The Real Special Relationship: The True Story of How the British and US Secret Services Work Together by Michael Smith

In August 1973 Anglo-American relations were plunged into one of their periodic crises, when the US national security adviser Henry Kissinger lost his temper with the prime minister Edward Heath. The European newlywed Heath, having just secured British membership of the EEC, insisted on consulting his partners about delicate transatlantic issues.

Kissinger, observing that the Brits were “behaving shitty”, said it was time to “shoot one across the bow to them brutally now”. He decreed that the CIA and other intelligence agencies should halt cooperation with their UK counterparts. Bill Bonsall, newly appointed GCHQ director and the last wartime Bletchley Park veteran to hold the post, flew to Washington amid panic in London.