Franco's Friends

Author: Peter Day                         ISBN: 9781849540988

Format: HB                                       Extent: 384 pp.

Price: £20                                          Publication: July 2011

Publisher: Biteback Publishing

Published to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the Falangist uprising in July 2011, Franco’s Friends tells the previously untold tale of MI6’s involvement in the rise of Spanish fascism. It has long been known that a British plane took 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 in Spain through to the Second World War, putting together behind-the-scenes deals to  ensure the UK’s interests were maintained. Crucially, MI6 even financed bribes paid to the Spanish generals by the British naval attaché in Madrid to keep Spain neutral, thus reaping the benefits for Britain in 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.