By Salma El-Sakka
The UK's intelligence watchdog has condemned MI5 for lying to multiple courts while defending a violent neo-Nazi informant, calling the failure as serious as any case he has handled. Lord Leveson, the Investigatory Powers Commissioner, said oversight depends on candour and that failings of candour undermine the entire basis of accountability.
Investigation finds systemic failures
The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) investigated how MI5 gave false evidence to three courts concerning the abusive informant known as Agent X. The report found one senior officer lied repeatedly while another misled his own colleagues and lied about what he was told. It also criticised other senior spies and identified "serious and systemic failures in MI5's conduct" throughout the case. MI5 accepted the report's findings without reservation last month, and the High Court is due to decide on any action against the agency or its staff.
Agent X case details
Agent X coercively controlled his partner, known by the alias Beth, and attacked her with a machete. MI5 then helped him go abroad to continue intelligence work while he was under police investigation. The government took the BBC to court in 2022 in a failed attempt to block reporting on X, but secured his legal anonymity. Beth later sued MI5 at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal and sought a High Court review in 2024. MI5 claimed it had maintained its "neither confirm nor deny" policy about the agent's status, but the investigation revealed it had disclosed that status in phone calls to a journalist in 2020 while trying to dissuade investigation.
Senior officer resigned
A senior MI5 officer tried to cover up for the informant, falsely stating he was not an abusive misogynist nor a real extremist, and even attempted to arrange a meeting with the agent. That officer repeatedly departed from the NCND policy and was found to have repeatedly lied by the IPCO investigation. He has since resigned from MI5.
Wider errors increase
The IPCO annual report also revealed that errors by MI5 involving agents increased from four in 2017 to 21 in 2025, while errors by MI6 decreased from 10 to three over the same period. The National Crime Agency was criticised for failings in managing a juvenile criminal informant, including failure to notify the commissioner in time and illegally extending authorisation. GCHQ was also flagged for being unable to account for thousands of memory cards, hard drives and other portable media items that may hold sensitive data, an issue Lord Leveson said remained a serious concern.
