0:00:03 > 0:00:07On this shore just after midnight on 7th December, 1941,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Japanese troops invaded the British colony of Malaya.
0:00:13 > 0:00:15The Pacific War had begun.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Two hours later, Japanese planes, launched from aircraft carriers,
0:00:22 > 0:00:26blew up the American fleet at Pearl Harbour.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28A date which will live in infamy.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Within ten weeks came Japan's crowning victory,
0:00:33 > 0:00:35the fall of Singapore,
0:00:35 > 0:00:37symbol of British power in the east.
0:00:39 > 0:00:42They were blows inflicted by the most devastating
0:00:42 > 0:00:46combination of naval and air power ever seen.
0:00:48 > 0:00:50Disaster had struck Britain and America.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55But behind Japan's conquests lies an extraordinary secret
0:00:55 > 0:00:58that has remained hidden for 70 years.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05It's from Churchill. "I regard the attached as most serious.
0:01:05 > 0:01:06"Here are all these Englishmen,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09"two of them I know personally,
0:01:09 > 0:01:13"collecting information and sending it to the Japanese."
0:01:13 > 0:01:17It may seem incredible but it was the British who gave Japan
0:01:17 > 0:01:19the know-how to take out Pearl Harbour
0:01:19 > 0:01:21and capture Singapore.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24Most shocking of all, for nearly two decades
0:01:24 > 0:01:27the Japanese had infiltrated the very heart
0:01:27 > 0:01:28of the British establishment.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31The duty you owe is to this country,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33not for any other country.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36Through a mole who was a peer of the realm
0:01:36 > 0:01:38known to Churchill himself.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54In 1918, it felt as though the sun would never set
0:01:54 > 0:01:56on the British Empire.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Britain was the dominant power in Asia,
0:02:00 > 0:02:02and victorious after the First World War,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04she didn't just rule the waves,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07but the skies above them.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11That year, she found a revolutionary way
0:02:11 > 0:02:14of harnessing power from air and sea.
0:02:16 > 0:02:19The first aircraft carrier was born...
0:02:19 > 0:02:21HMS Argus.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26These great ships could carry an entire squadron of planes
0:02:26 > 0:02:28thousands of miles over the ocean
0:02:28 > 0:02:31to bring them within range of anywhere on the planet.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35Naval airpower
0:02:35 > 0:02:38already is seen as something with great potential
0:02:38 > 0:02:41and the British are recognised as being ahead.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46One nation had particularly noticed the advantage the carriers
0:02:46 > 0:02:49were giving the British.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Though it's largely forgotten today,
0:02:51 > 0:02:55Japan had been an ally of Britain throughout the First World War.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59It was a bond forged of two island peoples
0:02:59 > 0:03:02who shared a maritime destiny.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10When HMS Argus's sister ship the Eagle was launched in 1918,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13the Japanese approached the Royal Navy
0:03:13 > 0:03:16to inspect its state-of-the-art carrier,
0:03:16 > 0:03:19yet surprisingly, they were rebuffed not once...
0:03:19 > 0:03:21but ten times.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26The Admiralty were very sensitive
0:03:26 > 0:03:29about the technology around naval airpower.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32They understood that this was a war-winning weapon
0:03:32 > 0:03:36and indeed they described this as a deadly technology.
0:03:36 > 0:03:38But the Air Ministry and the Foreign Office
0:03:38 > 0:03:42saw the prospect of lucrative arms contracts with Japan.
0:03:42 > 0:03:45So a compromise was agreed.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50A civilian mission would be allowed to go to Japan
0:03:50 > 0:03:52to help develop aircraft carriers
0:03:52 > 0:03:56and encourage the Japanese to buy British military hardware.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00Many thought that even with the new technology
0:04:00 > 0:04:03Japan could never be a threat.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07There was some now seemingly ridiculous stories
0:04:07 > 0:04:09that the Japanese would never make good pilots
0:04:09 > 0:04:11because they weren't good cavalrymen.
0:04:11 > 0:04:13So you could sell them the aircraft
0:04:13 > 0:04:16and they'd ever actually pose a threat to anyone.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23It was believed the Japanese would want only gentlemen on the mission.
0:04:23 > 0:04:26Whitehall believed they'd found the perfect man to lead it.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31William Forbes-Sempill.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33He was the son of a Scottish peer
0:04:33 > 0:04:36and carried the title Master of Sempill.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43His father has been an aide to George V.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46Sempill himself goes to Eton.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49He's one of the founder members of the Royal Flying Corps.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53He transfers to the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57By 1917, aged 24,
0:04:57 > 0:04:58he's a wing commander
0:04:58 > 0:05:01and probably one of the most experienced British officers
0:05:01 > 0:05:04in terms of naval airpower.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10In 1920, the Sempill Mission left for Japan.
0:05:13 > 0:05:16The Japanese get a hand-picked team of people,
0:05:16 > 0:05:18the best people who developed this technology.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24They're being shown what sort of aircraft they need...
0:05:28 > 0:05:30..what sort of weapons they're being trained in,
0:05:30 > 0:05:33both level-flight bombing and also the use of torpedoes.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37This is a large-scale operation.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42But these planes had limited range.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45To take on an enemy on the other side of the Pacific Ocean,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48the Japanese needed aircraft carriers.
0:05:48 > 0:05:51This was way beyond their know-how.
0:05:54 > 0:05:56The crucial technology is the deck.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59The Japanese won't even attempt to construct the deck on the carrier
0:05:59 > 0:06:01without British assistance.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Work began on the first Japanese carrier,
0:06:05 > 0:06:06the Hosho.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12Within two years, Sempill and his military missionaries
0:06:12 > 0:06:14had given Japan's Naval Air Service
0:06:14 > 0:06:16a potentially worldwide reach.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23Sempill returned home.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26The mission and its base were put under the vice command
0:06:26 > 0:06:28of Yamamoto Isoroku,
0:06:28 > 0:06:33the future mastermind of the attack on America's naval fortress,
0:06:33 > 0:06:35Pearl Harbour.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42The United States viewed Japan's growing naval strength
0:06:42 > 0:06:44in the Pacific with increasing alarm.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49At the Washington Conference of 1922,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53the United States insisted on curbs to new Japanese warship building.
0:06:54 > 0:06:59And crucially, the Anglo-Japanese alliance was terminated.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03The price of the Washington Conference...
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Britain's to abandon her cherished ally.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08Japan is cut adrift.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12What this means is the end really
0:07:12 > 0:07:17of any discussions over naval technology or tactics.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20All of that is going to come to an end.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24This should have meant the severing of close military contact
0:07:24 > 0:07:26between Britain and Japan.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31But for another distinguished British naval flyer,
0:07:31 > 0:07:33it was only the beginning.
0:07:34 > 0:07:40By 1923, the aircraft carrier Hosho was in ocean-going service.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Now the Japanese needed training on how to operate its planes at sea.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48They were in luck.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52Britain's finest carrier pilot came calling.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Frederick Joseph Rutland, the son of a labourer,
0:07:58 > 0:08:01had risen through the ranks to become squadron leader of the Eagle.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08In a statement to British intelligence two decades later,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11Rutland would explain his initial motive.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17I felt that there were not going to be any more wars anyway.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19I therefore decided to leave the service.
