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Cambridge Five Spy Ring — Part 38

49 pages · May 23, 2026 · Broad topic: Intelligence Operations · Topic: Cambridge Five Spy Ring · 49 pages OCR'd
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Taree | oe }- 1551 Former Foreign Office i sae ft We know what happened in the’ case of Burgess and Maclean. 1 take the view that neither of these men should ever have been employed in the Foreign Office in view of the reports which were forthcoming about their conduct. -I thave inquired into this matter very carefully and have read much about it, and it seems fo me that what was known about both Burgess and Maclean was more than enough to justify, not the penalty of re- signation, but the Penalty of their expulsion before they had held their for even @ year. Maclean's habit of getting habi-- tually drunk and of Jetting off steam in A pubs and clubs are things which should pot have been tolerated for one moment. 2 They would not have been tolerated in i some pubs and clubs that I have known. mt Maclean would quickly have been put f aod } is place. cicia ater eter This country is faced with the responsi- bility of looking again at the method of recruitment to the Foreign Service from this numerically small circle of people coming from the public schools. From my slight contact with the foreign embas- sies, I cannot say from whence the dif-_ ferent secretaries have come or to what kind of school they went, and neither do know what sort of background they | Rio Ried ceuttudietihlin as ie eee ae oe , ‘ [rent aeep mtn. is something wrong with our great public schools. For instance, I cannot under- stand why they do not send more men into the scientific industrial professions where they are $0 badly needed. 1.0"... When these boys have gone through the schools and the universities, having _ received a good education in the arts and graces, and then look round for some- thing to do, do they qualify by virtue of examinations for the Civil Service of the Foreign Service? Do they qualify on the basis of a desire to make a career; be-“ cause of an impetus within themselves 0: --60: something © good - for” the country? Do any wish to make a career for themselves," or do they qualify -because they want some-” thing to do? If after they are trained skills and arts and graces, they enter the service for the sake of some- thing to So, the country has no use for them, because inevitably they will fail in whatever job they take omets 7!" | If the accusations made ‘by’ my ‘hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, East ‘ eapimees gt a sip tt ity ne, 7 NOVEMBER 1955 had; but to my way of thinking there |’ “ our security services and Officicts—Disappearaneé 155} are substantiated, there ts something seri- ously wrong with our meth a selection, recruitment, entry, otion and general direction. card the Foreign Secretary, when discussing security arrangements, refer to reports from the ambassador downwards about his staff. Today the world is $0 locked | in the conflict of a cold war hat every ; Gepsible contingency has to be ‘ho investigates the top man in the first | Place, of is he never investigated? °! | i “It is all very well saying, as has been said today, that our liberty is a pre- cious thing which we must not discard when making sure that our freedom ig pot destroyed. But, in a world where such forces are ranged against us, can we seriously depend on our archaic laws ia deciding whether or not we shall arrest oc interrogate person on suspicion? _ Does | that position hold good in modern Politics and in the atmosphere of a cold war as we know it? ahead ace History can teach us some sharp and. potent lessons about what has been going n in international modern politics since 1939, The United States have been mea- tioned several times in this debate, Let us take the case of Algar Hiss. He was first brought to the notice of President Roosevelt in 1939 by Adolph Berle, and at that time President Roosevelt pooh- Poohed the idea and said that it was im- possible, The activities of Algar Hiss were further brought to the notice of Presidemt Truman and the same thing happened, But who or what was Algar Hiss?. He was one of the First Secro- taries io the American State Department. “When “we rests “ what {remendous ° power these people can wield, when we” temember what happened at Yalta and how it affected the politics of Europe and elsewhere, especially the United States and Britain, when we remember the alties that Yalta imposed on the. Foreign policies of the Western world, and when we realise that behind President” Roosevelt sat Algar Hiss—a self-confessed poderer and Soviet espionage agent—th: a very sobering thought. -.--..+ &": * We do not desire McCarthyism in this : country, But, in defence of our liberties and our people, we have the right to ask for an inquiry into the Foreign Office and e way they work, 1 do not think we can depend Jonger upon the established system and. ‘ et : te melee ten ek tay
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