BBC NEWS | In Depth | Iranian embassy siege

Ken Connor, the longest serving operational soldier in the history of the SAS, writes for BBC News Online about the impact the Iranian embassy siege had on his former regiment.

The end of the siege at the Iranian embassy in Princes Gate at 7.23pm on the 5 May 1980 is one of the defining moments in many peoples' lives. It equates to the dinner party question "Where were you when JFK was killed?"

I know exactly where I was - behind the Iron Curtain in East Germany near a village called Luebben when I heard the start of the assault on the BBC World Service.

Although I'd not been anywhere near Princes Gate, I was still welcomed as a hero.

Because the reception was poor, I didn't hear the end of the programme so I was probably the last person in the army to know how it had turned out. Arriving back in West Berlin I was able to see the effect that it had on the British Army.

Although I'd not been anywhere near Princes Gate, I was still welcomed as a hero. When I went for a drink, a half-drunk senior NCO shoved his face into mine and said: "Now they know we're not just thick squaddies."

Advice from a goon

Shown live around the world on primetime TV, the storming of the Iranian embassy made the SAS a brand name for military excellence.

But the journey to the embassy amazingly began with advice from a most unlikely character - Michael Bentine of Goon Show fame.

Post Princes Gate, many soldiers entered the regiment expecting to be issued with a black suit and a briefcase and pointed at the West End of London. For army officers, the SAS suddenly became the unit to have on your CV.

Bentine's zany front concealed a far-sighted man. He was a world class pistol shot and a believer that the two biggest future threats to western society would come from drugs and terrorism.

A chance meeting in the late 1960s led to Bentine convincing a small, influential group within the SAS that they should be prepared to fight fire with fire and develop counter-terrorist strategies.

His persistence contributed indirectly to the forming of the SAS counter-terrorist team in 1973, and gave the UK a head start on most other countries.

The murder of 11 Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics in 1972 by Palestinian gunmen also boosted support for the formation of a counter-terrorist team.

'So far and no farther'

Over the following eight years the regiment had the luxury of countless hours of training, studying incidents in other countries where terrorism usually came out on top, and refining the techniques that were later used at Princes Gate.

The feeling grew over the years that if there were an incident in the UK, a line would be drawn in the sand to say: "So far and no farther."

It is easy to forget that the real heroes of the Iranian embassy were the hostages who were terrorised for five days, unsure if they would ever come out of it alive.

The successful outcome of the embassy incident was no surprise to myself, or most people in the SAS. After all, it was what we had trained for all those years.

I arrived back in Hereford from Berlin, nearly two years after the ending of the siege, and saw the beginning of the changes it had wrought on the SAS.

Prior to 1980 the SAS was the place to be if you wanted to be a soldier.

There was no bullshit, no parades or drill, just plenty of active service operations far from the public eye.

In the words of one commanding officer, speaking to troops who had just passed the SAS selection course: "Rank? Forget it, you're not getting any. Career? If you stay here you won't have one. Pay? If you want money, you'll get none."

This to people who had passed the most physically and mentally demanding selection course in the army and had given up their previous military rank to do so.

SAS in fashion

Real hero: Hostage PC Trevor Lock with his wife Doreen after the siege

Post Princes Gate, many soldiers entered the regiment expecting to be issued with a black suit and a briefcase and pointed at the West End of London. For army officers, the SAS suddenly became the unit to have on your CV. If you wanted to be a general, get your SAS wings, the short cut to the general staff.

The other major problem was that suddenly it became fashionable for politicians to associate themselves with it and use it either as a means of threatening governments overseas - "Toe the line or I'll send the SAS" - or as a way of courting international influence - "I'll send the SAS to train your people".

While this was undoubtedly good business for the UK it was less beneficial for serving SAS men.

All of this was to the detriment of the soldiers still wanting to do things the way the SAS had always done them, professionally and covertly, the ones still losing rank and money to serve with the world's finest.

SAS priorities

Ken Connor: Spent 23 years in the SAS

It is easy to forget that the real heroes of the Iranian embassy were the hostages who were terrorised for five days, unsure if they would ever come out of it alive.

It is also easy to forget that the prime task of the SAS was to rescue those hostages. That terrorists died was a by-product, not the objective.

There were negative aspects which impacted on the regiment in the future, but any reservations are dwarfed by a single fact: most of the hostages came out of an unimaginable horror alive. For that they, and we, will always be grateful.

Ken Connor was closely involved in the development of the Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing and SAS VIP protection techniques. He also trained US personnel at the FBI Academy in Quantico, USA. He is the author of Ghost Force: The Secret History of the SAS.


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