0:08:19 > 0:08:22I have a strong instinct of adventure
0:08:22 > 0:08:25and I decided to go to Japan.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Rutland, rather like Sempill, was a pioneering Royal Flying Corps pilot.
0:08:32 > 0:08:34He joins in 1914.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37He's an ace.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40Rutland is famous for having spotted the German fleet
0:08:40 > 0:08:41during the First World War,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44hence his nickname, Rutland of Jutland.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47And indeed, he's given one of the highest awards for this,
0:08:47 > 0:08:49the Albert Medal.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53At first, the Japanese put Rutland to work designing aircraft
0:08:53 > 0:08:55chassis for the Japanese air force.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01In Japan, my cover was the Mitsubishi company
0:09:01 > 0:09:05in whose Tokyo building I had an office.
0:09:05 > 0:09:09The Mitsubishi company was in fact the Japanese government.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Mitsubishi would later manufacture the Zero Fighter,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18a plane that would cost the lives of thousands of Allied servicemen.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Rutland's paymasters then revealed
0:09:22 > 0:09:25they had a much more important job for him.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29They would increase his salary if he agreed to show their pilots
0:09:29 > 0:09:32how to fly off and onto the decks of carriers.
0:09:33 > 0:09:35They were so pleased with the results,
0:09:35 > 0:09:39they gave him a year's leave on full pay.
0:09:40 > 0:09:45The Sempill Mission and the information provided by Rutland,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49certainly in the early to mid-1920s,
0:09:49 > 0:09:51that is the foundation for the establishment
0:09:51 > 0:09:53of the Japanese air arm.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58During their respective periods in Japan, Rutland and Sempill
0:09:58 > 0:10:02had formed a bond with their hosts they did not want to break.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10Sempill, and indeed Rutland, develop an affinity with the Japanese.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13Sempill's been in Japan for a long time.
0:10:13 > 0:10:14He's made those personal connections.
0:10:14 > 0:10:16It's not just friendship,
0:10:16 > 0:10:20he's part of a revolutionary element almost within the Royal Navy.
0:10:20 > 0:10:24He's part of this elite of air-power enthusiasts
0:10:24 > 0:10:27and he's found kindred spirits.
0:10:28 > 0:10:32Back in Britain, Sempill was carving out a new career,
0:10:32 > 0:10:36but it was a role closely regulated by the Official Secrets Act.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41His job seems to be going round advising governments
0:10:41 > 0:10:44on arms sales, particularly of aircraft.
0:10:44 > 0:10:48He should be very careful with any contacts he has.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53If he's involved in discussions about technology transfer...
0:10:54 > 0:10:57then he really ought to be letting the Government know.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08But here at the National Archives in London,
0:11:08 > 0:11:11recently declassified documents reveal that instead
0:11:11 > 0:11:14Sempill was embarking on a far more dangerous path.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23What we've got here is an MI5 report
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and what's fascinating is it shows
0:11:26 > 0:11:31the really forensic detail which MI5 was collecting on Sempill.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39MI5's suspicions were first aroused in early 1923.
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Several small incidents have recently shown that the Japanese
0:11:49 > 0:11:52may be adopting other-than-orthodox methods for finding information
0:11:52 > 0:11:54about the Royal Air Force.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58Notably, your recent report that Colonel Sempill's servant
0:11:58 > 0:12:00is a Japanese Naval Rating.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09MI5 began an investigation of Sempill.
0:12:09 > 0:12:13It turned out he wasn't just socialising with the Japanese,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15he was in regular contact of a very different nature
0:12:15 > 0:12:20with Japan's naval attache in London, Captain Toyoda.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Toyoda's not just a naval attache.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27He's not just attending cocktail parties.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31MI5 have evidence that he's also conducting his own espionage.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33This is a trained intelligence officer,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35not just a routine naval attache.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46In February 1924, MI5 intercepted a letter from Sempill to Toyoda
0:12:46 > 0:12:48which instantly raised the alarm.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54You will remember I wrote to you on 7th January regarding large bombs.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57The MI5 case officer noted...
0:12:57 > 0:13:01Letter was enclosed in a double envelope,
0:13:01 > 0:13:04the inner marked strictly confidential.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07Air ministry were of the opinion that the matter referred
0:13:07 > 0:13:09to a very confidential matter
0:13:09 > 0:13:12re. new construction of bombs for the RAF.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15This is about naval air power.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18This is about destroying capital ships.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21The Japanese are struggling to see how you can take out
0:13:21 > 0:13:26major battleships with the relatively light aircraft of the 1920s.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30It's this kind of forensic detail
0:13:30 > 0:13:34that really persuades MI5 to take the next stage
0:13:34 > 0:13:38which is to start to monitor Sempill's phone.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43Phone-tapping was a new
0:13:43 > 0:13:45and revolutionary surveillance in the 1920s.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49It was also not sanctioned lightly.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55The evidence that Sempill was trading Britain's secrets
0:13:55 > 0:13:58to Japan began to mount.
0:13:58 > 0:14:0313th May, 1924. Letter from Toyoda to Sempill
0:14:03 > 0:14:06thanking him for the enclosed drawings
0:14:06 > 0:14:08and detailed specifications...
0:14:08 > 0:14:12..the perusal of which has afforded me great interest.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17I am forwarding these papers to Japan for my home authority...
0:14:17 > 0:14:20Sempill told Toyoda...
0:14:20 > 0:14:22It would be useless for you to attempt to obtain
0:14:22 > 0:14:25such information officially.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30Sempill was passing on a whole range of secret information.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32Enquiries showed that experiments with regard to
0:14:32 > 0:14:35sound detectors for anti-aircraft work...
0:14:35 > 0:14:37Toyoda write to Sempill saying he would be grateful
0:14:37 > 0:14:39for any new information regarding parachutes,
0:14:39 > 0:14:42the new Handley-Page and other machines.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52In July 1924, Toyoda was invited to the British Fleet Review,
0:14:52 > 0:14:54a public event.
0:14:54 > 0:14:58Sempill used this opportunity to introduce his Japanese friends
0:14:58 > 0:15:02to top British carrier designer, Sir Tennyson d'Eyncourt.
0:15:05 > 0:15:07He wrote to Toyoda...
0:15:07 > 0:15:1027th July, 1924.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13I hope you have had a good look at the carriers.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17D'Eyncourt will, with careful handling, produce much valuable data.
0:15:19 > 0:15:22D'Eyncourt was warned off by the authorities.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Sempill then tried to procure another key figure for the Japanese,
0:15:27 > 0:15:30Air Vice Marshal Sir Charles Vyvyan.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35My dear commander, in my humble opinion,
0:15:35 > 0:15:39the advice and active co-operation of such a man would be invaluable.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41It is vital that this matter be kept quiet,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45as should any word get out, it will cause trouble.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50What Sempill is doing here is he's talent-spotting for Toyoda.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54And of course, he's always anxious to keep this secret.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00MI5 was appalled by Sempill's behaviour.
