◆ SpookStack

One-sided pir Perey, now 67 and in. pa til retirement. does not inten toltell what he knows uniess hp is"valled to give evidence at an! oficial commission of inquiry. — u But then, friends predict, the fur may fly," . Our conversation yesterday in Sir Perev’s flat. in Carlisle Grange, Eastbourne, was orie- sided. I said: “There is a growing belief that the Official Secrets Act has been used to: silence neaple whe could cast light. on the competence or political lc. -alties af some people you fin- vestigated who were on the fifnges of this. affair.” ir Perey moved hig lead lin @ pRodscontritital wey. Trip to France T tried azain: “You have re- ferred to the matter in a book you recently published .. .” Almost reluctantly he passed over his tem book, One passage reads: “TI had gone on. holiday just After the disappearance cf the gipiomats. Burgess and Maclean, dat this time Mrs, Macla Was in the south of France ; NH} was assumedmost imprdp- agly—that I was clumsily dik gWlising mv intentions7of meef- ing the lady, .”. “She had done nothing to warrant her being kept under observation, and no one héd any fight to prevent her leay- ing thé country or from poigg tof any place outside it se might choose. * And, had she been pre venied from so doing, what would have been gained?” I said: “One accepts that you wrote this when the. evi- dence ot Petrov. the Russian diplomat-spv. was mot avail able ta the Western Powers. Censored *One must assume, however, that MI5 had its own evidence on which to suspect that But gess, Maclean. and perha en Mis, Maclean, wer pDkrties to some Saviet* plot. The Foreign OMce admi that. Donald Maclean had been urlder observation before his disapnéarance....” Sy Perey: “Ff eanrol eam- + ment on dssuniptions.” His book was censored by security authorities, perhaps in consultation with men whe once worked under ‘iim, ‘before it was. published. “Tf there is to be a search for a scapegoat.’ IT said, “the Official Secrets Ach might prove | a bindrance in establishing the truth of the malter, don’t you think ?” Sir Percy moved his head in a non-commiltal way, Then he politely indicat thar the “ conversation.” was.4t an end, “Sorry i have ngt been able to be more helpfull” he said.