How a young Sir Keir Starmer ended up in Communist spy files after joining a Czechoslovakian work camp during Cold War

Keir Starmer appears in communist spy files after joining a Czechoslovak labor camp at the height of the Cold War, the Mail can reveal.

The then 23-year-old was one of seventeen mostly students from around the world who joined the 1986 plan behind the Iron Curtain to restore a memorial to the victims of a Nazi atrocity.

But while the volunteers had noble intentions, the event was unbeknownst to them being monitored by people with a much more sinister motive.

Sir Keir’s full name, date and place of birth, passport number and family home address are listed among other International Labor Camp participants in a file discovered by the Mail in the ‘Foreign Intelligence Main Directorate – Operative Files’ section of the archives of the Czechoslovak Secret Police.

His visa application, including a passport photo and handwritten personal details, is kept in a separate section of the Czech State Security Service’s Cold War archives.

Keir Starmer appeared in communist spy files after joining a Czechoslovak labor camp at the height of the Cold War

Sir Keir’s full name, date and place of birth, passport number and family home address are listed among other International Labor Camp participants in a file discovered by the Mail in the ‘Foreign Intelligence Main Directorate – Operative Files’ section of the archives of the Czechoslovak secret police

Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer will appear on the BBC for questioning on Friday

Top Secret-designated files from an earlier International Labor Camp in Prague in 1982 reveal that it was overseen by the ruthless Czech StB spy agency as part of a vast and far-reaching ‘Active Measure’ – a euphemism for black ops and disinformation campaign – undermine NATO.

The secret police also placed a spy posing as a camp “supervisor” among the foreign students in 1982 to create a secret dossier that profiled the visitors and which some intended for “further reconnaissance” that was potentially of “use in the future’ could be.

The files at Sir Keir’s camp do not reveal whether the secret police intended to use the information they gathered from him and others, but security experts said they also appeared to be gathering information on young high-flyers in Western countries for potentially long-term usage. .

In addition to the current Labor leader, other members of his brigade – who also came from the United States, West Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, France and Czechoslovakia – were one who later served in a senior role in the European Union worked. Commission and another who became a partner in a law firm in the city.

Sir Keir had just completed a postgraduate law degree from Oxford University and was about to begin his legal training when he arrived for the two-week camp in the Czech-German border town of Cheb on August 16, 1986, according to reports stamps on the Visa.

The group was based in Lidice, a village 12 miles outside Prague that the Nazis destroyed in 1942, killing more than 300 civilians in revenge for Czech resistance fighters who murdered SS chief and Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich.

The group was based in Lidice, a village 20 kilometers outside Prague that the Nazis destroyed in 1942, killing more than 300 civilians in revenge for Czech resistance fighters who murdered SS chief and Holocaust architect Reinhard Heydrich (pictured)

Fellow camp participant Lisbet Praem, then a young police officer working in Denmark, told the Mail that the group stayed in military tents with “primitive” facilities.

Nearly forty years later, she has fond memories of the trip and Sir Keir. She said: “He was very caring towards everyone. He was definitely a hard-working man and always looked for the best solutions for everyone, and also made it a fun time.’

They knew that communist authorities would keep a close eye on them, Ms. Praem added.

‘Of course they were watching, but we were invited too, so we knew that if we behaved and didn’t take pictures in the wrong places, we thought it was okay. It was another time.’

‘At that time it was difficult to get to the other side of the Iron Curtain. You had to have a certain visa.

“It took a long time for people to talk about the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

In addition to building a memorial for the victims of the Nazis, the trip was also about “meeting young people from other cultures,” she added.

“We also thought that if you can connect all the nations, you can prevent another war.”

Ms Praem kept in touch with Sir Keir for a few years but eventually lost touch as his legal career took him ‘from busy to very, very busy’.

Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence and security expert from the University of Buckingham (pictured), said: ‘It is absolutely right that Starmer wanted to help commemorate the victims of sadistic Nazi brutality at Lidice, but failed to realize that this youthful idealism could be exploited. from the communists was a mistake, but given his age a forgiveness.’

Professor Anthony Glees, an intelligence and security expert from the University of Buckingham, said: ‘It is absolutely right that Starmer wanted to help commemorate the victims of sadistic Nazi brutality at Lidice, but failed to realize that this youthful idealism was driven by communists could be exploited. was a mistake, but forgivable given his age.

‘This was at a critical time in the Cold War, when the hardline communists were still doing everything they could to undermine the West, and the Czechoslovak security service played a key role in this.

The Czechoslovak secret service used these camps to gather information about bright and idealistic young people, hoping that one day it could be useful to them in some way.”

Labor declined to comment.