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| i t i } Re A. ee. le EA Ee a i | to resign from the Foreign Service. Since that date his case bas been the subject + of close investigation. No evidence has been found to show that bé was re- sponsible for warning Burgess of i ? ¢ ee ee wet och Aer fee Es . ies, eed nee pe Dy ye S01 Former Foreign Office “7 NOVEMBER 1958 = Officl { oe 19502 a 7 ne ra me wine 7 pe eee ments were made to keep certain highly, --~- classified material from Maclean, but these arrangements were not as ham |” handed or crude as some people may As mated in the White Paper: Tt ° Maclean, While in Government service - believe. Nevertheless, tt is not impossible t+" ~ he carried out his duties ably and con- { scientiously. I have no reason to conclude, q’that Mr. Philby has at any time betray f the interests of this country, or to identif him with the so-called “third man,” j p indeed, there was one.--- i Si toe re etg fa BN ry As regards others whose names have been in any way associated with this ! affair, 1 have made, or caused to be! made, and studied myself, the most care- ful, rigorous and impartial investigation into each case which I have been able to have made; and I can assure the House that nobody is being in any way shielded. I am sure that my predecessors would not have hesitated to have taken the appropriate action, if they had found i it, but, in fact, no such | evidence “was” found. A number of wid art . Foreign Service officers who had asso- ciated, as office colleagues or outside, with Maclean and Burgess were examined by the Foreign Office Security Service. » Of course, any evidence not already available can be produced by anybod either inside or outside this House, ; frust that it will be made available to the authorities, -- {00 .---- tee cere Roe kl Oe Te va ah Mer Dota: Mr. Werbert Morrison (Lewisham, South): It is said in a newspaper this morning—though ¥ appreciate entirely what the Foreien Secretary has said— that Philby and bis family have dis- appeared. Does he regard that a matter of significance in all the circumstances | of the case? , beer pect bind eno seit _ Mr. MacmfiMfan: Y havé fo reason to | believe that they have. In fact, I think His very improbable that they have... “ Mr. R. 3, Melfish (Bermondsey): it tay be that Philby has gone into hiding because of the scandalous - publicity arising from certain statements. +: +a t “ Pa ee ee Pe ee ere Bau -. hiae tee owe, | Mr. Macmitlan; Well, 1 was trying to State the case as fairly and as absolutely securately as I can. { must emphasise, however, that on the important question of what decided the two men to escape we really have, as the hon. Member has suggested, very little evidence, wii «2. “cn that in spite of all the precautions, sei gamut: Maclean—whom we now know was an ~~ experienced agent—may bave become aware of them, j6 bgnce ft nth e-rh + Suspicion bas also been cast on those ‘who were aware of the decision of the ~ then Foreign Secretary that Maclean .-:. should be interrogat That decision ==" was taken on 25th May, 1951, bu; the ‘tvidence of Petrov suggested that the ~ > flight of the two men was planned wal -”. before that date and, therefore, that really ** ~~ answers the cast of any suspicion falling 5. upon those who were privy to the decision -" of the right hon. Gentleman. + -g-ro0: - Bir. Sidney Silverman (Nelson- and Colne): ¥ understood from the right hon, “~~~ Gentleman's account of the matter earlier ---~-~-- that right up to the day when Burgess fied . is country there was no suspicion - - -against him at all and there was no inves- tigation on security grounds. Vf Ihave > * that rigbt, can the right hon. Gentleman -. say why Burgess should run away? ~~ ie Tee a A . *’ Mr. Macmillan: Well, the fact that “~"~~ there was no suspicion on the part of the :+-—.- ‘authorities against him docs pot mean ~~ that he may not have beea conscious of ~~. } t his own guilt, and, therefore, thought that _. best thing was to be off. I am just stating that {here was not any suspicion - me i Sgaiasi him. i think thai thai deals with 2... ahat matter. I have been asked for full | details, and I chink that { ought to give ~** — “There is then the question of Mrz. Mackan. St -is said thai she ‘have been prevented from going to Swit- ~ zefiand to live with her mother, Mra. 22> Dunbar. 11 may be said that if was nalve to rely oo Mrs. Maclean's assurance, and Jber moiber's assurance, that ihey would. +.2. - keep in touch with the Security Services, and. oo Mrs. Maclean's aff desire fo S77. educate the children ou of England...” ' ts -” However, the point is that Mrs. Mac- ‘Jean is really of little importance. Any-° 9 — thing she kocw before Maclean Jeft ae must have got from him. She had po 2°): - pvans of obtaining any information after = - he left, and wheiber she remained in this ae hae open rine hig ne a ee ne ae 2 ie a Sos i a Se oe a ER TEEN MeN RE ME epee ele i ee eee —~ueer- them fet es ea eee oye eek orem ought tO or