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Podcast Episode Summary: The Rest Is Classified - Episode 124: Kim Philby: Britain’s Most Notorious Traitor (Ep 4)
Overview In this episode of *The Rest Is Classified*, hosts David McCloskey and Gordon Corera delve into the life of Kim Philby, a notorious double agent for the Soviet Union who infiltrated British intelligence during the Cold War. The episode culminates in a tense scenario involving a Soviet defector, raising questions about loyalty and betrayal.
Key Themes
- Kim Philby's Dual Life: The episode explores the complexities of Philby's life as a double agent, particularly the tension between his duties to MI6 and his allegiance to the Soviet Union.
- The Nature of Betrayal: A central question presented is whether one can feel sympathy for a traitor, echoing throughout the discussions on Philby's motivations and actions.
- Consequences of Espionage: The discussions cover the dire consequences of espionage not only for the agent but also for innocent individuals caught in the crossfire of intelligence operations.
Episode Breakdown
- Context Setting
- Philby's position in MI6 as a Soviet agent running operations against his own country is highlighted.
- The hosts discuss the high stakes of his work, indicating the acute risks associated with his dual role.
- The Guzenko Defection
- Igor Guzenko, a cipher clerk, defects to Canada, revealing extensive Soviet espionage activities in the West, marking a turning point in Cold War intelligence.
- Philby's complicated reaction to Guzenko's revelations and his role in managing the information highlights the precariousness of his situation.
- The Volkov Incident
- The narrative pivots to Constantine Volkov, another Soviet official who attempts to defect to the West.
- Philby's strategic maneuvers to delay the defection process, ultimately leading to Volkov's recapture and execution by the KGB, exemplify the brutal realities of espionage.
- The tension builds as Philby balances his need to protect his own identity with the moral implications of his actions.
- Personal Struggles
- Philby's personal life shows signs of strain, particularly in his marriage to Aileen, exacerbated by his heavy drinking and infidelity.
- Aileen's struggles with mental health and self-harm reflect the toll of living with a secretive and unfaithful partner.
- Career Progression
- Philby’s career continues to advance, culminating in his promotion as the head of MI6 in Washington, placing him at the heart of the Cold War.
- The hosts discuss the implications of this promotion for Philby's future and his deepening involvement in espionage.
- Reflection on Philby's Choices
- The episode culminates in a philosophical discussion about Philby’s motivations and whether his actions can be justified.
- The hosts debate Philby's self-perception and the notion of belonging, with Philby ultimately asserting that he never truly belonged to the British establishment, framing his betrayal as an act of loyalty to his ideological beliefs.
Key Takeaways
- Complicated Loyalties: Philby’s story underscores the complexities of loyalty in espionage, raising moral questions about the nature of betrayal.
- Human Cost of Espionage: The consequences of Philby's decisions extend beyond his personal life, affecting countless lives and operations.
- Psychological Burden: The psychological toll of living a double life is evident through Philby's increasing reliance on alcohol and the strain on his relationships.
Closing Thoughts The episode ends with a promise to return to Philby's story, particularly the challenges he will face in Washington, hinting at the eventual unraveling of his double life. The discussion invites listeners to reflect on the nature of loyalty and betrayal in the world of espionage.
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Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOPhilby's Position Post-WWII
3:05 to 4:56
Explore how Kim Philby navigated his dual role after World War II.
“and we're now, Gordon, in episode four, the finale of our four-parter on the rise of Kim Philby.”
Defections and Intelligence Revelations
4:56 to 8:05
Discuss the impact of Soviet defectors on Philby's operations.
“This period, I think, really from 1944, when he takes over this Section 9 dealing with the Soviet Union, is the period in which he's going to do the greatest damage to Western intelligence.”
The Volkov Defection Case
8:05 to 11:28
Analyze the significant defection of Constantine Volkov and its implications.
“And often it's people who've been communists.”
The Consequences of Volkov's Offer
11:28 to 14:00
Understand the consequences Philby faced upon receiving Volkov's offer.
“but one of them fulfilled the function of the head of a section of the British counter-espionage service in London.”
The Diplomatic Bag's Secrets
14:00 to 14:55
Learn how diplomatic bags can transport sensitive materials without scrutiny.
“You could put anything in a diplomatic bag.”
Philby's Calculated Responses
14:55 to 17:33
Discover how Philby managed his reactions during a high-stakes meeting.
“And he's shown this letter from Istanbul outlining Volkov's offer.”
The Luck of Timing
17:33 to 20:38
Explore how Philby skillfully navigated timing to evade detection.
“I mean, he's got, and supposedly Roberts says, don't you read my contract?”
The KGB's Counteraction
20:38 to 22:09
Understand how the KGB responded to Philby's warning about Volkov.
“They drug Volkov and his wife two days before Philby arrived, so just two days before.”
Consequences of Betrayal
22:09 to 24:49
Examine the fallout of Philby's actions on Volkov and the implications for spy dynamics.
“Gordon, I think this would be a good point to ask you.”
