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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 30
Page 26
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PHILBY
narrow squeaks, and fairly
Constant pressure of one kind
OF, another.
: © {But surrender to cireum-
4c, stances would have been a much
freater strain than resistance to
y them.”
ig Phitby ate with a hearty
appetite — smoked salmon,
sturgeon. chicken Kiev,
e talked about changes in
{British Tntelligence since his
ure. He ventured that f
should discuss this with George
e.
Leaders
Blake 1s also here in Moscow
vafter his sensational escape
from Wormwood Scrubs where
yhe was serving a 40-year
y sentence for espionage. -
“If you want to know about
vthe diatges Initiated after
Blake's | disappearance,” ‘said
Philby, “he will perhaps put
you on to & sultable informant
He went on: “
Witnessed those changes from
cl
- chuckle :
escaped from prison ?”
On the leadership of British
Zntelligence “Philby aid:
“Certainly the British Govern-
ment have great difficulties in
finding the right men to run
their Intelligence services.
"ej Military men have never
really shone in this field.
“Iam surprised
Americans were not beticr led.
Allen Dulles of the Central
Intelligence Agency was too
fastly won round. He wanted
to be persuaded.
« “You would discuss some-
9 thing with him and just when
you thought the answer was
due he would say, "Well, gentle:
men, I think we will adjourn
now and reconvene later at my
conyenience.’”
‘Trials’
Philby revealed that he faced
two secret trials" in July
1952, over the Burgess-Maciean*
affair,
The first was conducted by
Hefenus Milmo, Q.C.—now @
High Court judge—after M.S
ad spent nearly a year prepar-
ing a case. Philby survived
The second, and hitherto
unreported, grilling took place
the next day at Philoy's London
ome and was conducted by
William Skardon, an ex-police.
man high up in M5,
“Skardon was unquestionably
trickiest cross-examiner
ave met,” sald Philby, “and I
Temember sitting there waiting
to parry his trick questions,”
According to Philby it was
Marcus Lipton, M.-P... who
eventually saved hin.
In, October 1955 Mr. Lipton
Stood up in the Commons and
named Philby as the third man
behind the detection of Burgess,
that the °
a] CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE
_ BEING VERY FRANK ABOUT—
Macmillan:
“ . *Forced ‘to clear
The Express:
ae ‘Edgiest quest.
s
4
me s better turn if he hed
wanted to.
“By naming me he virtually
forced Harold Macmillan to
ciear me, because it obvious
they did'not have any concrete
evidence — plenty of : circum-
stantial stuff but nothing hard.”
Hi “Of course, to be
the Prime Minister
recalled that
‘xpress had been“ buzz.
ike an angry bee”
“Even at my Press
conference after the Prime
Minister's statement.” he said.
pin remember it “was the
Express’s Donald Seaman who
Gave me the hardest time with
the edgiest questions.”
Mr. Lipton’s "intervention,
Said Philby, gave him a seven:
Year bonus in the spy business.
Showdown
‘He left London then-to begin
is’ spell in Beirut, Lebanon—
which, he said, was one of the
least pleasant of his life,
He was still working—apart
from the Russlans—for British
Intelligence. which had per-
suaded™ the Foreign Office to ask
The Observer newspaper to
employ Philby as tts Middle East
correspondent,
Tt was not until 1961, when
British Intelligence sent an
officer to ask Philby if he was
working for the Russians. that
he decided to cail it a day. He
defected to Russia because he
“felt real danger wa:
than ever beforé.”
Over coflee and more wine
Philby said. nhilasanbirany «sre
closer
ird Man: ,
‘TI was grilled
jhirties, The ruters of mast of
the capitalist countries are more
today.
: sophisticated
“But would they have con.
ceded so much if they had not
been compelled to look over
their shoulders at a workers’
State grown in 50 years from
Tuinous chaos to the ‘undisputed
status of a super-Power ? *
Then Philby talked about
current events,
“Must Americans run amok
indefinitely in” Asia, South
America and elsewhere,
us all?"
seriously endangering
he asked.
“Must @ Labour Government
in Britain support them indefin-
itely to ensure American Props
for’ \he battered £ Sterling 7”
“Are Harold Wilson-Brown-
Callaghan’ more astute, or
indeed Socialist. than the
appalling trio of MacDonald-
Snowden-Thomas ? *
He mused on this question of
is, staring into an empty coffee
cup. i question" answers
1d finally,
he sa:
The 30’s
Philby's political mentality
was, in his own words, irrevoc-
ably fixed in the 1930s, Thirty-
five years and 1.500 miles’
distance have not changed his
min
“I was @ perfectly genuine
Socialist in 1931." he said, “ but
that split me effectively’ from
British politics and set me on
another fateful course.
“The
thinkien
background of my
ty
Baldwin, Chamb
ruled by sine.
Cenira) Ey
war, preferab;
Soviet Union
best_solution
“The nu
which 1 too de
the workers. The
frightful.
“It became cl
drastic remedics
outside the fra
ventional bourge
Of the Spanis
which he was
Stalingrad * Gini
which the Ru
defeateg the Ger
BOs att:
asked Phi
fhought of Rus:
in which to live
“I am having
Jove affair with
said, suddenly mi:
“We have «
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