In October 1996, left wing conspiracy crank Larry O’Hara published his latest anti-Gable “exposé”, Searchlight for Beginners. In January 1997, the magazine responded with its usual boring charges of anti-Semitism ad nauseum in a two page article: Bile, paranoia and collaboration The life and times of Larry O’Hara. O’Hara’s response was immediate and hysterical, a February 1997 pamphlet called SEARCHLIGHT FICTION PULPED; his hysteria was undoubtedly increased by Gable’s decision to publish his photograph in the same issue. (1) O’Hara has claimed persistently that Searchlight is trying to set him up for attack by the far right. This is nonsense because O’Hara’s publications have been reviewed favourably and lapped up by certain quarters of the right; their shortcomings and his cranky ideas and unsupported allegations have been largely ignored because anyone who embarrasses or threatens “our enemy’s enemy” is good for morale.
There is little of merit in the Searchlight response, although for once I am in agreement with its arch-manipulator Gerry Gable: O’Hara does frequently accuse everyone who disagrees with him of working for the supposedly omniscient MI5, (2) his publications are poorly researched, (3) and the thin veneer of sanity is indeed starting to fade; O’Hara is going off his rocker. The fact that Gable is equally mad and in his own way an even bigger conspiracy crank than O’Hara does not detract from the soundness of that diagnosis. Enough ad hominem though, what does O’Hara tell us in his latest two publications? The answer is: not a lot! Here we go then.
On page 1 of the former, O’Hara makes the bland claim that Searchlight is in breach of company law by failing to submit accounts. As Gable’s wife is an accountant, that claim is rather unlikely. And if Mr O’Hara takes the trouble to visit Companies House and pay a small fee – as did the current writer – he will find that Searchlight does indeed submit accounts. There are in fact accounts on file going back to the first Searchlight organisation, the Searchlight Association Limited, which was registered as long ago as March 1965, (see note 28).
O’Hara claims on the same page that in 1972 Searchlight published “an anonymous well-distributed and highly-libellous document The Monday Club – A Danger To Democracy”. The current writer was given a copy of this document by his fellow researcher Mark Taha, who concurs that it was probably the work of Gable and his gang, (4) although proving it is another matter, but it is actually called THE MONDAY CLUB A danger to British Democracy. On the same page, O’Hara makes the curious claim that Searchlight’s (5) first official publication is quite good. A Well-Oiled Nazi Machine, which was published in 1974, was in fact a masterpiece of innuendo and sloppy research. (6)
Its prime purpose was to smear as Nazi/fascist anyone who opposed uncontrolled non-white immigration into Britain although its main target was the National Front, which was then Britain’s premier racial-nationalist party. Needless to say it wasn’t only Gable and his gang which smeared the NF as fascist, and O’Hara repeats that smear here, but just for the record, the National Front had a thoroughly democratic structure and was no more fascist than the former South African Apartheid régime. (7)
On page 2, O’Hara introduces Column 88, the quasi-mythical “Nazi Underground” which surfaced in the mid-seventies. This “organisation” was not entirely the invention of Searchlight, but certainly most or all of the media stories about it which went the rounds at the time were invented by or inspired by the Searchlight team. O’Hara says “The only media coverage of C88 I have been able to find before [May 1975] are three articles in a local newspaper the Western Daily Press, in April”. The first mention the current writer has found was in the launch issue of Searchlight magazine. (8) There were also two articles in the broadsheets: Hitler birthday party uncovered, by Peter Gladstone Smith, published in the Daily Telegraph, April 6, 1975, page 3; and Lid stays on, published in the Guardian, (London edition), April 21, 1975, page 1. As both these articles are referenced in my short monograph on Column 88, (see note 9) – a pamphlet which O’Hara has most certainly read – it is surprising that he should make this statement.
O’Hara rightly points out that Searchlight have made inconsistent claims about Column 88 over the years; on page 4 he quotes from the grandly titled Searchlight Community Handbook which claims it was “a honey trap operation by British intelligence”. What he doesn’t point out though is that this analysis is mine, and that to date, the only monograph to appear on Column 88 was published by Yours Truly, in March 1994. (9) For the record, the current writer has all but completed a book on the so-called Nazi Underground, but for various reasons it won’t see the light of day for several years (if ever).
