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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 24

60 pages · May 23, 2026 · Broad topic: Intelligence Operations · Topic: Cambridge Five Spy Ring · 60 pages OCR'd
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At that time Guy, still mpaproued how these ox Comin man ‘When I had fry good ‘triemd: ‘wes “Me tern agents — as 2 believed Dany promye But Tam ee alight ad Snlihed soo jInerice, working at our Wasn- them to be—still cling clovely ” My wite did not, understand, ove me TACOr s Maclean had t together. this mysterious statement, Bho, ‘Then he said, tn a lean had recently become _ I was given one more proof of thought he was drunk. | fact. voice: “Of course head of the American Depart- the closeness of this bond when He rambled on, saying know that Guy didn't ment of the Foreign Office in Guy returned from Washington ‘me after time that I, at any lone? ” : London. id only met him s of times, though Guy had spoken to me about him and told me about thelr association. aaideed, T had not seen Mac- 7 15 years until that October night, . I was with my wife and two friends at the Gargoyle Club in he West End. Maclean was there—very drunk. TAUNTS I would not even have - nired him if I had not been told who he was. But, to my astonishment, he tottered over to our table and addressed me "hen ta nin an extreniel: - ing and belligerent voice he ad now all about you. You used to be vou rated.” one of us, but thought he was going to assault me. But at the critical moment his legs crumpled up under “him and he was brought to bis knees. ‘There he stayed, his hant on the edge of the table, hit istge white head on a level ith my chest. And fr absurd position he pri eded to direct a stream of abuse at me. He was e tenipting target. and I pleaded with my friends to Tet me hit him. They restrained ae. And, after a few more out- bursts of invective, he rose un- Steadily to his feet and stumbled away. As I left with my party, I puzzled over his drunken taunts. ‘The only meaning 1 could attach to them was that Maclean believed [had “rattled” from the espionage organisation to which Guy Lurgess had betorged, For before the war Guy once claimed to me that he was a caenantst agent. Later, I gathered from him that he he dropped out. — He had never mentioned Mi: lean in this connection, But now it seemed that Macl tho, had been a Russian agent, fetes at sw was a fellow “batted.” low spy who ‘It was ludicrous. Yet it pete tenn Se cate 5 ‘ six months later. He came to see me at my country house near London. Bir Ollver Franks, our Ambassador . in Washington, had sent him back to Britain, Guy was in disgrace because of his wild be- haviour in America, . “Tam golng to be suspended or dismissed from the Forelgn Office," he told me. But he did not seem to mind. A friend from his Eton days had fixed him up with a newspaper job. But before he left the diplo- matic service he was deter- mined to make one last gesture. He drew from his briefcase a sheaf of papers. They contained memorandum that Guy had ran up on American foreign icy. It was @ brilliantly written, ough completely unbalanced, attack on the American Govern- ment and its “warmongering” Jeaders. THE FLIGHT ‘When he left for London he said he would show his despatch to Mr. Kenneth Younger, then second-in-command at the Foreign Office as Minister of tate, I was never to see Guy again. For within three weeks he had fled 10 Moscow. But a few days after this last meeting I spoke to him on the phone. He told me he had not yet managed to see Younger. THE ONLY PERSON TO WHOM HE HAD SHOWN HIS DESPATCH WAS DONALD MACLEAN, It was then, I am now certain, that Donald Maclean informed his confederate that they were under suspicion as spies. And it was then that they arranged their fijght across the Iron Curtain. For on the day before thelr disappearance, when I was away in Oxford, my wife had strange phone call from Burgess. fe said: "I am about to do Something that will surprise. rate, would understand what he was going to do, ‘The following morning, Batur- day, May 26, 1951, my wife recelved another phone from London, this time from Jackle Hewit, who shared « fiat with Guy. ‘PHONE CALLS He was in a state of great agitation. Guy had not returned to the flat the previous even- ing, Hewit_was alarmed by nis absence, Did my wife Iw where he could have gone? But of course she knew nothing. Late on Sunday evening I returned home and heard spout the two mysterious phone cal In a flash of intuition—and to my wife's utter bewilder- ment—I said: "He has gone to oscow. - Next morning I rang up riend, who was also a frient of Guy's and had close conta: with M15, the War Of counter-espionage organisatioz I told him that Guy had vanished. “1 think M.L5 should be in- formed,” I said. “I think Guy may have gone over to the Russians.” My friend at once made the necessary approach to MLS. But I was not asked to tell my story until nine days later. ‘When I was at last Invited to go along to M.I.5 I was taken into the presence of an officer whom I had war—and who had also known Burgess well. By now I was not so sure that . my intuition about Guy was right, It seemed incredible, on reflection, that a man who had so many friendly contacts in our Security services could self be a spy. So I was taken aback by se seriousness with whi __My story was received. _ known during the - founded. Then I asked had officer. call OT Alter frantic burt no luggage large sum In banknotes in bis For » moment I was dum who else gone. Srey went together . went er. I left M.L5 I learned & good deal more about the man- ner of Guy's fight. He had evidently gone In a He had taken had left » flat. But he did find time to to Gieve's, in Bond Street, y_four_Ol — I found out, too, t jos ast hysterical phone call] to y wife was made from Reform Club. ‘Typically, be did not pay for the 20-minute trunk call. Soon after, the world heard the story of the missing diplo- mats. It was not the whole story, The Foreign Office con- ceuled as much as it could. And I have only revealed tt now because I believe that the public must be Warned about the dangers still to be faced from men like these. For it is certain that Maclean .and Burgess were not the only Britons in positions of trust who were recruited into the Soviet apy ring. I believe that Burgess and Maclean staged thelr recent public reappearance in Mos cow as a warning to those remaining traitors—s warn- ing that they can be exposed * if they do not continue in the service of Russia. ‘These traitors must be rooted out before this long-range blacks mail begins to work. MY VERDICT Only then will Britain be saved from another Burgess and Maclean scandal Since their flight I have had two messages from Burgess. The first, at Christmas, 1953, was to the effect that he was well and In ceived after his reappearance, he asked me to write to him at Poste Restante, Central Telg- raph Office, Moscow, U. Ido not know what kind reply he expected. This 3! nd my vel on Guy Bury will_serve for an_ answer. 3S 6
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