Government releases the X-files
Thursday, 5 August 2010 4:40 PM
By politics.co.uk staff
The government has published hundreds of previously-classified files on UFOs and 'flying saucers', revealing several curious incidents from recent history.
One file reveals that the grandchild of one of Winston Churchill's bodyguards recounted a meeting between the British prime minister and Dwight Eisenhower in which they agreed to cover up a UFO incident.
The alleged incident involved a "metallic UFO" approaching and flying side by side with a Royal Air Force plane returning from a mission in Europe.
Another file recounts how a "black triangular UFO" was sighted hovering over the home of Michael Howard in the late 90s when he was still shadow home secretary.
Another memo dating to 1997 recounts a plane crash in northern England for which no wreckage was ever found.
The release of the documents is the latest in the slow declassification of Britain's UFO files, as the government tries to dispel myths around its cover up of extraterrestrial life.
"The MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of 'UFO/flying saucer' matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded," the government wrote in 1999.
Newsletter sign up