Franco's Friends: How British Intelligence Helped Bring Franco to Power in Spain

by Peter Day

The untold tale of MI6’s involvement in the rise of Spanish fascism. It is known that a British plane took Francisco Franco from the Canaries to Morocco at the start of the coup. What is not known is that the plane was chartered by an MI6 agent and that British secret services continued working behind the scenes in Spain through to World War II, to ensure British interests were maintained. Crucially, MI6 paid bribes to Spanish generals to keep Spain neutral, thus reaping the benefits for Britain from 1939-45. Franco’s Friends reveals how Britain made a dubious moral choice that would have repercussions on the outcome of the Second World War.

Peter Day is a writer and journalist, he writes regularly for the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday He lives in London, England.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Spain, Spanish Civil War, Espionage

243 pages, Hardcover

First published October 31, 2011

Reviews

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is much of interest, even of importance - maybe, in this book and it is for this reason I have given it five stars. The most intriguing part, for me, was the involvement of British agents in helping arrange and finance Franco's flight to Spain to take over command of the rebellious army and thus launch the civil. This was unknown to (not that I am any sort of expert on the period though have read historians like Preston and Fraser). What would interest me greatly would be what relevance this information has - what would a historian of the period make of it. Is it really important or simply a curiosity.

That is the problem with this book, I don't want to belittle the author but he is writing as a journalist and he has a story to tell and more relevantly a angle for selling books.

My greatest reservation with the book comes with the way the authorities to link the involvement of MI6 and Britain in assisting Franco with WWII that a morally dubious choice was made to assist Franco so as to ensure Spain's neutrality in WWII. That is just so ridiculous I won't time on it. If Decisions were to assist Franco they were very uch based immediate calculations of advantage.

This kind of linkage is what leaves me so divided about this book. The story and basic information is interesting and ma be even of some importance but the overall book is flawed.

[iain meek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating.

The story about British involvement in Spanish politics/ civil war.

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