◆ SpookStack

é ‘diplomatic circles. “was “not proved." more ,than_he, shoulf; so did a good many other people in I never, "2" found “his * stammer. obtrusive.” Perhaps he was in a relaxed Mood gn these particular ocea-y,' “sions. {Like many others who.” knew Him ‘far better than I) *- did, I noticed absolutely noth-: ing suspicious about him, o Busy had to > be “removed _from the S.LS., but no more ‘ stringent measures were taken” against him, because the case This point? . was made in statements in the” House of Commons.’ I was intelligence sphere be- tween Americans and the Brit- ish was resumed. In the twilight years that followed 1951, Philby lived, poorly, on odd bits of journal- ism or anything else that came his way. friends ‘remained: faithful to | him and helped himwas and when they could. He con-~ tinued to drink and wench as much as he could afford to. The charm remained. MIS watched him, and he watched them watching him. = Clearly | his Moscow masters were in touch with him and instructed him to play it quietly. He has” since said that, chafing at the inaction .after ‘the days of splendor, he longed to finish it and go to Moscow, But his ‘ ders were to stay.* In 1955 he got another lucky © break. These happened so often in his life that we may well suppose there was some ,Communist-inspired manipula- tion behind the scenes. A Labor M.P., Marcus Lipton, stated in the House of Com- mons that ho had firm evi dence that Philby had indeed “been the “third man” and he asked then Foreign Secretary | Harold Macmillan: What about it? Macmillan, after consult- ing his F,Q. and S.1.S. advisers, _, * replied that it was nonsense. :Lipton claimed that he had his informhation from “a secu- rity sourge,”. which suggests”. “seem to be: Who was, fooling hom? * The F.O. eyidently ‘thought © that the’ poor fellow ‘r had been » $ sable to see-for myself that,. , « happily, close collaboration in othe Most of his British ~ * gave"him semiofficial backing hardly gone by, So they now’ in getting the Middle East cortespondent’s job on The. Observer and The Economist. Centered in Beirut, he coul travel widely and make useful, to him, Communist contacts all over that part of the world. Shortly after this, Sir Dick White became head of S.1S. As head of MIS he had had ! grave suspicions of. Philby's joyalty. He decided to make the most of a bad job and‘.: | gave him some small assign- ments ‘in the hope that he would betray himself through © his conduct of these oper--; ations. I became Foreign - Office adviser to White later. in 1956. I can confirm that Philby never tripped up. In his spare time he seduced and married the American. ~ ~ wife of an American: journal-- ist who was a close friend.* _His father, St. John, robust a: ever in his 70's, visited Beirut and father and son had some, lively parties tagether,.- How- ever, (he nightclubs finally proved too much for the old chap, and he died, uttering the memorable words: “I’m bored.” His son was shattered by his death. - : Vor ane another traitor enters |» -~ the Philby story at this point.” “George Blake, who had doubt. less been under Philby's con-. trol in the good old days when, he was riding high, had done ~ his diabolical work as S.IS.- man and double agent in , Berlin from 1954 till 1959, and he felt he deserved a rest. So’; did his grateful but unwitting — head office in London and . sthey sent him to ME.C.AS. (the Middie East Center for © Arab Studios) just outside .. Beirut. Naturally, his equally ” grateful but by no means un-_ witting other head office, in Moscow, had no objection at all to his getting together with his fellow traitor once more.” It was not for long. That same year, a contact of Blake’s came clean to our side and incriminated him. He was .- ‘sent to prison for 42 yents 3 ay » record ‘sentence. 2 The slipped up and revealed nor hivewbeysd. ‘He was” . brought to London, where he“. + . confessed his guilt. Inside prison. he was treated very well, and further interro-' gated in a gentlemanly: way. ~, At last—it was by now 1962: a piece of information (con. cerning one of the complex. operations in which they were both involved) that pointed. indubitably at the truth about“ Philby. A PEt ouiial friend of. Phiiby's . Goubt stil re cause PRiSy’: (Gevoted io Secuy 3 si a OT tS Loa RCoR. But Fo served ro ci which 7 vey n iz would, of pone ‘Is it possible thet Philby fs now a triple eagent?.