Top secret MI5 files detailing first-hand accounts of confessions from three of Britain’s most notorious double agents, including Mr. Kim Philby and Mr. Anthony Blunt, who spied for the Soviet Union, were released for the first time on January 14.
Mr. Philby and Mr. Blunt, along with Mr. Guy Burgess, Mr. Donald Maclean, and Mr. John Cairncross, were part of the “Ring of Five”—former Cambridge University students who passed information to the Soviets from the 1930s until at least the 1950s.
Declassified documents from Britain’s domestic secret intelligence agency, made public by the National Archives, detail investigations into the group whose shadowy activities have fascinated the public and inspired countless spy films and novels. Among the papers is an incomplete six-page confession from 1963 of Mr. Philby, seen as the Cambridge Five’s ringleader and who became a senior figure in Britain’s foreign spy agency MI6. In it, he finally admits his deception after years of suspicion.
Mr. Philby’s confession recounts how he met with a man called “Otto” in 1934 at the behest of his wife Lizzy, who was a Communist Party member. “In short, he proposed that I should work for an organization which I was able to identify later as the OGPU (the Soviet secret police),” wrote Mr. Philby, who was given the codename “PEACH” by MI5. “I explained my own position with great care, and he interrogated me at length. He maintained his offer, and I accepted.”
He also details how he helped recruit Mr. Burgess and Mr. Maclean, later tipping them off that Mr. Maclean was about to be unmasked in 1951, which culminated in both defecting to the Soviet Union. Mr. Philby himself fled to Moscow shortly after his confession and in 2010 was honored with a plaque at the headquarters of the foreign intelligence service in Moscow.
In the files relating to Mr. Blunt, there is a transcript of the 1964 interview conducted by MI5 officer Arthur Martin in which he finally confesses in exchange for immunity from prosecution. At that time, he was the late Queen Elizabeth’s adviser on art, a role he maintained until 1972, with his involvement in the ring only publicly revealed in 1979. A note from March 1973 said the queen’s private secretary had spoken to the monarch about Blunt. “She took it all very calmly and without surprise,” it said.
Mr. Cairncross, the last of the spy ring to be publicly identified in the 1990s, admitted in a 1964 interview in the US that he too had been recruited by Russian intelligence. “Cairncross has admitted spying from 1936 to 1951,” a telegram sent from Washington stated.
Some of the files will form part of a special exhibition at the National Archives titled “MI5: Official Secrets,” featuring case files, photographs, papers, and equipment used by spies in the agency’s 115-year history. “While much of our work must remain secret, this exhibition reflects our ongoing commitment to being open wherever we can,” current MI5 chief Ken McCallum said.
Other documents released on January 14 relating to MI5’s work from 1909 until the 1970s reveal MI5’s interest in actor Dirk Bogarde, who was believed to have been approached by Russian intelligence services. After an interview, suspicions were dismissed. There was also a booklet, used from 1939 to 1951, giving surveillance tips on how to be a good “watcher”. “The use of facial disguise is not recommended,” it says. “It may be considered essential in Secret Service films but in practice it is to be deplored. A false moustache or beard is easily detected, especially under the high lights of a restaurant, pub, or in a tube (subway) train.”