Philby's Internal Struggles
26:33 to 28:00
Discuss how Philby's double life began to affect his personal life and relationships.
“He was not usually aggressive or unpleasant, just drunk.”
Show all 22 chapters
Philby's Psychological Struggles
28:00 to 30:00
Explore Kim Philby's internal struggles and decisions affecting his personal life.
“because I mean it makes perfect sense doesn't it I mean it's it's a way for him to cope with what must have been a very unpleasant interior psychological reality you wouldn't want to face it every day.”
Career Advancements and Opportunities
30:00 to 31:50
Discuss Philby's career moves within MI6 and their implications for his future.
“And then, you know, the next stage in his career, He gets offered the chance to go as the station chief, the head of MI6 station in Istanbul.”
Personal Life Turmoil and Affairs
31:50 to 33:30
Examine the strains in Philby's marriage and his relationships with others.
“So and I guess Istanbul is also it's not it's not a backwater, is it?”
Aileen's Descent into Illness
33:30 to 35:50
Understand the impact of Philby's lifestyle on Aileen's mental health and actions.
“Burgess goes missing sometimes, doesn't he?”
Philby's Operational Strategies Against the Soviets
35:50 to 38:10
Detail Philby's involvement in anti-Soviet operations and the Cold War landscape.
“But then eventually she seems to get back on an even keel.”
The Moral Quandaries of Espionage
38:10 to 41:50
Explore the ethical dilemmas faced by Philby in his role as a spy.
“I mean, because he's looking for ways to penetrate the Soviet Union.”
A Major Promotion for Philby
41:50 to 42:05
Learn about Philby's rise to a critical position at MI6 and its historical significance.
Philby's Promotion and Future in Washington
42:05 to 43:34
Learn about Kim Philby's unexpected rise to head the MI6 station in Washington and its implications.
“And what's astonishing is he is just 37 years old.”
Sympathy for Philby: A Moral Dilemma
43:34 to 45:50
Explore the complexities of sympathizing with Philby as he makes pivotal choices in his life.
“opening challenge that you kind of delivered in episode one, which was when you said, you know, you have a spot of sympathy for Kim Philby.”
Philby's Justification for Betrayal
45:50 to 49:09
Discuss why Philby believed he never truly belonged to Britain and his rationale for betrayal.
“about, where Philby says, I've always operated on a personal and a political level.”
The Host's Disclaimer on Betrayal
49:09 to 49:47
Listen to the host's humorous yet serious disclaimer about not endorsing Philby's actions.
“But I think in his mind, he would have seen himself as just loyal to a single cause.”
Conclusion and Teasers for Future Episodes
49:47 to 50:59
Wrap up the discussion on Philby's rise with hints about upcoming content related to his downfall.
“If you're at Cambridge right now thinking about communism and Moscow, don't do it.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:03Gordon:For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series, first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books, join the Declassified Club at therestisclassified.com.
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2:37Gordon:A penetrated secret service is not just a bad one. It is an appalling liability. In place of an all-seeing eye, it becomes a credulous ear and a misleading voice, innocently deceiving its own customers in every sphere of the national security. diplomatic, strategic, and economic. This was the condition in which SIS functioned at a charitable estimate for 10 years. Well, welcome to The Rest is Classified. I'm David McCloskey. And I'm Gordon Carrera. And that is former SIS officer, a minor spy novelist, John Le Carré, writing in 1968 about Kim Philby, of course, Le Carré, giant of the genre, who wrote a wonderful, incredible novel called Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy that really is in many ways about Philby, about the British class system, about the sort of turning inside out of a secret service as he's describing it here.
3:34Gordon:and we're now, Gordon, in episode four, the finale of our four-parter on the rise of Kim Philby. And a reminder that we are not doing the entire Kim Philby story in this series. We are going to come back to this later on. Doubtless, Gordon, we'll probably have 30 or 40 episodes when all is said and done on Kim Philby. Is that right? Less than that, but more than four. More than four. We're going to come back and do the kind of downfall of Philby later on. But we left Philby last time, Gordon, at the end of the Second World War. He had been poisoned by insecticide by a German cook. He was in the streets of Berlin when news of the use of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima came through.
4:23Gordon:And we're now entering this new world of what is soon to become the Cold War. And Kim Philby is in the astounding position of being a Soviet intelligence agent who is running all of SIS's operations against the Soviet Union. So he is doing this high wire act that is incredibly important to the Soviet Union, but also extremely risky for Kim Philby himself.
4:56David:Yeah, that's right. This period, I think, really from 1944, when he takes over this Section 9 dealing with the Soviet Union, is the period in which he's going to do the greatest damage to Western intelligence. But it is also the most stressful and the most difficult for Philby to manage. Because as we'll see, he's basically having to walk this tightrope. Things are getting harder because he's not working with the Soviet Union and Britain against a common enemy, the Germans. but he's working in British terms against his bosses in Moscow. And he's supposed to be undermining Soviet intelligence. And so the question becomes, how successful do you want to be in that job?