0:16:00 > 0:16:0230th October, 1924.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Sempill's conduct in inciting Toyoda to endeavour to secure
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Air Vice Marshal Vyvyan's services and to keep it dark
0:16:09 > 0:16:11shows that he is quite unscrupulous
0:16:11 > 0:16:13as regards what confidential British Air Force information
0:16:13 > 0:16:16he passes on to the Japanese.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21MI5 was unequivocal about Sempill's conduct.
0:16:21 > 0:16:24He presented himself as a man only helping British companies
0:16:24 > 0:16:26sell abroad.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Is Sempill a spy?
0:16:33 > 0:16:36I'm not entirely sure.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38Erm... I think...
0:16:38 > 0:16:42he's interested in trying to portray himself
0:16:42 > 0:16:47as a very useful conduit to naval technology.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49I'm happier with the expression
0:16:49 > 0:16:52he's pushing the envelope as far as it goes.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55It's not illegal to talk to a foreign power
0:16:55 > 0:16:59about military matters and military technology
0:16:59 > 0:17:02if that information is a matter of open source.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06But if it's information that's on the secret list,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09yes, it's illegal. You're breaking the Official Secrets Act.
0:17:10 > 0:17:16In July 1924, MI5 obtained evidence which they believe showed
0:17:16 > 0:17:21that Sempill had clearly crossed the line into illegality.
0:17:21 > 0:17:24Sempill had written to Toyoda with key technical details
0:17:24 > 0:17:27about Britain's latest aero engine.
0:17:28 > 0:17:30My dear commander,
0:17:30 > 0:17:33it appears that the Jaguar IV has passed all the practical tests
0:17:33 > 0:17:36imposed by landing on and flying off.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40A feature of supreme importance that it exhibits
0:17:40 > 0:17:44is the phenomenal slow-running, 100 to 150 rpm.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47And he's talking about the Jaguar IV engine
0:17:47 > 0:17:50which is one of the latest aero engines.
0:17:50 > 0:17:51It's on the secret list.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56If the information contained in this letter is in any way correct,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59it would appear that Sempill has committed a serious infringement
0:17:59 > 0:18:01of the Official Secrets Act.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05MI5 believed it now had overwhelming evidence
0:18:05 > 0:18:08that Sempill was spying for the Japanese.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Yet nothing was done about it.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15MI5 don't want to give away sources and methods.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18They're also, in the 1920s, reading telegrams
0:18:18 > 0:18:22which are being passed by cipher from the Japanese embassy back to Tokyo.
0:18:22 > 0:18:26And above all, this is the work of the antecedents of Bletchley Park.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28They do not want to give that away.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32That is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the British state.
0:18:32 > 0:18:34So all this is potentially in jeopardy
0:18:34 > 0:18:37if you bring a case against Sempill.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Despite the secrecy of MI5's operation,
0:18:41 > 0:18:43one letter to Toyoda shows that Sempill
0:18:43 > 0:18:47may have realised he was under suspicion.
0:18:53 > 0:18:5510th December, 1924.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00My dear commander, I meant to tell you today,
0:19:00 > 0:19:04please be very careful how you use any information you get
0:19:04 > 0:19:07and don't couple the name of any individual with it.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10I will tell you more when we meet again
0:19:10 > 0:19:13but I know just exactly how the wind blows
0:19:13 > 0:19:15and the need for being super cautious.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19In late October 1925,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Sempill travelled to Brough in Yorkshire
0:19:21 > 0:19:25to visit the Blackburn Aircraft Factory.
0:19:25 > 0:19:28This trip would later be of great significance.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33His ostensible reason was to see a single-engine plane,
0:19:33 > 0:19:38but his real motive was to spy on a new state-of-the-art flying boat,
0:19:38 > 0:19:39the Iris,
0:19:39 > 0:19:44Blackburn was building exclusively and secretly for the Air Ministry.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46MI5 noted...
0:19:46 > 0:19:4930th October, 1925.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Following on Sempill's visit to Brough,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54the Blackburn Aeroplane Company forwarded to Sempill a letter
0:19:54 > 0:19:57containing a detailed account of the performance of fleet aircraft
0:19:57 > 0:20:00including the secret flying boat, the Iris,
0:20:00 > 0:20:03in practically the same form as that requested by Toyoda.
0:20:05 > 0:20:076th January, 1926.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10It is quite clear that not only is Sempill furnishing the Japanese
0:20:10 > 0:20:12with aviation intelligence...
0:20:12 > 0:20:15..but that he is being paid for doing so.
0:20:15 > 0:20:19So this is the smoking gun provided by British code-breakers.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25Essentially, this document is saying that Sempill is not just
0:20:25 > 0:20:29providing information to friends but he's being paid for the gathering
0:20:29 > 0:20:31of what they call aviation intelligence.
0:20:31 > 0:20:33So it's paid espionage.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Then in early 1926,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41the authorities were finally given the chance to challenge Sempill
0:20:41 > 0:20:43without giving MI5's game away.
0:20:47 > 0:20:50He was negotiating with the Greek government
0:20:50 > 0:20:54to organise and train its Naval Air Service.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58But the Greek naval attache in London reported to his government
0:20:58 > 0:21:02a chilling warning about Sempill he'd received from the Air Ministry.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06They do not think he is a proper man,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08as what he would sell to us,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10he may sell to any other state.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14And I was told by the Air Ministry that he's in financial difficulties.
0:21:17 > 0:21:20Sempill heard about the warning.
0:21:20 > 0:21:24On 26th April, he wrote to the head of the Air Ministry
0:21:24 > 0:21:27demanding a meeting about the cloud of suspicion which he claimed
0:21:27 > 0:21:31hung over him and was damaging his business prospects.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34MI5 now at last saw a way of confronting Sempill
0:21:34 > 0:21:37without admitting they'd been intercepting his letters
0:21:37 > 0:21:39and tapping his phone.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50At 12 noon on 4th May, 1926,
0:21:50 > 0:21:53in the office of the Deputy Chief of Air Staff,
0:21:53 > 0:21:55Sempill's interrogation began.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00Also present were Major Ball of Air Intelligence Security MI5
0:22:00 > 0:22:03and the Director of Public Prosecutions himself,
0:22:03 > 0:22:05Sir Archibald Bodkin.
0:22:07 > 0:22:12The verbatim transcript was locked away for more than eight decades.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16From the intercepts, the interrogators already knew
0:22:16 > 0:22:19what Sempill had done.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22The only question was, would he come clean?
0:22:22 > 0:22:25In order that we may clear up this matter,
0:22:25 > 0:22:27you will tell us what foreign governments
0:22:27 > 0:22:29you've had activities with.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32I've had connections of kind with most foreign governments.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36As you know, I went out to take charge of the Japanese air service.
0:22:36 > 0:22:38And since my return, I've had connections with the Chileans,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41Greeks, Brazilians et cetera.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44However, the connections I have had are really very small.
0:22:44 > 0:22:47These connections do not amount to much.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Just a letter or two and perhaps a conversation here or there.
0:22:54 > 0:22:56Sempill was instantly on dangerous ground.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59His interrogators knew from the surveillance
0:22:59 > 0:23:01that his dealings with the Japanese
0:23:01 > 0:23:04had been anything but "really very small".
