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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 24
Page 56
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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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