5:38David:Because also, you can't be totally unsuccessful. You can't screw everything up in operations against the Soviet Union, or it's going to be pretty obvious. Your career is going to be over and people are going to ask questions. But equally, if you're really good at your job, you're doing damage to Moscow and to your true masters. So, you know, there is this kind of constant question and tension you've got if you're Philby now, which is what operations do you sabotage? What operations do you let run? Do you even tell your Moscow handlers everything for fear of what they might do? So he's got this amazing access and this amazing opportunity, you know, details of what the UK and the allies are doing to the spy on the Soviets, the bugging, the agent running, the liaison with the Americans, he knows what they're doing, he knows what communications they're intercepting.
6:26David:He's constantly having to kind of weigh in his mind how to deal with it. And I think the place where, as we'll see in these years, it gets really hard is when you get defectors from Soviet intelligence. I mean, this is the really challenging bit.
6:42Gordon:The first incident here that becomes problematic for Philby is September of 1945, A cipher clerk in the Soviet embassy in Ottawa named Igor Guzenko shows up first at a newspaper office and then Canadian Department of Justice with a whole bunch of secrets that he's taken. And classically, Gordon, what do you do with a Soviet defector, right? I mean, you turn him away initially, right? Get out of here. We don't want this stuff. Get lost. but eventually they yeah they see the light and yeah guzenko starts starts talking yeah exactly
7:21David:i mean it's funny isn't it because they they turn him away the soviets start hunting for him and he goes into hiding and then you know the kind of the west suddenly rise actually maybe we need to get this guy and they bring him in probably worth us doing a story on him sometime because his intelligence is so important because he basically reveals how much spying the soviet Union is doing on Western countries, because of course, they've been allies through the war. Thanks to Gwizenko, the Western intelligence agency going like, hang on a second, they're spying on us this much from Moscow. And so in many ways, this kind of Gwizenko defection is the kind of starting gun for the Cold War in terms of intelligence, because they're realising, well, we've not been spying on them, but they are spying on us.
8:06David:And often it's people who've been communists. And some of the people Gwizenko will point to, including spies in the atomic bomb program. There's one Alan Nunn May. He's going to be important. And the reports, though, the reports of what Kwazenko is revealing, of course, where do they come in London? They come to Section 9. They come to Philby. He gets the reports. And he's agitated when he meets his Soviet handler. But at least he can pass it on. And then the Soviets are able to warn some of these agents not to go to some of their agreed rendezvous and meetings where they might be caught and kind of incriminate themselves.
8:40David:I mean, Alan Nunn may will eventually be arrested and prosecuted. But Philby's got to kind of manage this. And he's kind of also managing it within the office. So there's a very interesting woman called Jane Archer who's come over from MI5, who is like the leading expert on communism. And again, Philby is really kind of worried by her because he's like, she knows what she's talking about. She's actually interviewed Soviet defectors who've talked about communists, spies and agents inside the British system. Might she have some suspicions about me? So he's got to kind of manage the inflow of defector information, manage some of his own stuff and keep them away from the details that are sensitive.
9:20David:But then we get, I think, the big one for Philby, Volkov, Constantine Volkov, this defection. And this, you know, you were talking about John le Carré and the fact that he basically fictionalizes the Philby story. And the Volkov story, I think, is at the heart of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy And the Kare's book really does take this story and use it as the kind of dramatic pull into the mole hunt in Britain. So Volkov, short stocky man, nominally the Soviet vice consul in Istanbul, approaches the British consulate general in Istanbul in Turkey in August 1945 and leaves a letter asking for an urgent appointment.
10:02David:Again, no response. No response. A bit like the Gwizentko. It's like, really good agent? Yeah. We'll just leave it. He gets nothing. It's a prank. They think it's a prank and they ignore it. So then he turns up in person with his wife. He's taken into the British Vice Consul's office and he's kind of clearly nervous, his wife even more so. The British Vice Consul brings in another diplomat who's a Russian speaker to help. And Volkov, of course, reveals he is actually a Soviet intelligence officer. and crucially he previously worked on the british desk in moscow so he knows about operations against britain by the nkvd the forerunner the kgb and he's offering to defect in return for 50 000 pounds he's had a row with his ambassador and he says he's got a ton of intelligence he's got everything from kind of keys to get into the buildings of the soviet missions to and this is a a list of 314 agents in Turkey that they're running and 250 agents in Britain, including some of the documents they've handed over.
11:09David:And as a teaser, so in advance on what he's got, because he's obviously smart enough not to just all hand it over until the deal is agreed. He knows the kind of way these works. He says, without giving names, there are two spies inside the British Foreign Office and seven inside the British intelligence system, but one of them fulfilled the function of the head of a section of the British counter-espionage service in London. Very precise words, you know, fulfilled the function of the head of a section of the British counter-espionage service in London. And he says, if the Brits are going to offer him, you know, a new identity and the money, he will provide their identities.
11:54David:And he also says all communications between Istanbul and London should be by diplomatic bag because the Russians have agents inside the mission, the British mission, and the Russians had broken some of the British codes. So he doesn't want any of the details to go back by telegram because he fears the Russians will be able to read them. I mean, that's a big deal.
