◆ SpookStack

bos S the cardinal principies of espionage. . oi ': Many of my bestfriends: were spies “ “—but Spipg, in their, own countries’ oe _ interest. “4- ees a “a While the « “public at large was “stunned bf the news, the authorities . were clamming up, . But portentous . questions remained, Could this highly — respected member of MIG really have -been a Communist agent at the same. time? - -were hot on his trail? Finally, what inspired a cultivated member’ of the =: British upper classes to do this bru- _tally disruptive thing? “It all) made “James Bond look like a milksop and this exploits like sinall beer. 4° As with all of us, Kim's parents : "and" upbringing provide some clues, - - His father, St, John Philby, a Scholar: of 4 top British school, Westminster, *. and of Cambridge University, as Kin’ was also, began life as a conventional member of the Indian -Civil Service. -.Kim was born in India in 1912. But ~ St. John became decidediy eccentric as Wine went on, When I first met -him in Cairo in 1946 he had hecome “the personal adviser of King Ibn Saud and a Moslem. He had been briefly | interned in Britain during the war on grounds of doubtful loyalty, and lived” _by preference in Saudi Arabia. His- .,.normal-Jooking English wife told me. “that she was quite happy,to put on. ‘the veil*add liye in the harem.” I, ‘heard old St. John tell hig son that he must always” carry through to the An he sha ta erhe bitter end watever an thought right. Kim has certainly done that, and sur- passed his father in _outrageousness into, the bargain, tay Jo: a tad Ty WAS at Cambridge ‘in the ‘early thirties with Philby. Maclean and Burgess—-what a mob!—though I met. them only when I was a diplomat in. later years and then only casually. Looking back, [ can see, with an: effort, how the atmosphere at: the university coyld lead to pro-Commu-.- me intellectyals. Brif-. - ish. -Society . ti n was stuffy: and con: nism, among If so, for how long? What | ‘about security? How did he get away... with it in 1951, when the C.LA. and © Fhe F.B.I, aS well as his own service ~ servatjve. The ruling Tory party was both pompous and ineffectial; “tne Labor party just plain ineffectual. ' Hitler had appeared and no one was doing anything about him. War was on the way and only the Communists seemed really interested in averting it. Consequently, a good few. intel- lectuals turned to the extreme left, without. of course, troubling to see how far real conditions in the Soviet - i a Union justified their idealistic hopes. Few turned toward the United States because, again out of ignorance, they tended to consider it remote from. European affairs, brash and over-rich. Most of these men, having “gone Communist’ in greater or lesser degree, had the good sense to turn away again, bot not Phitby, He be. came not merely a Communist but, a carefully controlled Communist in-’ telligence agent in 1933, while still © at Cambridge. . Thus, from the age of, - 7 ‘21, his life was wholly dedicated to’ two things: passing on to his Moscow - masters as much valuable information as possible about Britain and the United States, and decéiving his friends and colleagues in doing so. li is difficult io say which gave him. more pleasure. In other words, for 30 long years, Philby lived a lie every niomeni= of the day and night. He mar. ried four wives; he produced", . five children; he had plenty of © . mistresses: -he drank like a fish, He was handsome, soci- " ally easy. The only outward, sign of strain was a “stam- mer, which varied in intensity * and which some girls found, attractive. In all this career’ of duplicity, he slipped only’: three times, and in different ways he got away | with it each : time. . ye Pays first assignment after Cambridge was, typical-; ly, to appear to be a pro-Nazi. : He went into journalism and, ° - like many British enthusiasts, | | rushed off to cover the Civil *. War ip Spain, but with a, dif-,.° _ ference from most. of -his’’.. oahetetenr ar) Sorte aN, : ‘ PONALD — 1, Burgess ena Philby were all together at Cambridge in the garly thirties before going to work for Moscow—in the British Governmeit. ere ee ee Fede Rapes ‘eehewn oe” 2 eer we te see tee ¢ ate ee -