Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The complainant submitted a request to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO now part of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, FCDO) seeking information about the publication and reception of a book published in 1979, ‘Countercoup’, which concerned the deposition of the Iranian Prime Minister in 1953. The FCO refused to confirm or deny whether it held any information falling within the scope of the request on the basis of section 23(5) (security bodies) of FOIA. The Commissioner has concluded that the FCO was entitled rely on section 23(5) to refuse to confirm or deny whether it holds the requested information.