12:16Gordon:Yeah. We glossed over the fact that he asked for£50 ,000, which I presume is… A lot of money. I don't know what that translates to today, but it's a good chunk of change. It seems, I guess the specific words you read would have related to Philby's time when he was running Section 5.
12:36David:What's so interesting about them is they are not very precise words. Because the British Counter Espionage Service, technically, that is MI5. MI5 is the spycatcher service. So your initial assumption on reading that would be that the person Volkov is talking about is the head of a section of MI5 because he talks about the counterespionage service. What he really means is a counterespionage section in the intelligence service. But he's kind of – he's slightly muddled the words or deliberately or not, but he's slightly got that wrong.
13:13Gordon:And it's dated, too. That description is dated like he doesn't know that Philby is actually in charge of the Soviet section inside SIS. Yeah, but he clearly knows the names because he's offering to give them.
13:26David:But he's insisted the deal has got to be done first. So the Russian-speaking British diplomat is told, you contact me, Volkov says, on routine business to pass messages. And he wants to hear ideally within 21 days by September 25th or the latest by October the 1st, or else then he'll go elsewhere. So that means then they have to send word back to London about this approach because they clearly realise this is kind of serious. And it's got to go back by the diplomatic bag, which, of course, is literally a bag where you can put in documents, which is, I think, technically not supposed to be searched by postal authorities.
14:04David:Is that right?
14:05Gordon:Right. That's right. Yeah, exactly. You could put anything in a diplomatic bag. You could put weapons, you could put documents, you could put a person, and it's not supposed to be searched by the host country on its way in and out.
14:20David:But of course, the problem is that because it is literally a bag rather than the telegram going, it's got to get from Istanbul to London in those days. I mean, in all, it's going to take 10 days. So the clock is already ticking on his deadlines for it to arrive at Broadway at MI6 HQ, where it goes straight to the chief. And then who would, you know, if you're the chief of MI6, who would you summon to discuss this amazing offer? You're a Soviet guy, right? Yeah, Kim Philby. Kim Philby is summoned into the chief's office on September the 19th. And he's shown this letter from Istanbul outlining Volkov's offer.
14:58David:and it's amazing because you just think about it he is sitting there in front of the chief of MI6 reading what could be effectively his death warrant and also realizing no doubt when it talks about two spies within the foreign office it's Guy Burgess and Donald McLean who are there at that that point his friends which would also point to him and of course Philby's such a kind of cool customer he's reading it in front of the chief live and he's got to show nothing on his face no shock no suspicion in his memoir he says i stared at the papers rather longer than necessary to compose my thoughts i bet he did um and philby i mean he plays it cool because he basically knows the thing not to say is to go oh well this is nothing this is you know it's a joke we should ignore it because he knows that also will be suspicious so he says oh this looks very important Let me come back to you tomorrow morning with a plan.
15:53David:That's the smart thing to do, isn't it? Kind of buy time, basically.
15:57Gordon:Obviously, at this point, the chief of SIS, Mingus, how could he possibly think that it's Philby? He's just going to up front probably not even consider that possibility, right? That Philby is one of the Soviet spies that Volkov refers to. And of course, then that gives Philby time. So that evening, the 19th, I mean, he goes and what do you do? If you're Philby, you alert the Russians immediately, I guess, via Burgess, right? So he goes and sees Burgess at the foreign office and then gets him to pass a message and then Philby meets his handler. I guess if you're Philby, you'd like to be the person talking to Volkov, wouldn't you?
16:43David:Yeah, exactly. So next morning, Philby goes back to see the chief. He says, yes, this is potentially of great importance. And of course, he says, someone who knows what they're talking about should be sent out to debrief Volkov and get him out safely. Now, we talk about this a few times. Philby again and again is lucky. And here again, he's lucky because initially he isn't the first person and the obvious person to be sent out. Because there is someone who's slightly better placed. There's a guy called Brigadier Douglas Roberts who's based in Cairo for British intelligence. And he's closer in Cairo, you know, and he speaks Russian.
17:19David:So it kind of makes sense. And Philby can't be seen to go, no, no, don't send someone else. But later in the day, Philby is summoned back to the chief's office to be told, unfortunately, Roberts is afraid of flying. Oh, good grief. I mean, he's got, and supposedly Roberts says, don't you read my contract? I don't fly. I mean, he's got in his contract that he won't fly when he's asked to go to Istanbul. This is kind of brilliant luck for Philby, isn't it? I mean, it's so lucky because then he can go to the chief. well, maybe if Roberts can't go, maybe I should go. Maybe me. And of course, the chief is like, oh, Philby, would you be so kind?
18:03David:I mean, it's mad, isn't it?
