case: Where is the investigators' report?".BBC News.
  12. ^"Troubled history of Official Secrets Act".BBC.18 November 1998.Retrieved8 June2015.It was hailed as a victory for the jury system. The judge had indicated that the jury should convict him.
  13. ^Preston, Peter(30 November 2014)."Clodagh Hartley, chequebooks… and a Clive Ponting moment".The Observer.
  14. ^David Leigh; Paul Lashmar (July 1985)."British germ bomb sprayed trawler".The Observer.
  15. ^"BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Belgrano. Part 2".BBC.Retrieved23 January2023.
  16. ^Brown, Cynthia Stokes (2012).Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present.The New Press. p. xiii.ISBN978-1595588456.
  17. ^"BOOK REVIEW / Bureaucrat bites bulldog: 'Churchill' - Clive Ponting".The Independent.8 May 1994.
  18. ^Gott, Richard (9 November 2008)."Review: Three books about Churchill".The Observer– via theguardian.
  19. ^Addison, Paul (28 June 1990)."Paul Addison · Garbo & Co · LRB 28 June 1990".London Review of Books.12(12).
  20. ^Coventry, Cameron (2019)."CJ Coventry, Clive Ponting's Churchill,Before/Now,1(1) (2019) ".Before/Now.1(1): 78–79.doi:10.17613/4dj5-f938.
  21. ^Hannan, Martin (14 November 2018)."Clive Ponting warns of Brexit threat to Scottish Parliament".The National.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Clive_Ponting&oldid=1240144894"