You’d better hope it’s not true

Date: 30/11/1995

Amazing claims that United States agents eavesdropped on EU officials and ministers have been made by four British Labour Euro MPs.

The claims centre on the Menwith Hill US base, otherwise known as Field Station F-38, in North Yorkshire.

According to the MEPs, the base - part of the US National Security Agency's surveillance network - has been used to provide an unfair advantage to the Americans, particularly during a critical phase of negotiations on the GATT world trade agreement.

The claims first surfaced a couple of years ago, but the Council of Ministers decreed that the issue was beyond its competence.

One of the four worried MEPs, Peter Truscott, says that if the US has used its vast listening network to pick up vital information from Euro meetings, it is a matter of international concern and raises questions about the special transatlantic relationship.

It certainly does: if the claims are true and the Yanks have been listening in, they must have decided we're all potty and are probably on the point of pulling the plug on the friendship right now.