DISCLOSURE: Unravelling the Spycops Files, with Kate Wilson

Kate Wilson’s DISCLOSURE: Unravelling the Spycops Files (W&N, 29 May 2025), is both a memoir and a shocking exposé about the workings of Britain’s secret police.

In 2003, in Britain, secret political police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists in Nottingham, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.

Kate Wilson fought back. She  took the Met to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring bullying, psychological intrusion and further state surveillance. It took her nearly twenty years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain’ s secret political police, and the extent of their operations, which she has revealed in her new book.

Much of the activity documented by Kate took place at Nottingham’s Sumac Centre; we are delighted that Kate will be joining us here to tell her story. Kate will be joined by three others Sumac Centre organisers from the time, who were impacted by the undercover police operation.

Join us In Person from 1pm

IF you are not able to join us for  this special In Person event, you may be able to join on zoom.

Sumac Screen Room invites you to a special Zoom event on Sunday 1st June  at 1pm
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88614705691?pwd=Zf7bgpsMJ86vHaX547Xbpuk49FkzeR.1

Meeting ID: 886 1470 5691
Passcode: 786048

Please note that the zoom presenation and Q&A’s will be recorded (though you can turn off your camera).

 

Check back for further updates details or search #spycops at https://social.coop/@Veggies

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We will begin the event with a public viewing of this video, which provides a context to the nature of state intrusion.

Battle of the Beanfields 40th Anniversary

Following this event, at 4pm we plan to walk down to Five Leaves Bookshop for Tash’s Battle of the Beanfields anniversary event:

Stonehenge-and-the-battle-of-the-beanfield-an-illustrated-talk-with-alan-lodge-tash

‘Perhaps the most sinister episode in modern British history, which is quite something considering the competition’

OLIVER BULLOUGH

DISCLOSURE: UNRAVELLING THE SPYCOPS FILES

 by KATE WILSON

Published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson on 29 May 2025

in hardback at £20, ebook £10.99, audio £24.99

The searing true story of the woman who took on Britain’s secret police in court, and won.

‘It was exciting when it started, then comfortable and domestic, and over time we grew apart. If it had been real, our relationship wouldn’t have made a chapter in a memoir. But Mark was a fictional character, contrived by the British state to violate me and undermine the values I hold dearest. And the entire time, EN31 was sitting around the corner, writing it all down, watching our lives unfold.’

In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental groups, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians. Kate Wilson fought back. She took the Met to court, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring further state surveillance, psychological intrusion and state harassment. It took her nearly 20 years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain’s secret political police. This is her story. It might be yours.

DISCLOSURE is a shocking exposé which reveals in chilling detail the psychological toll of the systemic misogyny and sexual abuse inflicted on the women deceived into relationships with undercover police, and uncovers a colossal institutional scandal, raising urgent questions about the role of the police in our society.

Kate Wilson is a life-long campaigner and now works as a nurse. Her landmark victory in the trial ‘Wilson v the Commissioner’ established that the British undercover police operations targeting her movements were unlawful and unnecessary in a democratic society, and consistently violated basic human and political rights.

‘An essential book about repression and resistance, bold, lucid and deeply inspiring’

Olivia Laing, author of THE GARDEN AGAINST TIME

‘The British police thought it could use and discard Kate Wilson, but it messed with the wrong woman. Her courage, determination, clarity and insistence on justice are absolutely awe-inspiring’.

Oliver Bullough, author of BUTLER TO THE WORLD

‘When I say “everybody should read this book”, I don’t mean everybody who is interested in human rights, in police ethics, in feminism, in the future of the planet, in freedom of speech and the right to protest, in security, in women’s security, in policy and monitoring, in budget decisions, in what the law is for, in sexual politics, or any other kind of politics. I mean everybody’

Louisa Young, author of YOU LEFT EARLY

‘Unforgettable, devastating, essential. I couldn’t put it down. Proves the systemic nature of the British state’s abuse of women beyond any doubt’

Asa Winstanley, Electronic Intifada

‘This story of the betrayal of a brave eco-activist is a searing page-turner. The criminalisation of Kate Wilson and her fellow campaigners was truly shameful. Disclosure firmly places the British police on the wrong side of history’

Peter Hain, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland

‘Disclosure gives us some of the deepest insights yet into the inner workings of Britain’s secret political police. It is a gripping, very personal but highly measured, account of shocking police oppression and corruption, deployed against people trying to make the world a better place. The book demonstrates how campaigners have bravely and meticulously exposed the undercover units which since 1968 have targeted over 1,000 mainly progressive and left wing campaign groups. Movements for much needed change continue to be supported by millions of members of the public, and cannot be suppressed. They are not only essential if humanity is to progress, but are in fact on the right side of history – unlike those who have now been forced to apologise for the spying’

Dave Morris, the McLibel Two

‘This book infuriated me, to find we have a deep state, so indifferent to women. Kate’s account is important history and a brilliant read’

Vera Baird, former Victims’ Commissioner for England and Wales

‘In an increasingly authoritarian political climate we need to be equipped and aware as much as possible. Kate Wilson’s chapter-and-verse account of her activism, betrayal, surveillance, and legal struggles are gripping and enlightening reading. Rendered with both passion and clarity, her odyssey tells us how repression works in practice’

John Zerzan, author of A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF CIVILISATION

‘This book exposes one of the most shocking abuses of state power in modern British history. The Spycops scandal saw activists targeted, rights violated and lives destroyed. Kate Wilson’s courage in pursuing justice and her meticulous unraveling of the truth is both inspiring and troubling. This is a must-read for anyone who cares about our fundamental rights and accountability for state institutions that often operate in the shadows’

Jeremy Corbyn