◆ SpookStack

Vi ; course, but the mere winning of j; at did me Rood, i| The perhaps fanciful thought if hes since vccurred to me that i} part of Bremmer's mission to 4, the ri was to see that M15 * did not pull a fast one on 5.1.8. ; by arresting me on arrival. ; In view of laver developinents, this seems, on the whole, un- likely. so I put forward the ides . for fun only. Easton told me that Dick White {of 4.1.5) was anxious to see ua both as soon as pos: sible, so we drove to Leconfield ; House, off Curzon Street, where M.ES had set up their head- qQuacters. This was to be the first of Many interrogations, although an attempt was made, at this early stage, to concea] that ugly fact. Easton sat in while ite asked the questions : the role of the former was presumably to gee fair play. It may be imagined that there’ was some apprehension on my side, some embarrass- . ment on theirs. I could not claim White as a close friend | but our personal and official relations had always been #x- - cellent, He was bad at dissembling, ' but did his best to ‘ talk on a friendly footing. He wanted my help. he said, in . clearing wu this appalling ' Burgess-Maciean affair. | gave 7 ” en ee ee a ae ty es a NR a pen ne £ his personality, taking the ne rit it was almost In- concervable that anyone like Burgess, who courted the Ime- light instead of avoiding tt and was generally notorious for jnd‘scretion, could have been a secret agent, let alone a Soviet xgent from whom — strictest - security standards would be required. ee I dd not expect this line to m™ in any way convincing as to the ficts of the case; but I hoped it would give the impres- - gion Uthat I was implicitly de- : fendiyg myself against the ] charge that LL a trained counter - esplonage officer, had been completely fooied by Burgess. : Of Maclean, I disclaimed all ‘+ Knowledge. TI had heard of ' him, of course, and might even . have met him here or there, ' but offhand I could not bave \ Put a face to him, As I had only met nim twice, ' for about half an hour in all 1 and both times on a conspira- ] torial basis, since 1937, I felt that I comd safely indulge in this slight distortion of the truth. : l offered to put a summary of what I had said on paper. unspoken was bugged, and I wanted a have betrayed. ‘wards the real ,- dplterest. ut our . him a lot of information about--, Burgess’s past and impressions Jt was possible that our talk written record lo correct any bias that the microphone might When I wtnt back for my ' second interrogation a few days . later, White gave my note & ‘ cursory glance, then edged to- focus of his {. We might clarify matters, he sald. if I gave him an account ‘EEE WAMY RESIGN/ For. three ho battled with @ome awkward zig-zags to be negotiated, but I explained them away as best I could. In doing so, I gave White a plece of gratuitous information, a slip which | regretted bitterly at the time. But it is virtually certain that they would have- dug it out for themselves in thme, and it is perhaps just aa well that I drew attention to it myself at an early stage. his information related to a trip “which oT. Franco Spain be wn correspondent, it seemed that M.15 had no record of that trip and had assumed that The Times had sent me to Spain direct from a desk in Fleet Street When I corrected White on this point, he did not take Jong to ask me if F had paid for the first journey out of my own resources, Ib Was & asty little question, because the enterprise had been suggested to me and financed by the Soviet Service, just as Krivitzky had said. and a @lance at my bank balance for the period would have shown that I had no means for gallivanting around Spain : Embedded in this. episode was also the dangerous littie fact that Burgess had been used to rep.enish mv funds. My expla- nation was that the Spanish journey had been an attempt to break into the world of high- grade fournalism. on which I had staked evervthing selling THE MOST this episode ts the that though Philby escorted. not have done it this way. had Maclean evaded ‘of my relaiions with Burgess. To that end, a detailed state- Interrogation what was “then ; mene mv -own career WOUld Ghyiously a coute planned. by (OAS I have stated. there were Soviet Totelligence. Philby admits that he was on the had; made .-ta- fore whe Times = sent me ‘as. their accredited ~ extraordinary disclosure in fact was clearly under grave suspicion when he was recalled to London for interrogation by M.15, he was allowed to travel back un- The Russians would It was only a few days after MALS all my effects (mostly books , aod gramophone records) to pay for the trip. ; It was reasonably plausible and quite impossible to disprove, Burgéess's connection my Spanish venture was never ’ found out. I had an explanation ready. but I already had quite’ enough to explain When I offered to produce a second summary of our talks, White agreed, but asked me rather impatiently ta_harp less on Burgess and ‘concentrate “on ‘my own record, All but the tip of the cat's tail was now out of the bag, and I was not surprised to receive a summons from the Chief (Colonel Stewart Menaies,} He told me that he had received a strong letter from Bedell-Smith [head of the C.LA.] the terms of which pre- cluded any possibility of my returning to Washington. learned later that the letter had been drafted in great part by Bil’ Harvey [of the C.1.A.} whose wile Burgess had bitterly insulted during a convivial party aL my house, | had apologised handsomely for his behaviour, and the apology had apparently been accepted. It was there- fore difficult to understand Flarvey's retrospective exercise in spite. After this. i was aimost a formality when the Chief called me a second time and told me, with obvious distress, that he would have to ask for my resignation ac mgt possibility that he was surreptl- tiously shadowed during the flight is remote In view of the story he tells about the search for him on the baos—a story that seems too circumstantial to be fabricated. Could it be that the Secret Intelligence Service wanted him to follow Burgess and Maclean When the circumstances of his final dis- to being interrogated by an S.1.8. official into account, this possibility cannot be lightly dis- quietly into exile ? from Beirut appearance 1963 after Russia in are taken missed . for Philby? it accords too well with’ other 2b sag, He would » £4,000 in lieu of unease was incr afterwards when that he had de paying me the | once. I would get £2. the rest in half. ments of £500 © reason for the menis was the might dissipate speculation, but. ¢ wigted iD my ‘a: bit thin. A reason was the d against the poss being sent to tai years So there | wa in my hands and cloud over my | the summer how settled for a sm Rickmansworth. November whe: telephoned me a: see him at 10 following morn 1 drove up to beautiful wintry the hedgerows under inch-thick The Chlier ex judicial = inquir opened Inta ih: of the Burgcss-> The inquiry wa of Milmo, a K: who had worke ing the war. 1 give evidence, oned I would tion, The mention . cated that 4 hand I knew He was a skill Y he was the rn usnally brough ' AS I drove