To add insult to injury, in a veiled but undeniable reference to the current writer, on page 16 O’Hara claims that “It is feasible of course, that C88 was a near-fictional organisation, as has been suggested by one plagiariser of my research.” No Larry, plagiarism comes after, not before, the original. I started researching Column 88 in 1991, before the first of your anti-Gable polemics saw the light of day, and, unlike you, I always acknowledge my sources. Your extremely garbled pamphlet A Lie Too Far was published in September 1993, about the same time as my first two Searchlight exposés (10)
Back on page 2 we are told that the Searchlight Organisation’s real agenda is “spying on and disrupting the Left/Greens as well as running errands for various state agencies.” Again, this is nonsense. Gable certainly doesn’t like many left wing groups, due largely if not entirely to their passionate anti-Zionism, but there is no meaningful evidence that Gable is the latter day Kosher James Bond that O’Hara believes or that the man himself likes people to think. The reference on the same page to “a man helping Special Branch with their inquiries” seems to have gone right over O’Hara’s head, for he comments here that “if Searchlight was a genuinely independent magazine as opposed to a satellite publication, surely they would have told their readers the source of their story was a state asset.”
What is the truth about Dave Roberts state asset? Very briefly, Roberts, a dedicated communist and fanatical “anti-fascist”, joined the National Front in the Midlands under the pseudonym Ralph Marshall, whereupon he attempted to incite the less intelligent members of this organisation to commit violent acts. When that failed, he hooked up with the lunatic fringe and, one fine night in July 1975, Roberts together with two right-wing extremists, was arrested after some monkey business down an alleyway near both a left wing bookshop and an Indian restaurant. They had decided to burn the bookshop down; not Roberts, you understand, his two companions. All three men were the worse for drink, and ended up facing charges not of contemplating arson but with conspiring to assault and rob the staff of The Bombay restaurant.
Roberts was now in decidedly hot water, so this was a convenient time to break his cover and reveal to the world (and more importantly to the police) that he was not really a neo-Nazi nutter but a gallant undercover operative working for the heroic Jewish anti-fascist network. Well, Maurice Ludmer, anyway.
Roberts then proceeded to spill the beans on the activities of Column 88 and their bizarre and hateful plans to celebrate Hitler’s birthday (or was it the solstice?), to organise adventure holidays in Northern Ireland with a guaranteed kill, etc. Among the evidence handed over to the police by Roberts was a number of tapes. All these allegations were investigated but the only crime ever substantiated was the one with which Roberts and his two companions were charged. In other words, Roberts, O’Hara’s so-called secret state asset, simply wasted a considerable amount of police time by making frantic efforts to get himself off the hook. All the stories about Column 88 fed to the media by Searchlight were similar wastes of time, like much of this brand of so-called journalism.
On page 4, O’Hara claims it was a fitting epitaph for Gable’s hatemongering co-racialist that he dropped dead while on the phone to a “senior Special Branch officer”. The punchline here is “according to Gable”. Gable gave out this information [sic] in a BBC Radio 4 Soundtrack programme that was broadcast on March 16, 1995. (11) Again, we have only Gable’s word for this, and as Gable was Ludmer’s protegé, once again we see that it fits Gable’s role playing image of Kosher James Bond.
More such nonsense appears on page 5, but again we must reiterate: there is no meaningful evidence that Gable or Searchlight has at any time passed any worthwhile evidence to Special Branch or to any other arm of the secret state about the activities of terrorists or of organised criminal gangs. (12) There is though evidence that in common with many journalists, Gable has been used on occasion to peddle disinformation by the powers-that-be, including, perhaps, the security services. (13)
On pages 7-8, O’Hara covers the fantasy of the plot to murder Gable by the Conservative MP Gerald Howarth and others. O’Hara makes much of the claim that Gable arranged for an armed bodyguard from Special Branch. He also drags in Gary Murray, a former M.I.5. operative. Murray is the author of a book called Enemies of the State. I haven’t read this cover to cover, but from what I’ve seen of it, it is very tame. Former spies are notoriously unreliable, (14) if only because most of their claims cannot be tested. In his aforementioned book, Murray refers to Gable’s “expert research” (15) and to the man himself as “a reputable veteran journalist formerly with LWT...” (16) Those two phrases alone should be enough to destroy Murray’s credibility in its entirety.