18:05Gordon:You would think that an intelligence officer faced with the prospect of being able to debrief a true blue NKVD defector, you would think people would be jumping at the chance to get there but it's kind of treated like an irritating errand for these intelligence officers to carry
18:25David:out right well it is a long way to go and i mean this is the other thing i kind of realize again kind of looking back at this as we'll see it's not quick to go out there it's not as easy as today where there's kind of multiple direct flights to istanbul i mean and philby has also got this problem is now he's been told he can go out you want to go out slowly because you've inform the Soviets. You're hoping they're dealing with it. But equally, you can't be seen to be slowballing. So he does have to do a kind of crash course in wireless coding. So he has to be kind of reminded how to do coding from the field.
Read the full transcript
18:58David:He doesn't rush, but neither does he slow things down because he doesn't want to tip things off too much. But it's now around September the 25th when he's actually going to go to Turkey. And then again, he gets lucky because he writes this, he goes towards evening my rising spirits were given another boost so he's on the plane first and the pilot announces on the intercom that owing to electrical storms over malta we were being diverted to tunis and then subject to improved weather conditions they'd eventually get to cairo via malta the next day that's another 24 hours and then he misses his next connection to istanbul from Cairo.
19:43Gordon:I mean, what he's effectively done is he's informed the Russians that they've got a problem with Volkov. And so he has, there's two timelines running here. There's the Russians' ability to sort of pull Volkov, convince Volkov to go back to Moscow or to just yank him out. And that is running against Philby trying to get to Istanbul to debrief him. And Philby wants all of these delays so that he can show up effectively in Istanbul and say, oh, the guy's not here. Yeah. Or the offer has been rescinded or whatever. So as these delays pile up.
20:22David:It's buying time. Yeah. And he arrives, I think, in Istanbul on a Friday and the consul general is away and the place closes for the weekend. The foreign office is also a bit wary of him. He goes to the ambassador's yacht on the Sunday because, you know, the ambassador wants to meet him. finally I think it's only on the Monday he goes into the consulate and he gets the first secretary who'd been the kind of the Russian speaking Brit who's the kind of the go-between to call Volkov and they call Volkov in the Soviet consulate in Istanbul first time no answer then the next time they try again someone does answer and says yes I am Volkov but the first secretary who's met volkov many times you know in person just knows it's not him the voice is wrong and so he says like this is not again so they're going to try again and a secretary says you know volkov is out and then the next day when they call again a secretary says volkov's in moscow and then the line goes dead i mean uh you know for philby that is success isn't it it is yeah and it's only later that it kind of, it emerges what's happened, which is the KGB had enough time, thanks to Philby's warning, to send officers out to Istanbul.
21:41David:They drug Volkov and his wife two days before Philby arrived, so just two days before. And then famously, two figures entirely covered in bandages are seen being loaded onto a Soviet aircraft on a stretcher. And that is Volkov and his wife. And they are taken to the Lubyanka KGB headquarters. They are tortured, they confess, and both Volkov and his wife are executed.
22:15Gordon:Gordon, I think this would be a good point to ask you. You've spoken throughout the series about your affection for Kim Philby. Well, not affection, just revisionist take on Philby. your empathy for the adventurous spirit of, you know, this young communist idealist. Who didn't dabble in this left-wing stuff when they were at university, right? But now here we are with two dead people. So I'm just kind of curious where you were.
22:43David:Spying's a rough game, David. Yeah, just in case you didn't realize that. It's a rough game, and this is how it gets played. If you're Volkov, if you're Philby, it's survival. It's Volkov or Philby, isn't it? It's as simple as that. If Volkov gets out, Philby is, well, he may not be dead. I guess that is the difference. You know, he's not going to get tortured. He's just going to go to jail for a long time. Well, would he? No, probably not. Yeah.
23:09Gordon:I'm very skeptical at this point that Philby would have seen the inside of a British jail.
23:15David:I agree. My sympathy for Philby begins at this point to be stretched somewhat and become harder to. But anyway, let's pass on that for the moment. Let's move on. Let's move on. Because Philby heads back on the plane and he writes a report to his bosses, speculating. I love this. He has to speculate. What happened? What happened to Volkov? Because they don't know yet about the kind of stretcher and the advantages. Perhaps he writes Volkov changed his mind. You know, he had been very nervous in the meetings. Maybe he got drunk and was spotted. Or maybe the embassy, one of the embassies was bugged and they worked it out.
23:52David:Those are the only ways of explaining it. And on the way back to London, he goes via Rome and he visits James Jesus Angleton, later of the CIA. They get massively drunk. You know, Angleton expresses great sympathy about what's happened. And Philby will later call it a very narrow squeak. And I think it's more than that. It's a very British understatement right there. It is very British. It's very Philby. He now knows that any defector from inside Soviet intelligence could be the end for him. What if Volkov had defected to the Americans or even the Turks and given them the details of who the spies were in British intelligence?
24:34David:Assuming he had Philby's name, he could have just defected to them and given them the name. He would have had no chance even to control the situation, Philby, then. So again, you know, he was very, very lucky.
24:44Gordon:Maybe Gordon Dare with Philby having come through this very narrow squeak. Let's take a break and we come back. We'll see how the strain of Philby's double life begins to take its toll. When you want your spring break to feel like. And your kid's pool day to feel like. And your hotel bed to feel like. Ooh, and room service to feel like. Because at Hilton, hospitality feels like.