0:23:05 > 0:23:09The transcript records how they began to probe that connection.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14What is the nature of your relations with them?
0:23:14 > 0:23:15Only on a friendly basis.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17- Do they write?- Yes.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19Do you reserve a salary?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21No.
0:23:21 > 0:23:22Who is the naval attache?
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Captain Toyoda is the Japanese naval attache.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30Do you receive applications from the Japanese or from any other power
0:23:30 > 0:23:34which might be of a secret character?
0:23:35 > 0:23:38If I ever have received any applications for information
0:23:38 > 0:23:41and they're doubtful as to the secrecy or otherwise,
0:23:41 > 0:23:42they mention it.
0:23:43 > 0:23:46Is it left to them to say if it is secret?
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I expect if I had all the correspondence
0:23:49 > 0:23:51I could produce letters from the Japanese attache
0:23:51 > 0:23:53asking for information,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56saying that it may be something of the nature of secret.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00If he wants a parachute or bombs or anything,
0:24:00 > 0:24:04he represents the matter to his chief and the chief takes the action.
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Sometimes Captain Toyoda refers to me.
0:24:08 > 0:24:11You mentioned that you might receive a request about parachutes or bombs.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13Did they ask you about parachutes or bombs?
0:24:14 > 0:24:16This is not in my line.
0:24:18 > 0:24:23The real truth was that the very first MI5 intercept had shown
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Sempill giving away secret information about bombs.
0:24:28 > 0:24:29You will remember I wrote to you
0:24:29 > 0:24:32on the 7th January regarding large bombs.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40MI5 had also obtained evidence that Sempill was being paid regularly
0:24:40 > 0:24:41by the Japanese.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Sempill's initial claim had been he had only helped them
0:24:45 > 0:24:47out of good will.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51So they expect you to do this as an act of friendship?
0:24:51 > 0:24:54I told them when I left Japan that I would.
0:24:54 > 0:24:57And they're casting a good deal of work on you.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00Yes. They do bother me to a certain extent.
0:25:00 > 0:25:01I have helped
0:25:01 > 0:25:04but simply because I believe it for the best to help.
0:25:04 > 0:25:06I should be considerably out-of-pocket.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08The money I have received from the Japanese
0:25:08 > 0:25:10would not carry one very far.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Have you had any remuneration from the Japanese?
0:25:13 > 0:25:16Yes, small presents.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19They write to thank me for the great help I've given them,
0:25:19 > 0:25:21said they did not know what to do about it.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24They gave me £100 last Christmas time.
0:25:24 > 0:25:27Is that the only occasion they've been so generous?
0:25:27 > 0:25:29Every Christmas, I receive their thanks.
0:25:29 > 0:25:35If I weighed up all I have done, it would be worth more than £100.
0:25:36 > 0:25:40The interrogators now moved to the heart of the matter...
0:25:40 > 0:25:43The Japanese attache's motive for dealing with Sempill
0:25:43 > 0:25:46rather than directly with the Air Ministry.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51What is the object of the Japanese asking for information
0:25:51 > 0:25:53which they could have got for nothing
0:25:53 > 0:25:55on application to the Air Ministry?
0:25:55 > 0:25:57They could come here and ask any question they like.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59I can't say exactly as to the motives
0:25:59 > 0:26:02as to whether they go to the Air Ministry or not.
0:26:02 > 0:26:04But they know that I know their situation.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08They have faith in my knowledge and experience and recommendations
0:26:08 > 0:26:09and rely on me.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12You did not think that they'd come here first
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and find that they cannot get information
0:26:14 > 0:26:18- and then write to Colonel Sempill about it?- I cannot say.
0:26:18 > 0:26:22This is the danger of such an arrangement. Of course,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25with all of your knowledge and experience in general,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28you would know the answer to many questions they might not
0:26:28 > 0:26:30be able to get from here.
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Yes, no doubt.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35You see the danger of such an arrangement?
0:26:35 > 0:26:36Yes.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40The obvious danger is that if there is an anybody who knows such things
0:26:40 > 0:26:44which are kept secret, they may let the cat out of the bag.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47You are your own judge on these matters.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Have you ever referred any question to the Air Ministry as to whether
0:26:50 > 0:26:52you should answer this question
0:26:52 > 0:26:55or that question by another foreign power?
0:26:55 > 0:26:59No. I don't think there's any case of that kind.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04Because the detailed evidence of Sempill's dealings
0:27:04 > 0:27:07with the Japanese had been established by covert methods,
0:27:07 > 0:27:09it could not be used against him.
0:27:11 > 0:27:15But the interrogators had an ace up their sleeves.
0:27:17 > 0:27:20While on the train to visit the Blackburn factory in Brough
0:27:20 > 0:27:22the previous November,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24Sempill had made a foolish mistake.
0:27:26 > 0:27:31He'd talked openly to foreign air attaches, one of them from Chile,
0:27:31 > 0:27:34about the secret aircraft the British were developing.
0:27:34 > 0:27:40A witness to this conversation reported it to MI5.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45He heard the Master of Sempill discussing in the presence
0:27:45 > 0:27:47of two attaches of foreign powers,
0:27:47 > 0:27:49the futility of the Air Ministry's policy of secrecy
0:27:49 > 0:27:51regarding certain aircraft.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Incidentally, he referred to the Iris as one of the aircraft
0:27:55 > 0:27:57on the secret list in question.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02Sempill's loose talk provided the one piece of damning evidence
0:28:02 > 0:28:04obtained openly that could be used against him.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07You might take it from me that it is perfectly plain
0:28:07 > 0:28:08that on your way up to Brough,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11the Iris was mentioned to the Chilean representative.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13As far as I can recollect,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16I said that a large flying boat was being constructed by Blackburn.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20- And that was the sort of show day to see a single-engine seaplane?- Yes.
0:28:23 > 0:28:24Why did you want to see the Iris?
0:28:24 > 0:28:28You'd previously acknowledged it was on the secret list.
0:28:28 > 0:28:30Naturally, being interested particularly
0:28:30 > 0:28:32in the marine side of aviation
0:28:32 > 0:28:35and knowing the officer extremely well who was designing this machine,
0:28:35 > 0:28:38who was at one time under me, I was anxious to see it.
0:28:38 > 0:28:39Well, why not ask the Air Ministry
0:28:39 > 0:28:42if they had any objection to you getting these particulars?
0:28:42 > 0:28:47It would have been the wisest and most patriotic thing to do.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52I admit in that case it would have been the thing to have done.
0:28:53 > 0:28:54With this admission,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57Sempill had effectively confessed
0:28:57 > 0:28:59to a breach of the Official Secrets Act.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05Do I understand that neither the Japanese nor any other power
0:29:05 > 0:29:08ever asked for you other than general questions?
0:29:08 > 0:29:10Did they ask about the Iris?
0:29:10 > 0:29:11No.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16But of the Japanese had requested information about the Iris.
0:29:16 > 0:29:17He was lying.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22There is such a thing as a law in this country.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26- Have you read the Act of 1920?- No.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31You should take my advice and see a solicitor,
0:29:31 > 0:29:33acquaint yourself with the spirit of the Act.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37You're a sort of law unto yourself.