On page 11, O’Hara plagiarises my research further; by this time Sonia Hochfelder – now Mrs Sonia Gable – has entered the fray. In her student days, Sonia was a member of a number of far right organisations, and had been friends with Steve Brady, an Ulster Loyalist active in far right circles. (17) Sonia Hochfelder is also described here as “Intelligence Officer” for the League of St. George. This all sounds very sinister, but what does an intelligence officer of any organisation actually do? Writes letters, keeps track of events and developments in the field, and so on. Any market research company can claim to have an intelligence officer, or several of them, but here, in connection with extremist politics, it all sounds very sinister.
According to O’Hara, “Not until I had publicly made known to the Left her relationship with Brady and speculated in general terms about her 1970’s activities...was a very half-hearted attempt made to paint her as an anti-fascist ‘mole’”.
Yes, Larry, you speculated, but it was me who did the research and me who made known to the left and to all and sundry the amusing truth about Mrs Gable’s antecedents. On obtaining the microfiche of Searchlight’s accounts (which they don’t file, remember Larry), I recognised the name Hochfelder (18) from an early issue of Searchlight. (19) I made a few inquiries with my tenuous far right contacts and confirmed that this was indeed the Sonia Hochfelder. Then I published a satirical poem about the lovely lass and mailed it out to, among others, various leftists. (20) O’Hara is right when he claims that since word got round, Gerry and Sonia have tried to portray her as some sort of Kosher Mata Hari, but that is to be expected.
However, on the same page, O’Hara goes right off the rails when he speculates (again!) that Sweet Sonia was in the business of setting up leftists for assassination by Loyalist death squads! Yes, Larry has done the inconceivable, he has libelled a Gable!
On page 13, we reach the (non-existent) Notting Hill Carnival bomb plot, which was exposed by Searchlight’s gallant Jewish anti-fascists and goy fellow travellers as part of their heroic struggle to save Western civilisation from the forces of darkness. As far as this plot ever existed, it did so purely in Ray Hill’s highly fictionalised intelligence reports (21) and was probably yet another product of Gable’s sick Jewish mind, devised as part of his ongoing campaign of demonising the wicked Aryan goyim. This though leads O’Hara to speculate (raise a further question) “[was] Ray Hill...a state asset/agent provocateur?” Sure Larry, Hill incited “fascists” to bomb the Notting Hill Carnival as part of a state plot, which the state then dutifully ignored. Keep taking the tablets.
On page 14, O’Hara mentions Ray Hill’s first criminal conviction, (22) his 1962 fracas which led to him receiving a two year gaol sentence. O’Hara cites thus in a footnote: Birmingham Mail 28/7/62. The full citation Larry is P.-c. lost part of ear: 3 sentenced, published in the Birmingham Mail, (LATE NIGHT FINAL), July 28, 1962, page 3. I know that because it was Yours Truly who dug out this article, and the full text of the indictment! (23)
On page 15, Ray Hill’s further antecedents are mentioned, in particular the March 1988 report in the Lincolnshire Echo of his attempting to set up Jewish businessman George Lewis for indecent assault. This report – which I cited in my biography of Hill – was found by a member of the British National Party. (24)
On page 18, O’Hara refers to the “Ostrich Left”, a term that should most certainly be applied to him for ignoring, wilfully, the real agenda of the likes of Gerry Gable and continuing to churn out this Kosher James Bond crap when not only do the facts fail to support it but indicate to the contrary. He mentions Searchlight “mole” Tim Hepple’s claim that he had witnessed executions in Northern Ireland by British Army death squads and that Hepple had boasted of working for MI5. As Hepple is obviously mentally unbalanced one must take all such claims with a large chunk of salt.
Let us though give O’Hara some credit. On page 28 he tentatively identifies Peter Brighton – a relatively new member of the Searchlight team – as the pseudonym of Stephen Silver. This may be true, although O’Hara doesn’t give a citation. (25) Okay Larry, we’ll take your word for it, but doesn’t that name Silver ring a bell? What does it have in common with Gable, Ludmer, Carpel, Billig, (26) Seidel, (27) Hochfelder and Cohen. Oy vay! Secret state indeed, Kosher cabal more like.
