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Clive Ponting

Clive Sheridan Ponting (13 April 1946 – 28 July 2020)[2][3][4] was a senior British civil servant and historian. He was best known for leaking documents about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano in the Falklands War in 1982.[5] At the time of his resignation from the civil service in 1985, he was a Grade 5 (assistant secretary), earning £23,000 per year (£70,214 in 2020).

Clive Sheridan Ponting
Born(1946-04-13)13 April 1946
Died28 July 2020(2020-07-28) (aged 74)
NationalityBritish
OccupationCivil servant
Known forThe General Belgrano papers
Notable workThe Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair
Criminal chargeSection 2 Official Secrets Act 1911 (not guilty)[1]

He wrote a number of books on British and world history. His most influential works include a Green History of the World (1991), which was revised as A New Green History of the World in 2007, and a biography of Winston Churchill (1994) and 1940: Myth and Reality (1990).

Early life

Ponting was born in Bristol, the only child of Charles Ponting, who is thought to have worked in sales, and his wife, Winifred (née Wadham).[3][4] He was educated at Bristol Grammar School[2] and the University of Reading.[4]

Bureaucratic career

General Belgrano papers

While a senior civil servant at the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD), Ponting sent two documents, subsequently nicknamed "the crown jewels",[6][7][8] to Labour MP Tam Dalyell in July 1984 concerning the sinking of the Argentine navy warship General Belgrano, a key incident in the 1982 Falklands War. After Ponting admitted revealing the information, the Ministry of Defence suspended him without pay.[9] On 17 August 1984, he was charged with a criminal offence under Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act of 1911.[10][9] The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, had his pay reinstated once she had been briefed on what had happened.[9] Ponting's defence at the trial was that the matter and its disclosure to a Member of Parliament were in the public interest.[10] It was the first case under the Official Secrets Act that involved giving information to Parliament. Although Ponting expected to be imprisoned, he was acquitted by the jury. The acquittal came despite the judge's direction to the jury, and hence by definition a "perverse verdict". The judge, Sir Anthony McCowan, "had indicated that the jury should convict him",[11] and had ruled that "the public interest is what the government of the day says it is".[12]

In 1985 Ponting came across the one file about Operation Cauldron—1952 secret biological warfare trials that had led to a trawler being accidentally doused with plague bacteria off the Hebrides—that had not been destroyed, and confidentially told The Observer newspaper about it,[4] leading to a story that July headlined "British germ bomb sprayed trawler".[13]

Ponting resigned from the civil service on 16 February 1985. In May 1987 he made an extended appearance on the first ever edition of Channel 4's After Dark discussion programme, alongside among others Colin Wallace, T. E. Utley and Peter Hain.

Charges under the Official Secrets Act

Shortly after his resignation, The Observer began to serialise Ponting's book The Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair. The Conservative government reacted by amending the secrets legislation and by introducing the Official Secrets Act 1989. Before the trial, a jury could take the view that if an action could be seen to be in the public interest, the right of the individual to take that action might be justified. As a result of the 1989 modification, that defence was removed. After the enactment, it was taken that "'public interest' is what the government of the day says it is".

The events of Ponting's charge and trial were dramatized by Richard Monks on BBC Radio Four in May 2022.[14]

Academic career

Following his resignation from the Civil Service, Ponting served as a reader in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Wales, Swansea, until his retirement in 2004. He was one of the pioneers of Big History.[15]

His historical works have attracted attention from other academics, with scholar Paul Addison writing that "Ponting writes well and the clarity with which he summarises the issues calls to mind a model civil servant briefing his minister. He swoops like a hawk on the damning quotation or the telling statistic."[16][17][18][19] C. J. Coventry reviewed Ponting's biography of Churchill, writing that "Ponting shattered the Churchill illusion for his readers leaving them little to piece together, just marble shards on the floor of his looted temple".[20]

Personal life

Ponting was married four times. In 1969 he married Katherine Hannan. After their divorce in 1973 he married Sally Fletcher, who also worked in the Ministry of Defence. Laura, a teacher, was the third wife. The fourth wife, Diane Johnson, died before him in 2020.[4]

Retirement

In November 2018 he gave a speech in which he warned fellow Scottish National Party members that a No-deal Brexit would be used as context in which to disband or constrain the Scottish Parliament.[21]

He died on 28 July 2020.[4]

