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EP TM Me ae ee UME ce tec Ce ee ee ene Eee RR OA Ca I ae at re a Ee a EM ne ER i see MAMI FAR ARR RR ity aS AMPERES ee gl eT ape ed chiar ere aE, 569 Former Forcign Office- 7 NOVEMBER 1953. Officiats—eticppearance IN . between the type of personnel in the Foreign Office and security, 1 think he ‘probably did not have the advantage of earing the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry, East (Mr. Cross- gman) who went into that fairly fully. 4 Mr. Irvine: Tam obliged. 1 made my observation regarding my hon. Friend's gremarks only in order tha ‘might be made clear. ~* - _ t° In considering the whole extraordinary ‘and almost incredible story of Macican ,and Burgess, .1 feel that it is a great mistake to attach loo much importance lo - the detail of their escape and to the detail of the manner in which they were able to evade the authorities. There was, obviously, some bungling. There was. uite clearly, a failure lo keep the watch at should have been kept and to put t upon them the restraints which. in the light of events, it is quite clear would have been desirable.) oy “Tigi lo 2 But there is another side of the picture E which compels us to recognise how extra- ordinarily difficult it must be to ensure that two people of that type and character and with those objectives are not able to . escape. It is a task involving consider- able difficulties indeed. Tam reminded of the story of Gilbert Chesterton—I think it is “ The Man Who Was Thursday "— which begins, if my recollection is aright, with a picture of twelve anarchists, or it may be more. One by one, as each chapter of the story unfolds, an anarchist turns out to be a detective. In the last and culminating chapter the position is reached where are all standing at the end of a pier at some point on our coast. The fast anarchist who has been dis- covered to be a detective looks round upon his colfeagues and says, “ But where are the anarchists?" The reply comes back, “ There aren't aoy anarchists. We are just a lot of bally policemen looking be the forces of security. The advantages are with the culprit who is secking to get away and the disadvantages are with those who are trying to prevent him from doing so and who, at the same time, are obliged 10 “Keep within the law and obliged. to. avoid the danger of letting it be known prematurely that a man is suspect. érefore, for my part, i.would thiak it fee we ee gL MwA s” ele ee be ae ei ge ale ee een wee gota et Net . ee rod whe 7 ae a ee te PP. Serf? a wf aad Abetir : ° Ge cae Cpe lee BaZa S ee is quite wrong to found any serious ctitl-- 0. cism of the Security Services upon the details and circumstances of the escape .7.292."_ of these two meg. Yon eee, ' The anxiety that I feel about this whole 2. affair relates not to that but to what: appears to me to be a far more important / 77 "°* matier, namely, the breakdown which the: -,~25:.- incident appears to reveal in the intuitive. _- sense aad judgment of the associates and s--y50---. superiors of these men in the Foreign “"""" Officé. That is. what causes anxisty” not:7 77°77 any trouble in the mechanics of the --»-~- matter and not. in my view, any ee Jar detail of the Security Service, Bot thats ts it should have been possible for two ople of this kind, whom we sows” -" now all that we do, to remain so jong in the Foreign Office and hold at one time =" - or another positions of considerable im. .:.: portance, suggests that there was the most =.6-3-- astounding breakdown in what one had. ~~ -:_- always liked to think was the traditional faculty in the Forcign Service to dis. -~"~ tinguish between the good and the evil “~~~” and between the sensible and the foolish: —-.—-~- * Mr. Nicholsoa: Judas amongst the Apostles...np fete ert staicocsbtes tigi = * Wir. Ervine : That is a parallel I do pot > 77” intend to follow. That is the matter that .- gives tise to anxiety. Ok Ets Vr *T can only conclude, however, that the. .. - -- breakdown of intuitive sense in the, Department cannot have been as bad as. at first sight it appears to have been.- Kt. --- must have been widely known within the Depariment that these two were undesifs ">" able mem ~. = --: aes olla -0 . If one takes that view. if one takes the... view that i: must have been apparent long before these two men escaped that they. -2:f0. - were undesirable types—if one takes the - -22:- view, in other words, that there cannot have been such a complete breakdown in the intuitive perspicacity and judgment a . of the Department that their true charac, ter was not known within it—one tums ’~--7--- to the reason why the judgment which ~--. .- moust have existed about these men was ndt exposed and made public and why =. action was not taken. I can only assume ~~ | that the reason for that was the deeply, ~. rooted desire in the Department amongst the civil servants there to be loyal to each” Othety yee: Qa Al omc tal | a - “One feels, then, that the real Tessoa to. be learnt from this incident is not that ~:-. the Security Services. were necessarily.- + -- nD”. 4 eb he FECES Re a te CS tT ee Be A at “There is mo doubt thai in all these affairs it is easy to criticise and deride * . a . . woe te — . on ee ee - -—_ . * r pF PT eed | Boe re Se oe ete lt | | i | ! be } eS ta ae Cee? oe ee + hig "+