0:29:37 > 0:29:40The public law of the country is entirely disregarded.
0:29:42 > 0:29:44The fault was, in a sense, double.
0:29:46 > 0:29:51Firstly, you had no right to obtain that information.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54And secondly, you induced somebody at those works
0:29:54 > 0:29:58- to give you that information. - I do not dispute that.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02The duty you owe is to this country,
0:30:02 > 0:30:04not for any other country.
0:30:06 > 0:30:12The Director of Public Prosecutions concluded with a prophetic warning.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14We have got, I believe,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18a paramount position in regards to air matters.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22If information we have found in details
0:30:22 > 0:30:25are in any way communicated to a foreign power,
0:30:25 > 0:30:28we, in effect, are providing the material
0:30:28 > 0:30:32by which that foreign power can become a more effective enemy.
0:30:36 > 0:30:42Despite this, at a high-powered meeting in Whitehall on 13 May 1926,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46chaired by the Foreign Secretary himself, Sir Austen Chamberlain,
0:30:46 > 0:30:50it was decided not to prosecute Semple.
0:30:50 > 0:30:52He'd been let off the hook,
0:30:52 > 0:30:55though the Director of Public Prosecutions wrote
0:30:55 > 0:30:57that he could not free his mind
0:30:57 > 0:31:00of the uneasiness he felt about the case.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03He's a member of the aristocracy,
0:31:03 > 0:31:07you wouldn't want to necessarily see this come to trial.
0:31:07 > 0:31:11If he carries on, well, that might be a different matter.
0:31:11 > 0:31:15MI5 know that even if they hold this trial in camera,
0:31:15 > 0:31:16Semple will know what's going on
0:31:16 > 0:31:20and he will blow the whistle on MI5 sources
0:31:20 > 0:31:22and they can't afford to do that.
0:31:27 > 0:31:32Re-examination of the files has uncovered another worrying dimension to Semple's activities
0:31:32 > 0:31:37which went far beyond the shores of Great Britain.
0:31:41 > 0:31:45This is a letter from Semple to Commander Toyoda.
0:31:45 > 0:31:46He says, My dear Commander,
0:31:46 > 0:31:52I hear that one Hunter who was with me in Japan as a WO2,
0:31:52 > 0:31:53that's a Warrant Officer 2,
0:31:53 > 0:31:57is now in the American Air Service at Honolulu.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00He does not know much and is a rather weak character
0:32:00 > 0:32:03but they may try and use him.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06Do what you like, but I suggest you keep an eye on him.
0:32:06 > 0:32:09Yours sincerely, WS Semple.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13This is extraordinary because this is essentially
0:32:13 > 0:32:16Semple assisting the Japanese with counter-espionage
0:32:16 > 0:32:20and they're telling the Japanese that their people in Honolulu
0:32:20 > 0:32:21need to keep an eye on him.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Honolulu is of course Hawaii, it's Pearl Harbour,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28so we can see where all this is pointing.
0:32:31 > 0:32:34By 1930, the help of men like Semple and Rutland
0:32:34 > 0:32:38meant that Pearl Harbour was now a viable Japanese target.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46They had achieved astonishing advances.
0:32:46 > 0:32:49In just seven years, Japan had developed a carrier fleet
0:32:49 > 0:32:54equal in size and strength to the Royal Navy.
0:32:54 > 0:32:59Japan now have the means to realise her imperial ambitions.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03She set her sights on Southeast Asia.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09The ultimate prize was Singapore.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14It lay at the foot of the British colony of Malaya
0:33:14 > 0:33:17and was her strategic linchpin for the whole region.
0:33:28 > 0:33:32Back in 1920, under the Anglo-Japanese alliance,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35a grateful Britain had granted Japan naval concessions
0:33:35 > 0:33:39in Penang at the northern end of the peninsula.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Japanese warships could dock at the port
0:33:43 > 0:33:47and easily observe British defences.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52Japanese businessmen began buying up prime sites
0:33:52 > 0:33:56from Penang all the way to Singapore.
0:33:56 > 0:34:00They overlooked the area where the British ships would be grouping,
0:34:00 > 0:34:03where there might be a future development of the harbour.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06There was almost a pattern of purchase going on.
0:34:09 > 0:34:13Japan's interest was not just commercial.
0:34:16 > 0:34:19She needed people on the ground
0:34:19 > 0:34:23to gather intelligence for a future invasion.
0:34:28 > 0:34:32What you're seeing in the 1930s, to some extent,
0:34:32 > 0:34:37is a Japanese diaspora across Southeast Asia.
0:34:37 > 0:34:44The Japanese are providing a lot of, if you like, new services.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48Photographers, engineers, a whole set of traditional services.
0:34:53 > 0:34:56Under the front of these businesses,
0:34:56 > 0:34:59Japanese intelligence began inserting sleeper agents
0:34:59 > 0:35:03from Penang to Singapore.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05The identity of one would be revealed
0:35:05 > 0:35:10after Japan's victories 10 years later.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14He was identified as the barber in Singapore
0:35:14 > 0:35:18cutting the British and Australian hair.
0:35:18 > 0:35:22What happened? He turned out he was a colonel in the Japanese army.
0:35:22 > 0:35:25You know, when you go into a barber's
0:35:25 > 0:35:29they start talking and that, they get all sorts of information.
0:35:34 > 0:35:36The sheer number of Japanese citizens,
0:35:36 > 0:35:41which was in thousands, made blanket surveillance practically impossible.
0:35:41 > 0:35:44To make matters even worse, the British found it difficult
0:35:44 > 0:35:49to distinguish between Chinese and Japanese residents.
0:35:49 > 0:35:54Singapore's melting pot was the perfect hiding place for spies.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59They're acquiring the workaday, routine intelligence
0:35:59 > 0:36:03that you would require to invade Southeast Asia -
0:36:03 > 0:36:07The width of bridges, numbers of troops,
0:36:07 > 0:36:12weaknesses of air defences, locations of logistical stores and arms dumps.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18Like MI5 in London, British intelligence in the Far East
0:36:18 > 0:36:20was expert in the use of intercepts.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27Early on, FESS - or the Far Eastern Security Service -
0:36:27 > 0:36:32broke Japanese codes, but the code-breakers were swamped.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38They had only seven people monitoring Japanese traffic
0:36:38 > 0:36:41for the whole of Asia, the Americas and the Pacific.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46And there was no appetite in Whitehall
0:36:46 > 0:36:49for taking a hard line against Japan.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51They want to turn a blind eye.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54They're worried about the consequences
0:36:54 > 0:36:56for diplomatic relations with Japan.
0:36:56 > 0:37:02And at this critical moment of British weakness, Japan struck.
0:37:04 > 0:37:10In 1931, Japanese troops invaded Chinese Manchuria -
0:37:10 > 0:37:13Japan's march to war had begun.
0:37:15 > 0:37:18In response, the British began construction works here
0:37:18 > 0:37:23to turn Singapore into the biggest and most fortified naval base in the world.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30The cost was then an astonishing £50 million -
0:37:30 > 0:37:33£2.5 billion today.
