On 16 March 1976 the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, retired suddenly without any apparent reason. In the days leading up to his resignation there had been no hint that he was about to go. Two months later, on 12 May, Wilson invited two BBC reporters, Barrie Penrose and Roger Courtiour to visit him at his home at 5 North Street, near Parliament. He told the reporters that he believed members of MI5 had been involved in a plot to undermine his Government. He said that he had called in the head of MI6, Sir Maurice Oldfield, who told him that there was a section of MI5 that "was unreliable" and that he (Oldfield) was "going to bring it out". Wilson also said that he had called in the head of MI5, Sir Michael Hanley, who confirmed the existence within his Service of a disaffected faction with extreme right-wing views. Later, the two reporters interviewed Sir Michael Hanley at his home and asked him if there had been talk of a coup to overthrow the Wilson Government in the mid 1970s. The former Head of MI5 replied: "I think it is generally accepted. Yes".