Philby caught in 1939

[kelgar04]

Not sure if this fits here but I was recently listening to the audioook on the second world war Alone and read that he interviewed Lord Gort before he went out when he was a reporter for the times.

So my idea is what if something in his line of questioning made Gort or one of his staff suspicious and caused them to report it to MI5 and they dug enough to expose him leading to his capture.

How would this effect the British intelligence community? Would this lead to a witch hunt to bag other Soviet agents? Would Nazi agents be caught in the sweep?

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

It doesn't need to be Gort or the Staff officers getting suspicious to get Philby caught. It's more likely he hits on some soldier and gets picked up by the MP's, then because of what he's been reporting on Special Branch takes a long hard look at his life and it all comes out.

 

[GeographyDude]

1) The Soviets interestingly made have played a more cautious game regarding espionage because they didn’t want to loss assets they had invested in.

And—

2) It wasn’t just Philby!

Peter Wright made the case that M was a Soviet agent!

And I don’t mean the talented actress Judi Dench. I mean the real head of MI5 Roger Hollis.

Wright presents a pretty good case that Hollis was a Soviet agent. And perhaps more importantly, that the British establishment just wasn’t able to really engage with this and do the same kind of thorough, step-by-step investigation they were able to do with lower ranking officials.

* actually, the fictional “James Bond” worked for MI6 for international

* the real Roger Hollis was head of MI5 for UK domestic

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

That's an illegal book. Stay exactly where you are the police will be calling shortly.

 

[GeographyDude]

That's an illegal book. Stay exactly where you are the police will be calling shortly.

Not here in the States, mate!

 

[marktaha]

Very boring book!

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

And heavily debunked.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Back to the question. If Philby breaks there's going to be a witch hunt, this is 1939 and the Soviets aren't allies or even potential allies. They are in fact all but enemy allies. M.I.5 will not pull any punches to round up the Soviet Spy ring.

 

[kelgar04]

Back to the question. If Philby breaks there's going to be a witch hunt, this is 1939 and the Soviets aren't allies or even potential allies. They are in fact all but enemy allies. M.I.5 will not pull any punches to round up the Soviet Spy ring.

Aye and if they crack Philby then they also potentially knock over the rest of the 5 and other soviet spies in the UK or send them so far underground you need an oil derrick to find them.

Still cuts off a major leak to the USSR and potentially the Nazis since at the time they and the USSR were in bed together so to speak at this point.

 

[HexWargamer]

Not sure if this fits here but I was recently listening to the audioook on the second world war Alone and read that he interviewed Lord Gort before he went out when he was a reporter for the times.

So my idea is what if something in his line of questioning made Gort or one of his staff suspicious and caused them to report it to MI5 and they dug enough to expose him leading to his capture.

How would this effect the British intelligence community? Would this lead to a witch hunt to bag other Soviet agents? Would Nazi agents be caught in the sweep?

British 'intellengence' service at this time were largly made up of upper class 'good old boys' playing at spies .. things changed only grandually during the war (read and weep as they continued to parachute operatives into France where they were immediatly captured and tortured by the Gestapo and forced to report that all was well. When one brave operative risked his life by omitting the code word for 'all OK' thus indicating he was under duress, the oblivious incompetents in charge repremaded him and told him not to make the same mistake again)
Philby (and the other Cambridge spies) were 'one of us' (he was recommended by his mates in the Foreign Office which exempted him from even the most casual of vetting) .. there were many reports that were simply dismissed .. when it became impossible to ignore the tide of suspicion, his mates did a 'white wash' on his 'interregation' ... (they didn't even do a proper search of his rooms). As a student he appearently made no secret of his communist beliefs yet no-one bothered check his past nor ask his close friends about his current beliefs ...
Even when (eventually) caught, he was apparently able to warn his fellow travellers in time for them to escape.
Now it could all have been a 'double bluff' (to feed the Soviets what we wanted them to hear), but when the Americnas found out he (and more than one other British spy) had leaked details of the atomic bomb it poisioned US British sharing of intellegence and led to the Americans cutting off the British from further nuclear co-operation.

 

[Johnrankins]

Philby (and the other Canbridge spies) were 'one of us' .. there were many reports that were simply dismissed .. when it became impossible to ignore the tide of suspicion, his mates did a 'white wash' on his 'interregation' ... (they didn't even do a proper search of his rooms). Further, as a studebt he appearently made no secret of his communist beliefs yet no-one bothered to ask his personal friends about his current beliefs ...

Highlighted in an episode of "Yes. Prime Minister"

 

[kelgar04]

Philby (and the other Canbridge spies) were 'one of us' .. there were many reports that were simply dismissed .. when it became impossible to ignore the tide of suspicion, his mates did a 'white wash' on his 'interregation' ... (they didn't even do a proper search of his rooms). Further, as a studebt he appearently made no secret of his communist beliefs yet no-one bothered to ask his personal friends about his current beliefs ...

Fair but one of the reasons I put forward Gort initially is because of how respected the man was when he was alive due to him receiving the VC and his peerage that if it came from him it would be seriously considered even at the time like 1939.

 

[GeographyDude]

Very boring book!

Just to show that some people like chocolate and some vanilla, I found it highly interesting!

There were a lot of details. I had to start early like the second or third chapter, which I don’t always do for history books. And after each chapter — Whew, that’s a lot!

 

[GeographyDude]

And heavily debunked.

It wasn’t a slam dunk, nor did Wright claim it to be. But it was more than merely circumstantial. And within that broad range, I guess people can decide.

 

[HesitatedEye]

That's an illegal book. Stay exactly where you are the police will be calling shortly.

Except for viewers in Scotland.