0:37:33 > 0:37:37The dry dock alone was 28 miles square.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40Enormous 15 and 16-inch guns
0:37:40 > 0:37:42were built to repel any attack from the sea.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46Just a year later, it was discovered that the Japanese
0:37:46 > 0:37:48had secretly bought plans of the base
0:37:48 > 0:37:52from a British serviceman called Roberts.
0:37:57 > 0:38:02In 1936, MI5 stepped up their game in the East
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and sent out a new station officer to Singapore.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08He worked closely with Army intelligence on the ground.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15British strategists assumed that any attack on Singapore
0:38:15 > 0:38:17could come only from the sea.
0:38:22 > 0:38:27But Army intelligence officer Joe Vinden had doubts.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31He investigated the possibility of an attack by land
0:38:31 > 0:38:33after an invasion of Malaya.
0:38:34 > 0:38:39In the winter of 1937, Vinden sailed up the east coast.
0:38:49 > 0:38:52'We landed on several beaches from a dinghy,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55'and came close in shore all along the coast.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59'The beaches presented no difficulty to any landing party.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04'The defence scheme as laid down considered that any attack
0:39:04 > 0:39:07'during the period of the Northeast monsoon
0:39:07 > 0:39:10'from November to February was impossible due to rough seas.'
0:39:12 > 0:39:15What Vinden saw convinced him
0:39:15 > 0:39:18that an attack would come by land via Malaya.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22'I learnt that during this period,
0:39:22 > 0:39:26'several thousand Chinese landed on the east coast every year.'
0:39:27 > 0:39:31Vinden even predicted the place the Japanese would come ashore-
0:39:31 > 0:39:33Kota Bharu.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37This would render Singapore's new fortifications redundant.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40Vinden recommended the cancellation of additional guns
0:39:40 > 0:39:46priced then at £15 million - that's £747 million today -
0:39:46 > 0:39:50and that the money should be spent on new planes instead.
0:39:50 > 0:39:56His advice was ignored and the new MI5 station officer retired.
0:39:59 > 0:40:04Japanese spies were now everywhere, and not just Malaya.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08Their tentacles stretched across the Pacific to the United States.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13They even had agents in Pearl Harbour.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18The base wasn't just crucial to the United States -
0:40:18 > 0:40:20Churchill believed the American fleet
0:40:20 > 0:40:23would deter any attack on Britain's colony of Singapore.
0:40:26 > 0:40:32Yet incredibly, one of Japan's key agents at Pearl was now British.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35He was the man who, back in the 1920s,
0:40:35 > 0:40:38had taught Japan's pilots to fly from aircraft carriers
0:40:38 > 0:40:41- Frederick Joseph Rutland.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48Rutland had turned his technical expertise to espionage.
0:40:51 > 0:40:55This is a fascinating document. MI5 are saying here,
0:40:55 > 0:40:59"He used sea-going craft to investigate the harbour" -
0:40:59 > 0:41:01this is in the United States -
0:41:01 > 0:41:04"Taking moving pictures of any warships there.
0:41:04 > 0:41:08"He is an expert 16mm movie cameraman."
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Later, in a confession to intelligence officers,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Rutland would state...
0:41:16 > 0:41:18'As to my duties, I was to report in peace time
0:41:18 > 0:41:20'whether people were in favour of war,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23'when war appeared to be imminent,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26'whether the Americans were really going to war,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28'the dispositions of the fleet.
0:41:28 > 0:41:30'I fixed up a letter code -
0:41:30 > 0:41:33'A was for aircraft, B was for battleships,
0:41:33 > 0:41:36'C was for carriers, D for destroyers.'
0:41:38 > 0:41:41Rutland's activities aroused suspicion
0:41:41 > 0:41:44and the FBI were soon on his case. His every move was being followed
0:41:44 > 0:41:47as they waited for the right moment to pounce.
0:41:51 > 0:41:56In Britain, the naval pilot who'd already come close to prosecution
0:41:56 > 0:42:00as a Japanese spy was now a distinguished public figure.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05Sempill had commanded the highest pillar
0:42:05 > 0:42:07in Britain's flying establishment -
0:42:07 > 0:42:11president of the Royal Aeronautical Society.
0:42:11 > 0:42:17In 1934, he inherited the family title as the 19th Lord Sempill
0:42:17 > 0:42:21and took his seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative peer.
0:42:24 > 0:42:28Society would regard him as someone with real integrity.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31But Sempill has an ideological affinity
0:42:31 > 0:42:34with militarist right-wing regimes.
0:42:38 > 0:42:39In 1937,
0:42:39 > 0:42:44Japan, now an ally of Nazi Germany, invaded China.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49That year, Sempill welcomed a Japanese delegation
0:42:49 > 0:42:51to Croydon airport.
0:42:51 > 0:42:54Their aeroplane's name - Kamikaze -
0:42:54 > 0:42:58was a chilling premonition of the shape of things to come.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02'The airmen are officially welcomed by the Master of Sempill.'
0:43:02 > 0:43:05British aviation is very proud indeed
0:43:05 > 0:43:09of the splendid flight that has just been accomplished
0:43:09 > 0:43:11by our two Japanese friends.
0:43:11 > 0:43:12APPLAUSE
0:43:12 > 0:43:15But there's evidence that Sempill also maintained
0:43:15 > 0:43:18his secret links with the Japanese.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23The records on Sempill from the 1930s
0:43:23 > 0:43:26seem mysteriously to have disappeared.
0:43:28 > 0:43:34But one surviving MI5 document from 1940 mentions that from 1931,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38he was a paid consultant for Mitsubishi, which he knew
0:43:38 > 0:43:43built aircraft for Japan's rapidly-expanding carrier force.
0:43:43 > 0:43:46By then, she already had 130 planes
0:43:46 > 0:43:48and three carriers.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52The Japanese use a number of commercial fronts for espionage
0:43:52 > 0:43:57so some of these major military industrial combines like Mitsubishi
0:43:57 > 0:44:01are effectively conducting espionage for the Japanese government.
0:44:01 > 0:44:04The same report also suggests
0:44:04 > 0:44:07in addition to his Japanese sympathies,
0:44:07 > 0:44:10another motivation for Sempill's actions.
0:44:11 > 0:44:15He's somebody who seems to live beyond his means.
0:44:15 > 0:44:18As far as we know from MI5 material,
0:44:18 > 0:44:20he's running a hefty overdraft
0:44:20 > 0:44:24and clearly, if the Japanese are willing to pay
0:44:24 > 0:44:26substantial sums of money for access
0:44:26 > 0:44:30and other governments are as well, it would be very tempting.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34He was running a £13,000 overdraft.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38That's nearly £750,000 by today's money.
0:44:40 > 0:44:42Sempill wasn't just pro-Japanese.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44Another line in the same report
0:44:44 > 0:44:48mentions his membership of pro-Nazi organisation The Link.
0:44:48 > 0:44:52He was also on the council of The Right Club,
0:44:52 > 0:44:55whose objective was "to expose organised Jewry
0:44:55 > 0:44:59"and clear the Conservative party of Jewish influence."
