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pot ae ON A RECA! HO pet NSCOR MES RAR se ne ee se ceneniman - ake eae: oe r 569 Former Fortign Office 7 NOVEMBER 1955 a Detween the type of personnel in the is quite wrong to found any serious criti- Foreign Office and security, 1 think he cism of the Security Services upon the probably did not have the advantage of details and circumstances of the escaj earing the speech of my hon. Friend the of these two mea. (7.26 5 Member for Coventry, East (Mr, Cross- The anxiety that I feel about this whole an) who weat into thal fairly fully. ; affair relates not te {hat but 2? whi 4 q ‘de my &Ppears to me to be a far more ant en Iain ea se Epon sue. the Beatdown wich Be. remarks nly to order thal the postion pen Or a sine and might be made clear. - e* superiors of these men in the Foreign { In considering the whole extraordinary Obed, ‘That is. what causes anxisty,” Bot and almost incredible story of Maclean ny trouble in the mechanics of the - sand Burgess, I feel that it is a great matter and not, in my view. any i mistake to attach too much importance lo Jar detail of the Security Service. But that the detail of their escape and tothe detail jt should have been possible for two of the manner in which they were able to ople of this kind, whom we sows” ~° evade the authorilies. There was, Brow all that we do, to remain so long Obviously, some bungling. There was. in the Foreign Office and hold at one time —- - ite clearly, a failure to keep the watch or another positions of considerable im. at should have been kept and to put portance, suggests that there was the most f poo them the restraints which. in the astounding breakdown in what one had light of events, it is quite clear would always liked to think was the traditional have been desirable: ".” .; ih faculty in the Forcign Service to dis?.°~—-~ - tinguish between the good and the evil 7 Cae ee i ae ite ce How extra: #0d Between the sensible and the foolish. ordinarily difficult it must be to ensure ‘ My, Nicholsoa: Judas ‘amongst the that twa people of that type and character Apostles...+,4 eH gid eveton Hinks 2 ith jecti olablewo 5 eT Aad and wi oe Ot tovoling 7 * Mr. Irvine : That is a parallel I do not °°" escape. It is a task involving consider-" tble difficulties indeed. Yam reminded of intend to follow. That is the matter that the story of Gilbert Chesterton—I think Bives tise to anwiety. "y 0" it is “The Man Who Was Thursday"— ~~ I can only conclude, however, which begins, if my recolfection is atight, breakdown of intuitive seose in the, ._. with @ picture of twelve anarchists, or it Department cannot have been as bad as. may be more. One by one, as each at first sight it appears to have been- It. ~~ chapter of the story unfolds, an anarchist must have been widely known within the turns out to be a detective. In the last Department that these two were undestr: and culminating chapter the position is able mea -.- 4 °-: reached where they arc all standing at the If one takes that view. if end of a pier at some point on our coast. view that it must have been apparent long” The fast anarchist who bas been dis- before these two men escaped, that they. =. covered to be a detective looks round were undesirable types—if one takes the upon his colleagues and says,“ But where view, in other words, that there cannot are the anarchists?” The reply comes have been such a complete breakdown in, Dack, “There aren't any anarchists. We the intuilive perspicacity and judgment . are just a lot of bally policemen looking of the Department that their true charac, a each other”: +. osc’? ter was not known within it—one tums. There ‘is no doubt thai’in all these 0 the reason why the judgment which ~ affairs it is easy to criticise and deride must have existed about these men was, ; the forces of security. The advantages NOt exposed and made public and why >= are with the culprit who is seeking to get &clion was not taken. I cap only’ assume away and the disadvantages are with those that the reason for that was the deeply, “- who are trying to prevent him from doing rooted desire in the Department amongst, $0 and who, at the same time, are obliged the civil servants there to be loyal t each 10 ‘Keep within the law and obliged to, thet: Yea es x avoid the danger of letting it be known - One feels, then, that the real Tesson to - Prematurely that a man is suspect. be learnt from this incident is not that refore, for my part, Lwould think ft the, Security Services. were : ‘ aaa.