Slough Tory leader gave info to Communist Czech spies in Cold War

An investigation conducted by the Daily Mail unearthed Cllr Dexter Smith (Con: Colnbrook with Poyle) supplied information he got as a defence journalist – now retired – on Nato’s nuclear planning summits, chemical weapons, and the missile defence of Western Europe to Communist Czech spies.

According to the report, newly declassified Security Service archives in Prague also show Cllr Smith, who was codenamed ‘Slough’ after his hometown, used his access to government and military officials to write reports on Britain’s involvement in the American Star Wars nuclear defence plan.

Despite being opposed to Communism, files in the archives said the Tory councillor wrote 24 reports during ‘clandestine’ meetings in London and near Windsor Castle for cash rewards. The files claimed he became ‘addicted’ to the financial payments and was determined to ‘sell every word’.

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He would also enjoy being ‘entertained in style’ in high-end restaurants by his handler in return for the reports and information he provided, according to the newly-released archives.

He was first rewarded a cut glass Bohemian crystal worth £100 in 1987 but then ‘gradually changed to direct financial rewards’. He received just over £1,000 in rewards and hospitality from 1986 to 1988.

The councillor began supplying information after he met his handler, Major Bedrich Kramar, an agent for the Czech Military and Intelligence Agency, at a state banquet held at London’s Soviet Embassy in 1986.

The Communists saw him as a valuable asset as his job made it possible to obtain and hand over information on the changes in Nato’s and Britain’s armed forces combat alert status.

Cllr Smith became 'addicted' to the cash rewards he was getting for the informaiton he supplied (Image: Mike Swift)

According to the report, Cllr Smith ‘fully understood’ who he was working for and would ‘make sure’ he was not being watched by looking around.

The information he did supply was classed as ‘non-public’ or ‘not easily available,’ and was to a ‘large extent usable’ and utilised by Czech intelligence agencies, say the files.

His time supplying information ended in 1988 after his handler was expelled from the UK for spying.

A new spy approached Cllr Smith after months of silence to see if he was happy to continue supplying information, but the final dossier on Cllr Smith ends on November 28, 1989, when the Communist rule in Czechoslovakia officially ended.

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However, Cllr Smith said he wrote those 24 ‘short’ reports as freelance journalistic commissions more than 30 years ago and insisted the information was not secret as it was given to him from interviews and briefings for him to publicly put in print.

He said: “During the Cold War, governments wanted the world to know they had certain weapons and the circumstances under which these would be used. This was the basis of Deterrence, to stop a hot war.

“I am grateful to the Daily Mail for giving me the opportunity to respond to the Czech intelligence file released about me last year.

"The fact that the UK authorities have not chosen to question me about this speaks for itself that I did nothing illegal or that it was nothing they were not aware of.”