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26:32Gordon:Well, welcome back, Kim Philby. Gordon I think it's safe to say is maybe beginning to show some signs that this whole double life thing is is is really wearing him down and I mean even his friends start to notice in this period
26:47David:don't they that he's he's a different man yeah Tim Milne's old school boyfriend who's also with him in MI6 now says it's interesting he says I scarcely ever saw him much the worse for drink before 1945 but somewhere around this time there was a perceptible change milne wonders you know is that the war is over but he he suddenly changes and and drink becomes a bit of a bigger factor and i think milne will later think maybe it was the volkov case which was the turning point for him because you know suddenly he could be sober after a dozen drinks or almost incoherent after two At this time, 1945, 1946, he was more likely to get drunk on private relaxed occasions than in wider company.
27:31David:He was not usually aggressive or unpleasant, just drunk. And it's interesting, he gets drunk in private with his friends and you feel like he needs that release, doesn't he?
27:41Gordon:You know, we haven't talked a whole lot about his consumption of alcohol. we talked about it a little bit last week on our club episode when we talked with Antonio Senor about her book Stalin's Apostles I think it is a fascinating aspect of the way Philby manages his stress because I mean it makes perfect sense doesn't it I mean it's it's a way for him to cope with what must have been a very unpleasant interior psychological reality you wouldn't want to face it every day. And you would want moments and hours, evenings where you can just turn that volume down and ignore, frankly, the consequences of your actions.
28:29Gordon:Of your actions, yeah.
28:30David:I mean, he's on this path now and there is no going back. Even if he'd wanted to, he's too deep in this. It's also interesting because you start to see it playing out in his marriage. Tim Milne recalls that he and Philby and Aileen were walking back from a pub in 1946 when Kim announced suddenly that his divorce, that Kim's divorce from Litsy was going through and he'd be free. And then in front of Milne, he's inspired to propose. And he says to Aileen in front of Milne, darling, will you be the mother of my children? Aileen, now pregnant with their fourth, giggled all the way back to number 18.
29:04David:Now, it's interesting because many friends were surprised when they get married, Kim and Aileen, because they actually assumed they'd already been married because they got all these kids. Philby's taken this kind of decision, I think, to close up some of the gaps in his past and kind of deal with some of the problems. So he actually approaches Valentine Vivian, Vivi, at MI6, one of his bosses, and he tells him about Litzy. Because I think he realises it would be a risk if MI6 found out about Litzy and he hadn't told them. So he says, look, I just married her to get they're out of trouble in Vienna in 1934.
29:40David:You know, I was using my passport. We soon separated, but we never got around to getting divorced, but partly because we were never really married, it was just an act of selfless sacrifice. And they seem to buy that, which I think, you know, again, if you've already bought into the youthful idealism thing. So that allows them, him and Aileen, to kind of have a massive boozy party and get married. And then, you know, the next stage in his career, He gets offered the chance to go as the station chief, the head of MI6 station in Istanbul. Now, this is kind of interesting because it might sound like a bit of a downgrade from running Soviet operations.
30:18David:But actually, what it looks like is that the chief, Mingus, is actually trying to push Philby's career on because he's spotted him as a potential future chief further down the line. and actually one of the gaps in Philby's kind of CV is that he's never run a foreign station. He's been in headquarters all the time in the war and it does look at this point as if Philby is in the mix to eventually become chief of MI6. Hugh Trevor Roper, who was a kind of wartime colleague at MI6, it's a great quote from him. He says, Who else of his generation was there? I looked around the world I had left at the part-time stockbrokers and retired Indian policemen, the agreeable Epicureans from the bars of whites, whites again, and Boodles, the jolly conventional ex-naval officers, and the robust adventurers from the bucket shop.
31:13David:And then I looked at Philby, and I was convinced that he was destined to head the service. If you're the Soviets, you're handling Philby, he's maybe not as useful to you in Istanbul as
31:26Gordon:He is running the head of the Soviet section from London. But if you're playing a long game with Philby, which the Soviets are, him advancing strategically through the service is unambiguously a good thing. Because eventually he'll come back to London in a more senior role and he'll have even better access for you. So and I guess Istanbul is also it's not it's not a backwater, is it? I mean, it's a great spy town at this time. It's in a strategically important location. It's kind of this crossroads between the Middle East and Europe. There's a border with the Soviet Union. So you can see how this is still going to be very valuable to Soviet intelligence.
32:11David:Yeah, that's right. And so Philby and Aileen move into a kind of beautiful house, it sounds, on the Asian side of Istanbul, where he can take a boat down to the consulate. now this is where i think again the pressure is starting to tell because things start to go wrong with aileen when she's there she is lonely they've got four kids by now she is convinced philby is having an affair with his secretary which he is and then even worse guy burgess keeps coming to
32:39Gordon:visit and you know you know that friend i've missed i've missed guy burgess we haven't talked much about him in the last couple episodes yeah it's good to have guy back and guys now in the
32:50David:foreign office with tons of access and he's also kind of Philby's kind of conduit sometimes to get messages to Moscow. Burgess is also kind of cracking up I think under the pressure. He's also becoming kind of riskier in his activities both the drinking and the casual sex. I mean McLean is also feeling the pressure and kind of cracks up at one point but Burgess is getting wilder. I mean he was wild before and Aileen hates Burgess visiting you know because she thinks he kind of encourages Kim's heavy drinking and carousing and they go out a lot with the secretary with whom Kim is having an affair.
33:27David:And one evening they supposedly go out to a yacht club and there's four of them and they drink 52 brandies. I mean, that's what the receipt shows. That seems like a lot.
33:37Gordon:That seems almost impossible.
33:40David:Yeah. Although with Burgess and Philby.
33:43Gordon:Burgess goes missing sometimes, doesn't he? after these nights of drinking and there have to be these kind of desperate searches. At one point, Burgess dives off the balcony of Kim's house into the Bosphorus and wrecks his back. I mean, this guy is just... I'm glad Guy Burgess is back. I mean, I don't like what he's doing, spying for the Soviets, but he's an entertaining sort of gremlin.
34:07David:Although I also love, he's also got this kind of very emotional side because Tim Milne's there during one of Burgess's visits and he remembers this kind of sentimental side because Burgess starts telling the story of Mansfield Cumming, the first chief of MI6. And it's a story we tell where he crashes his motor car in the First World War and his son dies and Mansfield Cumming has to cut off his own leg. And Burgess, as he tells the story, bursts into tears with emotion. It's just like, it's so Guy Burgess. And at this point also, Eileen becomes ill and we should have a trigger warning because we're going to talk a bit about self-harm here because Eileen starts engaging in self-harm.
34:41David:Now, what Philby doesn't know, she's done so since she was a teenager. This isn't new, but it really starts to increase now. Is it the affair? Does she suspect something about her husband keeping more than even normal secrets about her? It's hard to know, but she injects herself with urine. She sets fire to things. Again, Milne remembers one story that Eileen sets out alone in her car at one point, and then she arrives at someone else's house in a terrible state, badly bruised about the head, covered in dirt, with the story of having been held up on a narrow road and attacked by a man who hit her on the head with a rock and tried to steal her back.
35:22David:And she goes into hospital. And years later, she admits she actually kind of faked that incident. And then she prolongs her stay in hospital by reinfecting her wounds. Now, it's pretty dark, you know, And she goes actually, I mean, she gets taken to a clinic in Switzerland on a stretcher, I mean, which has got these kind of awful echoes of Volkov being taken on a stretcher, you know, out of Istanbul as well. And, you know, while she's away, Filby drinks himself under the table. But then six weeks later, she's back. But then she sets fire to things. But then eventually she seems to get back on an even keel.
36:00David:But Filby, it's very interesting. Filby is kind of worried about her, but also just angry. And he seems especially angry when he learns that she had this history of self-harm going back to her early years and that he'd not known about it.
36:15Gordon:Do you think he's angry because he cares about her? Or is it that he's angry that he somehow didn't understand this part of her? Like it's something about him and his inability to sort of see her that makes him question his ability to, I don't know, to understand what's going on around him. I interpret it in kind of a more selfish way, but that's because I have a very uncharitable view of Kim Philby.
36:40David:No, no, no. And even I, with my Philby sympathies, think actually this is about him being angry. Aileen is making his life difficult. Yeah. And angry that also she'd kept a secret from him. You know, he's supposed to be the guy who keeps secrets. And it goes back to our initial maybe conversation about Philby. You know, for him, secrets are power. Secrets are a kind of means of having one up on someone. And the idea that Aileen has had one up on him by having a secret that she didn't know. I think that kind of challenges probably his masculinity and his kind of spy tradecraft, perhaps. Yeah.
37:18Gordon:Well, Becky, our intrepid producer, has said, you know, this feels like a very narcissistic response. And that's right. But it's a word we haven't actually used a lot in this series when we talk about Philby. But maybe it just goes without saying that he is an absolutely raging narcissist. Right. So everything around him is getting kind of circled back to him. Right. In some in some way, shape or form. I mean, does she know? Do we think Eileen suspects that he's working against SIS or?
37:52David:I think at this point, less likely. Yeah. I mean, because already he spends a lot of time out boozing with Guy and with other people. So meeting his Soviet handlers wouldn't be suspicious that he's away at various points and evenings. So, I mean, I think she might realise there are secrets from her. So his personal life is hard at this point, but his work is going really well. I mean, because he's looking for ways to penetrate the Soviet Union. So he's still doing the kind of anti-Soviet work. He goes on tours of the border with the Soviet Union, plans kind of long range photography, debriefs defectors from Soviet military intelligence and can check there are no leads there for him.
38:29David:And this is also a kind of big moment because the Cold War is starting. and CIA and MI6 are moving to this new policy, which is rollback against communism. And the idea is you're going to try and roll back the Soviet Union's ability to impose control on its own borders and neighbouring states. And one of the ideas they've got is they're going to send emigres back into the Soviet border states and occupied countries who are then going to build resistance networks, foment trouble, often use nationalist separatist groups. They're going to to do this all around the kind of periphery of the Soviet Union so you know the Baltic states Ukraine, Albania, lots of places and they're going to do it in Turkey as well.
