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St John; Westminster and Cambridge; foodish reports; plenty of guts and knows how to get on with intellectuals ‘And his Left-wing association? Wad Oats. Open the door and let him in. The recond stage, port 1944, sees the Establishment rejoicing in its judgment: Kimi is mot only « good operator — Mt to teach those rash Americans wis- dom — but, when he wants 0 be, pre- sentable. He rides hard, likes his drink end is « bil of o bastard with the girls; But he knows when to accep! the bit. Capable of rising very high. We were wise to choose Kim. And his Left-wing sssociations? AU! got up by MI-S, ‘The third stage follows the defec- tion of Burgess and Maclean, and is by far the most interesting, covering both the Mock Trial and Macmillan’s official clearance of Philby im the House of Commons : Kim has been monstrously mnis- used. He has been playing « damned difficul’ game flushing ou Russians preted by «lot of outsiders, including thote lower class bufloons in Five. He may have been ¢ bit naughty but no more. We musi get him back on the rails. Aside, the voice pleaded: Kim, persuade us you're not one of them. or how else are we to interpret that oad Mock Trial? A good interrogator never specifics the charges, never reveals the extent of his knowledge, does not give to his suspect the comfort and security of being accompanied by his colleagues, nor the fillip of an examina ton before an appreciative audience. ‘Least of all docs be guarantee to abide bby the sporting procedures of the Eag- lish courts. By staging « trial at all, the feared for the image of the Secret Set vice and would go to great lengths to avoid publicity. (Our Secret Service ‘bas po face, but it docs have an image.) They told him, if he did not know already, that they were uncertain of their ground; mod they assured him, by providing him with a trial before his peers, that be was still one of them. ‘One is reminded irresistibly of the secret nocturnal trial of Jobo Profumo conducted by the Conservative Party a fow years Inter. Both Philby and Profumo, significandy, cajoyed Mac- wmillan’s professional confidence on the floor of the House of Commons. Bach, | | of his own sphere, was so much a part exonerated in public. Bach held out, with astonishing gall, against what ‘seemed to be a foregone conclusion. ‘Each ultimately imew the great weak- ness of the Establishment : “This Club does not eleci liars, therefore Profumo is not a liar; this Club does not elect trons therfore Kim is mot tril” ‘This Establishment is « self-proving proposition. ‘The fourth stage follows the revela- ‘toa that Philby was a Soviet spy. Once agnip we are simply without know- ledge. From the account given bere, ‘we can only assume that the old S.LS. instincts reasserted themselves. No other explanation, oa this evidence, is postible. It is the pleasant essumption of the authors of this book that the con temporary régime of S.LS. is profes- sional, self-critical and cfficient. It cas ‘only be said that on the evidence given here these virtues were not apparent in the management of Philby’s case once S.LS. knew that be was a Soviet spy. ‘Did they want him to go to Russia? ‘The argument seems to be that they could not prevent him. Why oot? A common swindler could have been arrested and extradited. Why not Philby? He was a criminal: an acces- sory before the fact of murder; he had misappropsiated Government funds. If the British Government bad wanted Kim Philby back in England, I am per- susded that S.LS. could have got him. ‘The task of S.1S. it 10 do by underband means what cannot be schicved' by overt means. So what happened? Did they, in @ sporting way, allow Kim to run for in? Did the Service want him beck and Macmillan forbid it? By now Philby had confessed. He was crack- ing up. His old defences were slip ping, be was by tums crue! end seati- mental Both dream and reality were closing in on him: Russia, for so long 0 illusion, was threatening to become a reality; the citadel, roused at last, was, apparently preparing to strike the avenger. Philby wavered; but 0, dis- fracefully, did the Establishment. It ‘was not a question of justice: a full confession from Philby would have been one of the most valuable Lntelli- gence prizes on the market. It would have demanded prolonged ‘debriefing’ and might bave taken a year or more. But they wavered, and once again, as et the time of the trial, the simpicst rules of interrogation were thrown aside. A map who has confessed is an altered man; excited, alarmed, proud and off balance; still very far from tell- ing the truth, There will be » cover