Works

  • The Right to Know: The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair (1985), Sphere Books, ISBN 0-7221-6944-2
  • Whitehall - Tragedy and Farce (1986), Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-11835-2
  • Breach of Promise - Labour in Power, 1964-70 (1989), Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 0-241-12683-5
  • Whitehall: Changing the Old Guard, (1989), London, Unwin Paperbacks, The Fabian Series.
  • 1940: Myth and Reality (1990), Hamish Hamilton, ISBN 978-0-241-12668-4
  • A Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations (1991), Penguin, ISBN 0-14-017660-8
  • Churchill (1994), Sinclair-Stevenson, ISBN 1-85619-270-9
  • Armageddon - The Second World War (1995), Random House, ISBN 0-679-43602-2
  • Progress and Barbarism: The World in the Twentieth Century (1998), Chatto & Windus, ISBN 1-85619-610-0; published in the US as The Twentieth Century: A World History (1999), Henry Holt & Co., ISBN 978-0-8050-6088-1
  • World History - A New Perspective (2000), Chatto & Windus, ISBN 0-7011-6834-X.
  • Thirteen Days - Diplomacy and Disaster, the Countdown to the Great War (2003), Pimlico, ISBN 0-7126-6826-8
  • The Crimean War - The Story Behind the Myth (2004), Pimlico, ISBN 0-7126-6826-8
  • Gunpowder - The Story (2005), Chatto & Windus, ISBN 0-7011-7752-7
  • A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations (2007), Penguin, ISBN 0-14-303898-2 Penguin's description of the book

See also

Sources

References

  1. ^ BBC, On this day, 16 February 1985, Falklands' row civil servant resigns
  2. ^ a b Richard Norton-Taylor, "The Ponting Affair", Cecil Woolf, London, 1985, p. 14.
  3. ^ a b "Clive Ponting obituary". The Times. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f David Leigh (6 August 2020). "Clive Ponting obituary". The Guardian.
  5. ^ "1985: Falklands' row civil servant resigns". BBC News. 16 February 1985.
  6. ^ Elton, Rodney (20 March 1985). "Official Secrets Legislation". Hansard. HL Deb vol 461 c613. Retrieved 1 December 2017. the highly classified chronology prepared by Mr. Ponting now known as 'the crown jewels'
  7. ^ Kaufman, Gerald (3 April 1985). "The Tribunal". Hansard. HC Deb vol 76 c1242. Retrieved 1 December 2017. those fabulous Belgrano 'crown jewels', which we were told were matters of the greatest secrecy
  8. ^ Dalyell, Tam (13 June 1985). "Defence Estimates 1985". Hansard. HC Deb vol 80 c1057. Retrieved 1 December 2017. Ponting ... compiled the 'crown jewels'
  9. ^ a b c Malnick, Edward (30 December 2014). "Margaret Thatcher warned officials not to be too harsh on Belgrano whistleblower". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  10. ^ a b Rosenbaun, Martin (18 March 2011). "Clive Ponting case: Where is the investigators' report?". BBC News.
  11. ^ "Troubled history of Official Secrets Act". BBC. 18 November 1998. Retrieved 8 June 2015. It was hailed as a victory for the jury system. The judge had indicated that the jury should convict him.
  12. ^ Preston, Peter (30 November 2014). "Clodagh Hartley, chequebooks … and a Clive Ponting moment". The Observer.
  13. ^ David Leigh; Paul Lashmar (July 1985). "British germ bomb sprayed trawler". The Observer.
  14. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0016xjr
  15. ^ Brown, Cynthia Stokes (2012). Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present. The New Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-1595588456.
  16. ^ "BOOK REVIEW / Bureaucrat bites bulldog: 'Churchill' - Clive Ponting". The Independent. 8 May 1994.
  17. ^ Gott, Richard (9 November 2008). "Review: Three books about Churchill" – via www.theguardian.com.
  18. ^ Addison, Paul (28 June 1990). "Paul Addison · Garbo & Co · LRB 28 June 1990". London Review of Books. 12 (12).
  19. ^ Burdman, Mark (20 May 1994). "New British research exposes Churchill as genocidal racist" (PDF). Executive Intelligence Review. Vol. 21, no. 21.
  20. ^ Coventry, Cameron (2019). "CJ Coventry, Clive Ponting's Churchill, Before/Now, 1(1) (2019)". Before/Now. 1 (1): 78–79. doi:10.17613/4dj5-f938.
  21. ^ Hannan, Martin (14 November 2018). "Clive Ponting warns of Brexit threat to Scottish Parliament". The National.

