◆ SpookStack

-—— “homent™by moment, all tending to a li§eral viewpoint.” iss Elizabeth Monroe, the dis- ished je East expert, who in Philvy’s company for a week 1937 on a tour of then-monarchist Yraq, says: There was no sign of a scrap of prejudice in him at all. What l impressed one was his intense and impartial curiosity about everything and his calm judement pased on a tremendous background knowledge.” OF his writing for The Observer “Tamily, When away on atsignmen : flor writes; “It rh away on assign the | Foreign he made a point of writing hom showed not only no trace of Com- . " munist bias but also no evidence of a jaily, It seemed clear that onty som Marxist method of thinking. His i . ‘desperate move on his part or roporting was realislic and obiective Kidnapped? equally ‘heavy pressure could. hav ‘and is political interpretation was | He had no known enemies—though jOctsuaded him to put them in a state ; Sautious in form and traditional in | the Sandi Arabians had occasionally Breat anxiety, | styfe. Tt was very much what one been disturbed by his rather repub- He was in good health and an i might have expected from someone fican political line. Sudden foul play ; apparently rational state of mind | who had both a Foreign Office train- , did not seem to fit in with the mode . when he left that evening. Some, ing coupled with special knowedge | of his departure, thoush a high however. had noticed signs of of the Middle East, member of the Foreign Office on increasing depression and heavier Warnings cn March 20 told The Observer's Pole drinking ever the last year or 60, He Correspondent woul t sit by himself at the same be surprised if Philby were dead. side-table in the bar of the Hotel “In several dispatches he watned | . Was he conn i . against the growth of Communist } cover ‘way ath ene ean wneer Normandy on the waterfront, once of influence in Iraq under Genoral | against the Saudis? One or two well- Kassim and the possibility of Com- | informed friends in Beirut at first ine munist infiltration émto the Persian | clined to this answer. It might explain || Our report by ROY JENKINS, Gulf and Arabia.’ . the Caito postmarks (a group of dis- | the M.P. and historian, on his His letters to The Obierver office | gident Saudis were being sheltered by | enquiry into the election of were neat, relaxed, modest and co- | President Nasser), Loads of ams had Pope Paul VI begi week operative to a self-denying degree. | been dropped to rebels in the coun- | »pe Paul gins next week, He once proposed another Middle | wy shortly before he disappeared. He East veteran for his own job, hearing | was known to have see1 " . . . he was broke. His last, written on | Saudi‘anti:monarchist @ week before | MCC 3. day, getting rapidly through 29 (three we hist his whisky, ‘looking deeply morose. December 29 (three weeks before his | his departure. That was about as far disappearance), asked for a spelt of | as this theory would go. The astute head barman, a friend of home feave in the coming summer. Or had he—as the Saudif’ aliegea | Pititby’s for six years, told me that When Philby vanished, the paper | —been kidnapped by the Egyptians? ; P¢ tad changed markedly about & shared the bewilderment of his, As a‘ ‘leading exponent of Arab, 2° aB0 “as though a weight had closest Beirut friends. Further te~! nationalism, Philby could 7 bardly | b€@0" to press on bis heart. | Search in the Lebanon still seemed 10 | have incurred serious disfavour on! , A good part of his income from Meave several possibilities. NO political grounds. Still, if he had been j0urnalism (he apparently had no explanation, however unlikely, could smuggled out of the Lebanon the Other publicly known source) went on be dismissed (or so it Jooked in efficient Egyptian Intelligence might Maintaining a good flat and a family, March), but as the gaps in Philby’s have been expected to find this action imcluding two children at boarding- Jife and habits began to come into easier than most. school in England. focus we began to look harder at the — Working for the Republicans in . Throughout my dealings with two of three more reasonable way$ the Yemen? But other reporters had Eleanor Philby in Beirut, she showed out of the mystery. been there since and heard na word’ a marked reserve. Although I came Money looked important some- of him—in a country where it is bard from London partly with the aim of where in the story. Friends who to keep secrets. secing what material assistance she respected him thought it quite likely Any answer had to be reconcilable and the children might need, she was that, iven his need and his tempera- to one firm factor: Philby was only anxious for all papers to keep ment, he would embark on a Quite strongly attached to his wife and off the story, saying that this would risky enterprise if the reward were ———— ———~~=———-_ help ,fo re-open contact with Kim, ‘high enough. It seemed one thing that And she never then, or subsequently, _also might, in his eyes, justify the asked The Observer or the Economist misery and anxiety inflicted on his dorapvSinancial aid, > family by his zing. The evidence of Athe suitcase, and the notes, pointed to ja departure that was at least partly untary. ae)