Thatcher ‘utterly shattered’ by MI5 revelations in Spycatcher, files reveal

Margaret Thatcher believed that the consequences of the book’s publication ‘would be enormous’. Photograph: Phil Noble/PA

Margaret Thatcher was “utterly shattered” by the revelations in Spycatcher, the memoirs of the retired MI5 officer Peter Wright, files released publicly for the first time reveal.

The files also reveal the dilemmas faced by Thatcher’s government in its futile battle to suppress the book, including whether to agree to the Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer mediating an out of court “solution”.