Extent of police infiltration of CND under Thatcher ‘truly shocking’

Anti-nuclear protesters outside Greenham Common airbase in 1983. One undercover officer said she was told by a superior that Margaret Thatcher wanted to know what the ‘Greenham women were doing’. Photograph: Dave Caulkin/AP

At least five undercover police officers spied on the anti-nuclear movement during a period when it was posing a significant challenge to government policies, a public inquiry has been told.

One was sent to infiltrate the women’s peace camp at Greenham Common after she was told by a superior that Margaret Thatcher, then the prime minister, wanted to know what the “Greenham women were doing”.