//And wondered (just for a nanosecond) why an opinion from two such "experts" which contradicted the received wisdom wasn't the big news you might expect it to be.
Yes, just for a nanosecond.//
Like why wasn't it on the Beep Beep See main nerws 24/7 with reporters outside MI6 hq ramping it up?
""As a former Chief of the Intelligence Service, with my colleague Lord Guthrie, who served as chief of the Defence Staff shortly before I was in charge of MI6, we are taking the unprecedented step of writing to all Conservative Party chairmen to advise and to warn you that this Withdrawal Agreement, if not defeated, will threaten the national security of the country In fundamental ways.
"Please ensure that your MP does not vote for this bad agreement."
Explaining why they oppose the new relationship with the EU in the agreement, they write: "Buried in this Agreement is the offer of a 'new, deep and special relationship' with the EU in defence, security and intelligence which cuts across the three fundamentals of our national security policy: membership of NATO, our close bilateral defence and intelligence relationship with the USA and the Five Eyes intelligence alliance."
The Five Eyes Alliance is a group of Western intelligence sharing nations made up of the UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Intelligence gathered by one of these countries is shared with all the others.""