0:45:07 > 0:45:11In September 1939, war in Europe broke out.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14Winston Churchill returned to government
0:45:14 > 0:45:17as First Lord of the Admiralty.
0:45:17 > 0:45:22Astonishingly, Lord Sempill also joined the Admiralty.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24Sempill gave a specific assurance
0:45:24 > 0:45:27he would have no further discussions with his Japanese friends
0:45:27 > 0:45:29on service matters.
0:45:32 > 0:45:35Despite that, when the manager of Mitsubishi in London
0:45:35 > 0:45:38was arrested for spying in August 1941,
0:45:38 > 0:45:42at a time when relations with Japan were rapidly deteriorating,
0:45:42 > 0:45:45Sempill intervened to secure his release.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50MI5 noted...
0:45:50 > 0:45:53Makehara was released after two days
0:45:53 > 0:45:57and Sempill telegraphed, "Delighted results,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00"proud to help, working hard cause."
0:46:03 > 0:46:07The British government doesn't detain foreign nationals lightly
0:46:07 > 0:46:09so these people are under suspicion of espionage
0:46:09 > 0:46:12and Sempill is working to get them off.
0:46:13 > 0:46:17At this precise moment, the two great leaders of the Western powers,
0:46:17 > 0:46:19the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill,
0:46:19 > 0:46:22and American President Roosevelt,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25were meeting face to face for the first time.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29Churchill was desperate to get Roosevelt
0:46:29 > 0:46:31to join the war against Hitler.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34Their discussions were held in total secrecy.
0:46:36 > 0:46:40On board the Prince of Wales, with the Royal Marine Guard of Honour,
0:46:40 > 0:46:42was Peter Dunstan.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46All we knew, that there was a conference
0:46:46 > 0:46:49between Churchill and Roosevelt
0:46:49 > 0:46:54and that was in the officers' quarters in the rear of the ship
0:46:54 > 0:46:57which was taboo to anybody
0:46:57 > 0:46:59and so we didn't know what was going on.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03All we knew, it was a conference between the two great men.
0:47:05 > 0:47:06Later that month,
0:47:06 > 0:47:09Churchill received news from British intelligence about the meeting
0:47:09 > 0:47:12which filled him with horror.
0:47:13 > 0:47:17This document is so sensitive,
0:47:17 > 0:47:20it was classified for 60 years.
0:47:22 > 0:47:26This is a detailed account of that meeting
0:47:26 > 0:47:30sent from the Japanese Embassy in London
0:47:30 > 0:47:31back to Tokyo.
0:47:31 > 0:47:33We have this document
0:47:33 > 0:47:36because the British codebreakers at Bletchley Park
0:47:36 > 0:47:39intercepted and decoded this document
0:47:39 > 0:47:43and shortly after the Japanese send this detailed account back to Tokyo,
0:47:43 > 0:47:46it's on Churchill's desk.
0:47:46 > 0:47:49This is not the sort of account that you could put together
0:47:49 > 0:47:52through reading the coverage in the newspapers.
0:47:52 > 0:47:57This is the inside story of the Placentia Bay meeting.
0:47:57 > 0:47:59So essentially, what this points to
0:47:59 > 0:48:03is that the Japanese have excellent sources in and around Churchill
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and they have the inside track on that meeting with Roosevelt -
0:48:07 > 0:48:09all the details about, for example,
0:48:09 > 0:48:12the war against the Germans in the Atlantic.
0:48:12 > 0:48:17And you can see Churchill's handwritten minute on this document,
0:48:17 > 0:48:19"Pretty accurate stuff."
0:48:21 > 0:48:24The fact that the Japanese knew all this about that meeting
0:48:24 > 0:48:29means someone British was feeding them with the information.
0:48:29 > 0:48:31How does that make you feel?
0:48:31 > 0:48:34I'm absolutely shocked
0:48:34 > 0:48:35to know that that...
0:48:37 > 0:48:42Just, just cannot comprehend that that should have happened.
0:48:44 > 0:48:47And how it happened or where it happened,
0:48:47 > 0:48:49I just can't...
0:48:49 > 0:48:52can't answer that question.
0:48:54 > 0:48:59To this day, no-one knows who passed these secrets on
0:48:59 > 0:49:04but the pool of candidates is very small.
0:49:04 > 0:49:07We know who the Japanese informants are around this time
0:49:07 > 0:49:10and perhaps the most important one,
0:49:10 > 0:49:13certainly the most important one with access to Churchill,
0:49:13 > 0:49:14is Lord Sempill.
0:49:18 > 0:49:21There was worse to come.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24A few days later, MI5 told Churchill
0:49:24 > 0:49:27that the Japanese had information about his inner circle.
0:49:27 > 0:49:29He demanded evidence.
0:49:29 > 0:49:32A month later, after a surveillance operation,
0:49:32 > 0:49:36it was presented to him with the names of two sources.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40One was Sempill. The other had been with him in Japan.
0:49:41 > 0:49:44This is a Prime Minister's personal minute.
0:49:44 > 0:49:46It's from Churchill to Eden
0:49:46 > 0:49:50and it's the 20th of September 1941.
0:49:50 > 0:49:53"I regard the attached as most serious.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56"At any moment, we may be at war with Japan,
0:49:56 > 0:49:59"and here are all these Englishmen, many of them respectable,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02"two of them I know personally,
0:50:02 > 0:50:06"moving around, collecting information
0:50:06 > 0:50:08"and sending it to the Japanese embassy.
0:50:08 > 0:50:12"I cannot believe the Master of Sempill and Commander McGrath
0:50:12 > 0:50:14"have any idea what their position would be
0:50:14 > 0:50:17"on the morrow of a Japanese declaration of war.
0:50:17 > 0:50:20"Immediate internment would be the least of their troubles."
0:50:22 > 0:50:25"It is impossible for Lord Sempill
0:50:25 > 0:50:28"to continue to be employed at the Admiralty."
0:50:28 > 0:50:31Sempill was told he had to leave his job
0:50:31 > 0:50:34but when Churchill heard the news,
0:50:34 > 0:50:35he backtracked.
0:50:37 > 0:50:39"First Lord,
0:50:39 > 0:50:42"I had not contemplated Lord Sempill
0:50:42 > 0:50:44"being required to resign his commission
0:50:44 > 0:50:48"but only to be employed elsewhere than at the Admiralty.
0:50:48 > 0:50:52"The matter should be treated as one of employment
0:50:52 > 0:50:53"and not one of status."
0:50:55 > 0:51:00You wonder if it's something to do with his aristocratic background.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02The problem of course is to recall in this,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05he's actually a member of the House of Lords
0:51:05 > 0:51:09and he has friends, presumably, still within the Conservative party
0:51:09 > 0:51:13who could create difficulties if he was interned.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17What Churchill's realising is that
0:51:17 > 0:51:21here is someone that MI5 has been watching since 1925
0:51:21 > 0:51:25and Churchill's actually been giving this person classified information
0:51:25 > 0:51:27and in some ways, it's bad for Sempill
0:51:27 > 0:51:30but it also looks very bad for the British government.
0:51:30 > 0:51:34Once again, Sempill had been let off the hook -
0:51:34 > 0:51:37this time by Churchill himself.
