According to a report by the British Reuters on October 22, a new batch of documents from the UK National Archives that are now made public indicate that Anneline Bevin, the founder of the UK National Health Service and former Health Secretary, was secretly monitored by intelligence agencies. The reason given for this surveillance was that intelligence agencies suspected her of being 'communist'.
The documents show that MI5 suspected Bevin of having ‘sympathies for communists’. From 1933 to the time of Bevin’s death in 1960, the agency continued to secretly monitor Bevin’s activities in the British Parliament and outside of it. Even after Bevin became a Cabinet minister in the Labour Party government of Britain after World War II, the secret surveillance of him did not cease.
The investigation concluded in 1975, 15 years after Bevin’s death. An officer from MI5, while reviewing the files, stated, “Considering the controversy surrounding Bevin, the contents of these files were surprisingly calm.”
File photo: Anneline Bevin
Beveridge was born in 1897 into a working-class family in Wales, England. He played an important role during the British coal miners' strike in 1926. Starting in 1929, Beveridge became a member of the British Parliament. After World War II, Beveridge joined the Labour Party government led by Prime Minister Attlee, serving as Health Secretary and Minister for Labor and National Services among other positions.
During his tenure as Health Secretary, Bevin established the UK National Medical System, a achievement that earned him widespread praise within the UK.
British intelligence agencies have been accused of secretly monitoring and collecting personal information on multiple occasions. In 2016, internal documents from the British National Security Agency, the Secret Intelligence Service (also known as MI6), and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) revealed that these agencies had been secretly collecting and storing personal data as sources of intelligence, which led to widespread public scrutiny.