story, a sory within a story, pechepa story within that. Confession by « man of Philby’s expertise is like the ; peeling of an onion; cven the most ‘Sited interrogator may never reach the beart, But one rule rings out like « bell: cling to him. Do moc for am oo him, stack him before be can segroup. No one doubted - the Mack ‘Trial bad demonstrated - that Philby ‘could think on his feet. Yet what hap- ‘toent ose? 1 will leave « loaded pistol in the Hovey «Ie algo wp by the Prt Lat sleeping dogs lia... The nation’s prestige is already sufficiently damaged... We con't absorb another George Blake scandal ... by exposing Philby, we're playing the Russians’ gome. So the scandal never hap- pened. No Minimer resigned Bwery- one and no-one was to blame. - I we cam only guess at the scope of clear-beaded than its Government Everything rests upon a clearcut state- ment of requirements by those who fornmuisie the nation's policy. If the ‘Secret Service is properly used, it is 2 fighting arm, an extension of Govern- that S.LS. in its worst years, far from being a putrescent arm upon a healthy body, was infected by a general sick- ‘ness which grew out of the sloth and disorientation of aftes-war. It is ergu- ‘nd murderous as he was, was the spy ‘and catalyst whom the Establishment deserved. Philby it « crearure of the Philby’s betrayal, let us at least assess | Mecmilian. the damage he caused. From the mid-forties, when S.LS. first took up arnos in earnest against Communism, clean through the cold est years of the Cold War, operations were focteit, officers compromised, agents shot, imprisoned or ‘turned’ co become channels of misleading in- formation. A major atomic spy (Maclean) was protected and a vast quantity of intelligence about Russia withheld from us. This was Philby's work and it is not an academic loss. A ligence targets, declares its own ignor- ance and thereby points to the areas in which it is most casily deceived. A penetrated et Barve iso ne bed one: it ig an appalling liability. place of an all-eccing eye, it becomes a credulous ear and a misleading voice, impocently deceiving its own custom- ery in every spbere of the national security; diplomatic, straicgic and economic. This was the condition in which S.LS. functioned, at a charit- ‘able estimate for ten years. Worn of all, because it had taken leave of reality, it continued t believe in its own isapregnabiliry. But what of the rex. of Whitehall? ‘What of the customers? Had they also taken leave of reality? What of ‘our vigilant Secretaries of Stute, our Foreign Office, Treasury, Joint Intel- ti Committees, our . Armed Services and all of thove who. were themselves, cach in his separate ‘world, the recipients of these trumped up wares? God knows what the Secret Service spent in those years: the Berlin tunne! alone must have cost as omuch ms an extra branch of the London ‘Underground. Throw in the Secret ‘Vote and a few hidden subsidies and put it at £200 million over ten year. Did the Treasury draw a profit and loes account of that little bi? But let un be fair in this respect at least: io Secret Service can be more to have behaved with grotesque ineptitude; it has produced most of the tmoods and attitudes thet Kim Philby secretly sneered at. And of course be has proved to us what 1 superior chap be is. Betuer than all of ut, of all of them, whichever way you care to take it. +4 A Marzian novel; a novel without humanity; a novel rich in scenes of | oaene they will give him medals, publish his arid, post-office prose, extol his ideological virrue. On cither side of the Iron Curtain they will lift their to Kim, wherever be is, the Felix Krull of the intelligence war. “He eroued hit hands om his lep and smiled, ax « man may who has won salvation for himself and his beloved.” I bave no such affection for Philby and no admiration, We aball never, I hope, create a society that is proof against his kind: the lirle man who found a big name for cheating. Philby ia the price we pey for being moder- ately free; for being able wo read this book; and there is a side so Philby's head which knows it, and will kmow it il he dies, Stupid, credulous, smug and torpid ss the Establishment may Ihave been, it erred on the side of trust. How will be spend the rest of his days? Drinking? Reading the cricket scores in the London newspapers? Waiting for the English bolocrust? ‘Now he is eaclusive. In ten year’ time be may be sopping British tourists in the Moscow sucem. Imagine that leaky <ye and whisky-voice, that beai- tant, soltfooted charm: “Britain is Fascia, you know,” be will say. “That's why Thad to do it"@ © by Le Cored Procuacicoe Lat. 1906