0:51:40 > 0:51:41On the 7th December 1941,
0:51:41 > 0:51:47a Japanese fleet was sailing across the western Pacific Ocean.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51Its air arm now surpassed both Britain and America's,
0:51:51 > 0:51:53thanks largely to the Sempill mission
0:51:53 > 0:51:57and his illegal supply of technical information afterwards,
0:51:57 > 0:51:59exposed by MI5 intercepts.
0:52:01 > 0:52:02Armed with this know-how,
0:52:02 > 0:52:06the Japanese embarked on a secret naval operation
0:52:06 > 0:52:09that would change the course of history.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13Many of their planes were Mitsubishi Zeroes.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17They could outperform any Allied aircraft.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23The first Mitsubishi to land on a Japanese carrier
0:52:23 > 0:52:28had been flown by a British pilot 17 years before.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31The Japanese had perfected the technique
0:52:31 > 0:52:36with the help of British air ace Frederick Joseph Rutland.
0:52:36 > 0:52:38The use of torpedoes, which hung from their chasses,
0:52:38 > 0:52:42had also been taught by the Sempill mission.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48The commander of the fleet, Yamamoto Isoroku,
0:52:48 > 0:52:51had become vice chief of the naval air base
0:52:51 > 0:52:55which Sempill had overseen 19 years earlier.
0:53:03 > 0:53:05Simultaneously, another fleet
0:53:05 > 0:53:08sailed across the Gulf of Thailand towards Malaya.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Its objective -
0:53:10 > 0:53:15to land a Japanese invasion force here at Kota Bharu,
0:53:15 > 0:53:19just as intelligence officer Joe Vinden had predicted.
0:53:19 > 0:53:20From pillboxes like this one,
0:53:20 > 0:53:24British and Indian troops put up stiff resistance.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27Churchill was confident that if they could just hold on,
0:53:27 > 0:53:31reinforcements from Pearl Harbor would soon be on their way.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Two hours later,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Yamamoto Isoroku ensured that hope was extinguished.
0:53:41 > 0:53:45In two waves, Japanese planes launched from carriers
0:53:45 > 0:53:47attacked the fleet at Pearl Harbor.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51Small aircraft with large bombs,
0:53:51 > 0:53:55the secret technology which first prompted MI5's phone tap of Sempill,
0:53:55 > 0:53:58destroyed the American fleet.
0:53:59 > 0:54:02Yamamoto's right-hand man in planning the attack
0:54:02 > 0:54:06was Takijiro Onishi. He'd been personally trained by Sempill.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10With the US fleet at Pearl Harbor wiped out,
0:54:10 > 0:54:13the only British ships available in the Far East
0:54:13 > 0:54:17sailed from Singapore to intercept the Japanese.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Led by the finest battleship in the Royal Navy, the Prince of Wales,
0:54:21 > 0:54:25on which Churchill and Roosevelt had met just three months earlier,
0:54:25 > 0:54:29they were the only hope of stopping the invasion fleet
0:54:29 > 0:54:31but had no air cover.
0:54:32 > 0:54:36They were spotted by Takijiro Onishi's navy air fleet.
0:54:36 > 0:54:41Now the British would learn just how well Sempill had trained Onishi,
0:54:41 > 0:54:43who planned the attack.
0:54:44 > 0:54:4783 aircraft dived with heavy bombs and torpedoes.
0:54:49 > 0:54:51Underneath was Peter Dunstan.
0:54:52 > 0:54:57One of the first torpedoes hit the Prince of Wales
0:54:57 > 0:55:00on the port forward propeller shaft.
0:55:00 > 0:55:03It ripped a great big hole in the Prince of Wales
0:55:03 > 0:55:07and she dropped down to the stern
0:55:07 > 0:55:10with the amount of flooding water that came in.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14After the Japanese had stopped bombing us...
0:55:15 > 0:55:17..and she was going down,
0:55:17 > 0:55:21we were told to abandon ship.
0:55:24 > 0:55:28The Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse were sunk
0:55:28 > 0:55:31with a loss of nearly 900 lives.
0:55:33 > 0:55:35The same day,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39Sempill was caught making calls to the Japanese Embassy,
0:55:39 > 0:55:42a full three days after hostilities had begun.
0:55:42 > 0:55:44Who the hell are you?
0:55:44 > 0:55:47Astonishingly, he made more calls on the 13th of December.
0:55:47 > 0:55:50- We've been listening to your calls. - I don't give a damn who you are.
0:55:50 > 0:55:53When his office was searched, he was found to have Admiralty files
0:55:53 > 0:55:57he was supposed to have surrendered three weeks earlier.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59Despite all of this,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02Sempill was never prosecuted.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06On the 15th of February 1942,
0:56:06 > 0:56:09Singapore fell.
0:56:09 > 0:56:12100,000 troops were taken prisoner.
0:56:12 > 0:56:18The majority were shipped to Japanese concentration camps,
0:56:18 > 0:56:20where a quarter died in horrific conditions.
0:56:23 > 0:56:27In a secret session of the House of Commons, MPs demanded an enquiry
0:56:27 > 0:56:31to explain how this tragedy could have happened.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33It was blocked by Churchill himself.
0:56:34 > 0:56:37If it had gone ahead, it might have revealed
0:56:37 > 0:56:40that for nearly 20 years before the surrender,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44British officers had provided the military secrets and know-how,
0:56:44 > 0:56:46first legally, and then covertly,
0:56:46 > 0:56:49that enabled both the raid on Pearl Harbor
0:56:49 > 0:56:51and the capture of Singapore.
0:56:53 > 0:56:58Rutland was deported to Britain, where he was interned for two years.
0:56:58 > 0:57:02He comes out towards the end of the war,
0:57:02 > 0:57:05destitute. He eventually ends up killing himself
0:57:05 > 0:57:10by putting his head in an oven in a bedsit in London.
0:57:12 > 0:57:17Sempill is given a choice when Churchill discovers his activities.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20He can either resign his naval commission
0:57:20 > 0:57:22or else he's given the choice
0:57:22 > 0:57:26of taking a position up in Northern Scotland.
0:57:28 > 0:57:33Rutland isn't part of the British elite and Sempill is.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36Lord Sempill died in 1965.
0:57:36 > 0:57:41He went to his grave treasuring a very special possession -
0:57:41 > 0:57:43the Order of the Rising Sun,
0:57:43 > 0:57:47given to him for what the Japanese Prime Minister called
0:57:47 > 0:57:50"the splendid results, almost epoch-making,
0:57:50 > 0:57:54"that have been brought about in the Imperial Japanese Navy."
0:58:01 > 0:58:03In the wake of the sacrifice at Pearl Harbor
0:58:03 > 0:58:06and the fall of Singapore,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09these words took on an added resonance.
0:58:09 > 0:58:12Japan had wounded a superpower
0:58:12 > 0:58:15and crippled an empire.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18Worse still, it was done with the help of people
0:58:18 > 0:58:21the Japanese were supposed to be fighting against.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24For Britain, the price was enormous.
0:58:24 > 0:58:28She would never be the dominant power in Asia again.
0:58:54 > 0:58:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd