Item MAYHEW 4/1 - Memos and correspondence, 1946-1948, relating to service as Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with later items, 1976 and 1980

Typescript memoranda and correspondence relating to Mayhew's position as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1946-1950, and his establishment of the Information Research Department (IRD) within the Foreign Office, 1947, including letters from Mayhew to Rt Hon Ernest Bevin, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and typescript minutes relating to the establishment of the IRD. Papers relate primarily to Foreign Office attempts to curb the spread of Soviet and Chinese communism following World War Two; Foreign Office reactions to de-colonisation in the Far East and on the Indian sub-continent and Britain's role in aiding anti-Communist forces in Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Far East. Papers include memoranda expressing concern over the partition of India, Jun 1947; the use of British propaganda newsreels in the USA, Oct 1947; memoranda and minutes relating to the UK's role in the suppression of communist insurrection in Greece, 1947; memoranda concerning the protests of the World Jewish Congress to Foreign Office decisions regarding the future of Palestine, 1947-48; the trial of German officers and civil servants at Nuremburg, Germany, 1947-48; the dismissal of UK civil servants for alleged communist sympathies. Papers also include letter to the Editor of the Times (London) in which Mayhew admits to his hiring of Soviet spy Guy Burgess to a confidential post during his tenure as Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 20 Feb 1976, and letters to Prime Minister Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher requesting that the Foreign Office reinstate the IRD, May 1980. 2 files.