External links

  • BBC, On this day, 16 February 1985, Falklands' row civil servant resigns
  • A Green History of the World
  • Obituary: Telegraph

clive, ponting, clive, sheridan, ponting, april, 1946, july, 2020, senior, british, civil, servant, historian, best, known, leaking, documents, about, sinking, general, belgrano, falklands, 1982, time, resignation, from, civil, service, 1985, grade, assistant,. Clive Sheridan Ponting 13 April 1946 28 July 2020 2 3 4 was a senior British civil servant and historian He was best known for leaking documents about the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano in the Falklands War in 1982 5 At the time of his resignation from the civil service in 1985 he was a Grade 5 assistant secretary earning 23 000 per year 70 214 in 2020 Clive Sheridan PontingBorn 1946 04 13 13 April 1946Bristol England UKDied28 July 2020 2020 07 28 aged 74 NationalityBritishOccupationCivil servantKnown forThe General Belgrano papersNotable workThe Right to Know The Inside Story of the Belgrano AffairCriminal chargeSection 2 Official Secrets Act 1911 not guilty 1 He wrote a number of books on British and world history His most influential works include a Green History of the World 1991 which was revised as A New Green History of the World in 2007 and a biography of Winston Churchill 1994 and 1940 Myth and Reality 1990 Contents 1 Early life 2 Bureaucratic career 2 1 General Belgrano papers 2 2 Charges under the Official Secrets Act 3 Academic career 4 Personal life 5 Retirement 6 Works 7 See also 8 Sources 9 References 10 External linksEarly life EditPonting was born in Bristol the only child of Charles Ponting who is thought to have worked in sales and his wife Winifred nee Wadham 3 4 He was educated at Bristol Grammar School 2 and the University of Reading 4 Bureaucratic career EditGeneral Belgrano papers Edit While a senior civil servant at the United Kingdom s Ministry of Defence MoD Ponting sent two documents subsequently nicknamed the crown jewels 6 7 8 to Labour MP Tam Dalyell in July 1984 concerning the sinking of the Argentine navy warship General Belgrano a key incident in the 1982 Falklands War After Ponting admitted revealing the information the Ministry of Defence suspended him without pay 9 On 17 August 1984 he was charged with a criminal offence under Section 2 of the Official Secrets Act of 1911 10 9 The Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had his pay reinstated once she had been briefed on what had happened 9 Ponting s defence at the trial was that the matter and its disclosure to a Member of Parliament were in the public interest 10 It was the first case under the Official Secrets Act that involved giving information to Parliament Although Ponting expected to be imprisoned he was acquitted by the jury The acquittal came despite the judge s direction to the jury and hence by definition a perverse verdict The judge Sir Anthony McCowan had indicated that the jury should convict him 11 and had ruled that the public interest is what the government of the day says it is 12 In 1985 Ponting came across the one file about Operation Cauldron 1952 secret biological warfare trials that had led to a trawler being accidentally doused with plague bacteria off the Hebrides that had not been destroyed and confidentially told The Observer newspaper about it 4 leading to a story that July headlined British germ bomb sprayed trawler 13 Ponting resigned from the civil service on 16 February 1985 In May 1987 he made an extended appearance on the first ever edition of Channel 4 s After Dark discussion programme alongside among others Colin Wallace T E Utley and Peter Hain Charges under the Official Secrets Act Edit Shortly after his resignation The Observer began to serialise Ponting s book The Right to Know The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair The Conservative government reacted by amending the secrets legislation and by introducing the Official Secrets Act 1989 Before the trial a jury could take the view that if an action could be seen to be in the public interest the right of the individual to take that action might be justified As a result of the 1989 modification that defence was removed After the enactment it was taken that public interest is what the government of the day says it is The events of Ponting s charge and trial were dramatized by Richard Monks on BBC Radio Four in May 2022 14 Academic career EditFollowing his resignation from the Civil Service Ponting served as a reader in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Wales Swansea until his retirement in 2004 He was one of the pioneers of Big History 15 His historical works have attracted attention from other academics with scholar Paul Addison writing that Ponting writes well and the clarity with which he summarises the issues calls to mind a model civil servant briefing his minister