Donald Trump versus the intelligence agencies - we've seen it all before

Agencies are meant to be objective, free from political bias and to speak truth to power

Donald Trump’s remarkable attacks on his own intelligence community may seem shocking to the casual observer – but they are not without precedent. History is littered with the debris of this delicate and all too often abusive relationship. Whether it’s dirty tricks to undermine a “bolshevik” Harold Wilson or “Ivy League liberals” smearing Richard Nixon, it’s clear that the spies do not always love their leaders.

At the heart of the story is the role of intelligence in democracies. In theory, intelligence agencies are meant to be objective, free from political bias and to speak truth