Finally, on page 29 loony Larry mentions the Searchlight libel actions. He takes Gable and company to task for failing to indemnify the targeted bookshops – be serious, Larry – but omits a very salient fact. In April 1995, Housman’s Bookshop distributed a letter in defence of himself and attacking Searchlight as a purveyor of Secret State disinformation intent on inciting violence against him. Yet the same bookshop continued to stock this lie-ridden magazine and only ceased stocking it when a third libel writ was served on them (by my colleague Mark Taha). These are the sort of slime you rub shoulders with, Larry. Your gallant “anti-fascist” friends don’t give a fuck about you any more than they do about anyone else. On the same page he repeats the claim that Searchlight is a “shadow company” which does not submit “proper accounts”. Like I said Larry, take a trip to Companies House before you spout such drivel, and don’t accuse me of plagiarising you, because, unlike you, I not only do my homework but meticulously reference my sources.
Which brings us to the second of O’Hara’s fantasy-prone publications; we won’t waste too much time on Searchlight Fiction Pulped, this pamphlet runs to a mere 16 pages and if it proves one thing, it is that O’Hara has finally flipped his lid. The cover is illustrated with a cartoon which bears the legend
SEARCHLIGHT
DISINFORMATION
SERVICES LTD.
1962-199?
Whatever Gable may claim, the original Searchlight was not founded until 1965, and O’Hara should know this. (28)
On page 1, O’Hara again poses the question did Sweet Sonia set up “anti-fascists” for assassination by the UVF while studying for her degree at Imperial College London? No Larry, she didn’t. There is a lot more guff in this pamphlet about Ray Hill, Column 88 and Searchlight’s latest moneyspinner, Combat 18. Let’s give the man a little more credit: “At first, the threat from neo-nazi group Combat 18 was promoted by Searchlight, who in 1993 publicly called for MI5 to ‘investigate’ them. Subsequently, Searchlight announced in 1995 that MI5 had supposedly created C18 in the first place!” (29)
True Larry, it could be that Gable and company changed their minds about Combat 18 after further information came to light; people can change their minds, Sweet (Zeig Heil) Sonia is living proof of that. It is far more likely though that while liars ought to have good memories, often they don’t. The simple fact is that Gable has told so many lies over the years that he has lost track of them. Living proof of this is his 1991 claim that the main reason John Tyndall was ousted from the leadership of the National Front is that he had reneged on his oath of allegiance to Column 88, into which he had been inducted at the tender age of nineteen. (30)
Back to O’Hara, on page 2 he refers to an alleged break-in at his premises. He has mentioned this before; (31) I have no doubt that this break-in is a figment of his imagination.
On page 5 he mentions a certain Al Baron and claims that Yours Truly told him I had met with Gable. I did not tell him that, because it isn’t true. He accuses me of sending him forged documents about David Irving – which again is not true – and claims I am an “anti-semitic homophobe”. It may be that somebody else sent O’Hara forged documents about David Irving. One major reason I have been smeared so consistently as an anti-Semite is because in October 1994 I exposed Irving as a Zionist agent, among other things! (32)
I plead guilty to suffering from the mythical disease of homophobia; my alleged anti-Semitism is complete nonsense; I will though admit that I am in the habit of calling a spade a spade and calling Gable the sweepings of the ghetto – which he is – but anyone who has made a careful study of my writings will find no trace of the endorsement of such nonsense as the Protocols Of Zion and other anti-Semitica.
O’Hara highlights inconsistencies in our supposed relationship, but, incredibly, he accuses me of producing “two printed defences of Searchlight” on account of my not subscribing to his Kosher James Bond rubbish. On page 8 I get another brief mention. On the following page he refers to the thesis “and supporting evidence” allegedly produced in Searchlight For Beginners. There is no supporting evidence, Larry. You are a deluded crank. Period.
The rest of the pamphlet is not worth analysing. On page 11, O’Hara does make another valid point, ie that if he can be smeared as a Nazi fellow traveller for interviewing “fascists”, so can Gable and his gang. Pages 13-6 are taken up with comments on his work which are supposed to refute Gable’s claims that he is a Nazi. They don’t refute these claims, Larry, but it isn’t necessary to refute them because no one in his right mind believes them. Even Gable doesn’t believe them, although many people have serious reservations about Gable’s sanity, just as many of the same people have about yours.
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