He swoops like a hawk on the damning quotation or the telling statistic 16 17 18 19 C J Coventry reviewed Ponting s biography of Churchill writing that Ponting shattered the Churchill illusion for his readers leaving them little to piece together just marble shards on the floor of his looted temple 20 Personal life EditPonting was married four times In 1969 he married Katherine Hannan After their divorce in 1973 he married Sally Fletcher who also worked in the Ministry of Defence Laura a teacher was the third wife The fourth wife Diane Johnson died before him in 2020 4 Retirement EditIn November 2018 he gave a speech in which he warned fellow Scottish National Party members that a No deal Brexit would be used as context in which to disband or constrain the Scottish Parliament 21 He died on 28 July 2020 4 Works EditThe Right to Know The Inside Story of the Belgrano Affair 1985 Sphere Books ISBN 0 7221 6944 2 Whitehall Tragedy and Farce 1986 Hamish Hamilton ISBN 0 241 11835 2 Breach of Promise Labour in Power 1964 70 1989 Hamish Hamilton ISBN 0 241 12683 5 Whitehall Changing the Old Guard 1989 London Unwin Paperbacks The Fabian Series 1940 Myth and Reality 1990 Hamish Hamilton ISBN 978 0 241 12668 4 A Green History of the World The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations 1991 Penguin ISBN 0 14 017660 8 Churchill 1994 Sinclair Stevenson ISBN 1 85619 270 9 Armageddon The Second World War 1995 Random House ISBN 0 679 43602 2 Progress and Barbarism The World in the Twentieth Century 1998 Chatto amp Windus ISBN 1 85619 610 0 published in the US as The Twentieth Century A World History 1999 Henry Holt amp Co ISBN 978 0 8050 6088 1 World History A New Perspective 2000 Chatto amp Windus ISBN 0 7011 6834 X Thirteen Days Diplomacy and Disaster the Countdown to the Great War 2003 Pimlico ISBN 0 7126 6826 8 The Crimean War The Story Behind the Myth 2004 Pimlico ISBN 0 7126 6826 8 Gunpowder The Story 2005 Chatto amp Windus ISBN 0 7011 7752 7 A New Green History of the World The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations 2007 Penguin ISBN 0 14 303898 2 Penguin s description of the bookSee also EditSarah Tisdall Jury nullificationSources EditNorton Taylor Richard The Ponting Affair Cecil Woolf 1985 ISBN 0 900821 73 6References Edit BBC On this day 16 February 1985 Falklands row civil servant resigns a b Richard Norton Taylor The Ponting Affair Cecil Woolf London 1985 p 14 a b Clive Ponting obituary The Times 1 August 2020 Retrieved 5 August 2020 a b c d e f David Leigh 6 August 2020 Clive Ponting obituary The Guardian 1985 Falklands row civil servant resigns BBC News 16 February 1985 Elton Rodney 20 March 1985 Official Secrets Legislation Hansard HL Deb vol 461 c613 Retrieved 1 December 2017 the highly classified chronology prepared by Mr Ponting now known as the crown jewels Kaufman Gerald 3 April 1985 The Tribunal Hansard HC Deb vol 76 c1242 Retrieved 1 December 2017 those fabulous Belgrano crown jewels which we were told were matters of the greatest secrecy Dalyell Tam 13 June 1985 Defence Estimates 1985 Hansard HC Deb vol 80 c1057 Retrieved 1 December 2017 Ponting compiled the crown jewels a b c Malnick Edward 30 December 2014 Margaret Thatcher warned officials not to be too harsh on Belgrano whistleblower The Daily Telegraph Retrieved 17 December 2017 a b Rosenbaun Martin 18 March 2011 Clive Ponting case Where is the investigators report BBC News Troubled history of Official Secrets Act BBC 18 November 1998 Retrieved 8 June 2015 It was hailed as a victory for the jury system The judge had indicated that the jury should convict him Preston Peter 30 November 2014 Clodagh Hartley chequebooks and a Clive Ponting moment The Observer David Leigh Paul Lashmar July 1985 British germ bomb sprayed trawler The Observer https www bbc co uk programmes m0016xjr Brown Cynthia Stokes 2012 Big History From the Big Bang to the Present The New Press p xiii ISBN 978 1595588456 BOOK REVIEW Bureaucrat bites bulldog Churchill Clive Ponting The Independent 8 May 1994 Gott Richard 9 November 2008 Review Three books about Churchill via www theguardian com Addison Paul 28 June 1990 Paul Addison Garbo amp Co LRB 28 June 1990 London Review of Books 12 12 Burdman Mark 20 May 1994 New British research exposes Churchill as genocidal racist PDF Executive Intelligence Review Vol 21 no 21 Coventry Cameron 2019 CJ Coventry Clive Ponting s Churchill Before Now 1 1 2019 Before Now 1 1 78 79 doi 10 17613 4dj5 f938 Hannan Martin 14 November 2018 Clive Ponting warns of Brexit threat to Scottish Parliament The National External links EditBBC On this day 16 February 1985 Falklands row civil servant resigns A Green History of the World Obituary Telegraph Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Clive Ponting amp oldid 1126947498, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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