Maggie's Hammer: How Investigating the Mysterious Death of My Friend Uncovered a Netherworld of Illegal Arms Deals, Political Slush Funds, High-Level ... Secret Role as America’s Hired Gun

by Geoffrey Gilson

In November 1988, Hugh John Simmonds CBE, Margaret Thatcher’s favorite speechwriter and the author’s best friend, boss and political mentor, turned up dead in a woodland glade a few miles from their sleepy suburban hometown 20 miles west of London. To learn why his best friend was murdered, Geoffrey Gilson journeyed into the dangerous world of international arms deals, covert intelligence operations and high-level political corruption and discovered a secret that explains much of contemporary history. A quest for truth which, after 20 years of high-risk adventure coupled with painstaking research and firsthand interviews, uncovered the ugly reality that, for some 30 years, the various governments of Great Britain have loaned their country’s military and intelligence services to the United States, allowing presidents from Reagan to Obama to pursue their covert foreign and military policies without the encumbrance of congressional oversight.

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

Reviews

[Nancy Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, especially for a first book. I worked with the author and solidarity him about his experiences as he wrote this book. While Geoff is firmly convinced of a conspiracy, I am not. Sometimes the simplest , most obvious answer is the truth.

[Philip Zozzaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

The untimely death of a close friend spurs questions in the mind of Geoffrey Gilson. Hugh Simmonds was a politically connected lawyer with higher aspirations, he was also the youngest ever recipient of the CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire). His death was deemed a suicide, a large sum of missing funds seen as being related to Simmonds' end. Geoffrey Gilson feels differently and begins to investigate. His questions bring covert surveillance upon his life as well as interaction with luminaries of the covert world such as Ari-Ben Menashe, late of the Mossad. As Gilson digs deeper into the rabbit hole, he unearths Simmond's shadow activities, MI6 involvement, inconvenient knowledge. Gilson soon starts to realize the unpleasant aspects of the unknowns in his friend's life, but is still vigilant in his investigation. Maggie's Hammer takes a hard look at the relationship between the US and British Intelligence Services and some of those who pulls the strings. Gilson's work is a true-crime, political gem.