The Philby Conspiracy

by Bruce Page, Phillip Knightley, David Leitch

A provocative account of Kim Philby, the Communist agent who penetrated British secret service and became director of its counter-Soviet department in 1944

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Espionage, Biography, British Literature, Biography Memoir, War

295 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the early 1950s, two British intelligence agents defected to the Soviet Union, throwing suspicion on one of Britain's highest-placed intelligence officers, Kim Philby, whom many thought to have warned the defectors of their imminent arrest. But Philby was cleared, and it was not until several years later that he himself defected and the world learned the scope o the greatest disaster and embarrassment in the history of British national intelligence. Philby and the two other agents (Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean) had been fellow students at Cambridge and had there been recruited by the Soviets. Though each man was bedeviled by alcoholism, they all three rose to positions of prominence in the intelligence service, and all three cost England and the United States badly in terms of information and the lives of agents. This book, written not long after Philby's defection, was published before the full extent of the double-agent ring was known and the British government further humiliated. But it covers the lives of all three spies most effectively, and the story is richly detailed (despite the difficulties of researching the secret world of intelligence and counter-intelligence). This is a fascinating read.

[Nathan Willard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Offers the first thoroughly-researched biography of Kim Philby, the Soviet master spy who served as the liaison between what is now MI-6 and the CIA in the early 1950s. Three reporters for the Times worked to track his likely period of initial recruitment, early signs that the intelligence services missed, and especially the odd events surrounding the defections of Guy Burgess and Donald Mclean. Absolutely fascinating spy tale as interesting for its content as for its status as a primary source and window into thoughts and opinions of 1960s Britain.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of its time - but no less authoritative for that.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, I loved this detailed account written in 1968, not just of the actual spying and capture, but of the background story. Well stories actually, because the authors go into great detail about Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean as well as Philby, covering their interrelationships and backgrounds. It is as good as the best spy thriller, though if it were a novel we would all be saying that MI6 could never have ignored the suspicions about Philby's guilt for so many years, ignoring their sister agency MI5 who were repeatedly telling them that he was spying for the Russians. Fascinating stuff and a lesson to the Brits: the assumption that choosing your spies almost entirely from the upper echelons of society guaranteed loyalty was never a smart idea.

[Anders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lagom långt, gammal biografi (60-talet) om de tre Cambridge-spionerna; främst Philby men även MacLean och Burgess. Ambassad-mingel, massor av alkohol, brittisk överklass o diverse journalist / underrättelsearbete, som avrundades av att alla tre flydde till Sovjet. Intressant story.

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good follow on to Philby's "My Silent War" and the authors provide a more substantial insight on the events from a different perspective than does Philby who is more reserved for obvious reasons of guilt. Insight into Philby's Communist sympathies while at Cambridge as a reaction to the rise of Fascism in England and Europe during the 1930s is offered as a reason for his ideological preferences. The dysfunctional nature of MI5 and SIS is painted in a similar manner to the picture given by Philby in “My Silent War.” The sheer incompetence in affording advancement based on class over meritocracy is stunning and an indictment of English bureaucracy by the authors as the main causes of this security debacle.

The latter half of the book spends a fair amount of time accounting for Maclean and Burges activities and how it possibly ties in with Philby and each was probably aware of their common ideological sympathies to the extent they suspected one another’s involvement in treason to some extent. The chapter on Burgess' background was helpful in understanding that he was a manipulator capable of upward mobility despite his mediocrity and Maclean despite his cleverness was psychologically the weakest. Much of the activities just prior to the defection of each member had to be based on interpolation from circumstantial evidence but the authors are straightforward in acknowledging their limitations but are convincing in terms of reasonableness. What still remains unknown is why each member chose to do damage to their own country in spite of historical developments within the Soviet Union.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book with three authors, all of them journalists, this is an impressively well written item. Written in 1967, it treats the conspiracy as involving simply Philby, Maclean and Burgess. Blunt is treated just incidentally and never with suspicion, likewise the others who were later discovered, or at least strongly suspected, as being Soviet moles in the British government. Being so early--Philby had only just defected in 1963, following the others--this book is more highly speculative than the others which have followed, but the speculation is intelligent and firmly grounded in the narrative descriptions of the three principals and their backgrounds.

Personally, I find the Cambridge spies to be most interesting in that they maintained, at considerable sacrifice, their devotion to Soviet communism from their college to their dying days. While such a political stance makes sense to me when I think back to the depression, the thirties and the war, it doesn't, or at least the Soviet aspect of it doesn't, hold up so well upon the Stalin-Hitler pact, the various purge trials and the Warsaw Pact's invasion of Hungary in 1956. What, I wonder, am I missing?

The authors of this book are not sympathetic to Soviet communism. They do try to imagine how it was that these three privileged men maintained their commitment to overthrowing the very structures msintaining their privileges. This is not, however, the thrust of their book, their interest being more focused on the class system in Britain and in its intelligence services, particularly Mi6.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a set of books in Ballintines Espionage/Intelligence series, The Philby Conspiracy is the factual account(as are all in the series) of three Englishmen who infiltrated the very highest levels of MI6 (Britain's C.I.A.). in the employ of the U.S.S.R.
Recruited from Cambridge at a young age Philby and two others were run as very deep moles. With Soviet advice and natural cunning all rose to positions that allowed them to pass the very highest secrets of both the U.K. and later the U.S.A. directly to Moscow in a period that included WW 2 and long after.
Philby was the head of counter-intelligance much of that time and as such led to the deaths of many with his deceit.
This barely scratches the surface of the saga. Though the books can be a little muddled at times, perhaps because most are penned by participants rather than professional authors, the monumental historical impact keeps you reading, and wondering.
Some of the others in the series that are worth the reading are "Inside The KGB". "The American Black Chamber", "Top Secret Ultra", "Wilderness Of Mirrors", "The Atom Bomb Spies", and "The Storm Petrals".
If you get hooked there are several more available.
But we will know should you read them.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book has many strengths, most notably a depiction of the background and Cambridge careers of the first three of the known spies. Their motivation(s) and the degree of their interaction still remain a mystery to me after reading the book but there was no first person or interview information available when this book was written in 1968. An update on the story, to include the two other member spies of what we now call The Trinity Five, would be worthwhile and welcomed. For those who read and like this book, I recommend Charles Cummings's novel, "The Trinity Six", which posits that there was a "sixth man" in the group that attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and spied for the Soviet Union during WWII and the Cold War.

[Adrian Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

1968 Sunday Times Insight team telling of the Cambridge Spies story naturally leaves some gaps but captures the seedy characters of Burgess, Maclean and Philby and removes any glamour attached to their activities. Fascinating references to Sir Anthony Blunt, identified as someone with left wing sympathies, a friend of Burgess at Cambridge and beyond, an employee of MI5 but definitely "not a Communist". Had they been briefed that Blunt had confessed in 1964 to being a Soviet spy and were they leaving clues?

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant is the only word applicable. By the globally famous Insight team from The Sunday Times and with a wonderful introduction by John Le Carre this is the detailed masterpiece of the life of Kim Philby, the British spy working for Moscow who betrayed an entire generation. reads like the very best of Le Carre's own inimitable spy thrillers

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating treatise on the three most notorious men who began life as Cambridge students, recruited as soviet agents. For the next 30 years spent spying for the Soviets. The most notorious was Kim Philby This Is a well written and a must read for those who are interested in Cold War history.

[John Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent piece of history - the top molecatcher is the mole himself.