Info relating to UK and Corfu
1967 Harold Wilson's government took strong action against the organization of Scientology. It banned members from entering the country. Due to this L Ron Hubbard said Mr Wilson's governement was in league with Soviet Russia and an international conspiracy. Kenneth Robinson, Mr Wilson's Minister of Health won a libel suit against both Hubbard and his self-styled 'Church'.
Scientology attempts to take over Corfu - It was a warm and sunny August day in 1968 when the ship anchored in Corfu harbour. She was the ‘Royal Scotsman’, a former Irish passenger ferry, now carrying the flag of Sierra Leone, and housing what appeared to the local people to be a school.
Corfu’s British Vice-Consul, John Forte, had been asked to look out for the vessel, which had sailed for the Mediterranean from Southampton some months before, amid reports of ‘young persons detained under duress.’
In fact, the ship was nothing less than the floating World Headquarters for the church of Scientology, a cult founded by Nebraska-born science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. The cult, designated as a church to give it legal status and as a charity to avoid taxes, was described a year later by the News of the World as ‘a perverted form of psychology which robs people of their initiative, their sense of responsibility and their reason.’ Less than a month before the ship’s arrival in Corfu, the British government concluded that ‘it is so objectionable that it would be right to take all steps within their power to curb its growth.’
Hubbard’s doctrine was based on miracles he claimed to have witnessed in the Far East; it sought a ‘scientific’ explanation, with mental exercises which would ultimately allow graduates to become an individual who has ‘willing cause over matter, energy, space, time, thought and life.
In a Michael Portillo program Michael explains that in 1968 Scientology was banned in UK. He interviews someone called Dr David Barratt on Scientology. Dr Barratt says he does not use the word cult to describe Scientology.
He also explains how Margaret Thatcher changed the legislation on Scientology because she had two constituents who were Scientologists.
Michael Portillo refers to the date 1975 for some reason. He explains that a person who is an enemy of Scientology can be lied to or have their property removed.