39:12David:They're going to try and send people from Turkey into Georgia which is one of the Soviet republics so part of the Soviet Union and MI6 kind of codename these operations CLIMA and they you know for instance train two operatives in London to go in via Turkey into the Soviet Union. They arrive in Istanbul and Philby is helping them. You know, he's the one getting them prepared to cross the border. And, you know, they're two really young Georgian men. You know, they're like 20 years old. And one of them, you know, seems very subdued because he knows the risks. Philby takes them to the border. And of course, they're never seen again.
39:50David:You know, that's it for them.
39:51Gordon:And Philby is asked about this years later. And he says it was an unpleasant story. Of course, the boys weren't bad. Not at all. I knew very well that they would be caught and that a tragic fate awaited them. He says, on the other hand, it was the only way of driving a stake through the plans of future operations. He does what he has to do at this point. He does what he feels he has to do. But again, Philby is interesting, isn't he? Because he's kind of squeamish around death himself. I mean, there's great instances where he's young. He hated seeing the maid kill mice around the house. but he's now dealing out death himself isn't he in an effort to protect himself and i guess as he sees it his project to penetrate these bourgeois institutions that are opposing the soviet union yeah now we have at least four people that he has played a very direct role in in killing yeah and
40:50David:and it is interesting because he i think he is involved in death but it's kind of at a distance You know, in later life, he does claim that he feels bad about, you know, having to do this. But then, as he puts it, you know, later in life, he says, a decent soldier would feel badly about the necessity of killing the enemy in wartime. So he basically sees these young Georgians or Volkov as, you know, soldiers who are working for the enemy and he's working for his side. And in a war, you kill them. It's brutal. I agree. I'm not going to kind of pretend it's not, you know. But at one point in Turkey, he goes right up to the Soviet border and it's marked by the crest of a hill and a border post.
41:30David:And he approaches the border post. He touches it and he puts his foot over the line. And of course, it's the first time he's, you know, set foot on Soviet territory and only for a moment. I mean, it's this weird thing where he is serving this cause and this country, which he doesn't really know, but which he's now killing for. he's now doing that but it's about to change because climber is only really a kind of taste i guess of what filby is about to do because turkey is not the end of his career in turkey he gets a telegram asking for him to come back to london to discuss a new post now every time like all kind of you know traitors you know when they get that telegram they think oh being summoned back to headquarters you know gordievsky thinks this doesn't he you know is it because i'm blown is it really for a new job or is it because I'm you know defector has kind of given him away but this time he goes back to London and it's it's the best possible news because he's being offered a promotion and not just any job but like the job for a rising star because they want him to be the head of the MI6 station in Washington and the liaison with the newly formed CIA putting him at the absolute heart of the Cold War.
42:49David:And what's astonishing is he is just 37 years old. He's 37 years old. And some of his colleagues believe this is the next step on his future to become the head of the British Secret Service and see.
43:05Gordon:Well, I guess in Washington, I mean, he'll be able to do more damage there, perhaps, than anywhere else. But it's also a place in Washington, where his past, his decisions, his friendships, the choice that he made years earlier is really going to catch up with him and lead to his downfall. And I guess a reminder that we are not done with Kim Philby on The Rest is Classified. We'll be coming back to tell the story of that downfall in another series. But I guess at this point, Gordon, maybe it's worth coming back to the opening challenge that you kind of delivered in episode one, which was when you said, you know, you have a spot of sympathy for Kim Philby.
43:48Gordon:And I guess, you know, it's the question maybe that hangs over this is at this point in the story, now that we've gotten Philby to Washington, do you still have a measure of sympathy for Kim Philby and the choices that he has made?
44:02David:David, you're pushing me a little bit to give up on my sympathies for Philby. And I am. I am. We have hit the point where I think it gets harder. I get the early Philby, that period in late 20s, Cambridge, early 30s, rise of fascism, seeing the failure of the political system turning to communism as the answer, I think is, I'm not saying I'd have done it, but I think it is understandable or explicable in its own terms. And then, you know, the Soviet Union at that point is not an enemy. But I think that point where he keeps going in the Nazi-Soviet pact, you're starting to think, and then they're allies in the war, so you can get away with it.
44:43But now I think it's different.
44:46David:But I do think part of the point is it is too late. He started on this path. And of course, you know, all through his life, he'll say, well, I, you know, I never wavered from the past. But I think he does. But I think once you've gone in that deep, I think it is pretty hard to turn back, isn't it?
45:01Gordon:I think you can understand his Cambridge experience. That makes sense to me. I mean, 1930s, he'd seen a lot of the ugliness of Dotsyism and fascism up close in Germany itself, in Austria. he had fallen in love with a young woman who had been brutalized by fascism you know and let's see so you can understand the the sort of anti-fascist impulse that would lead you to think that communism is a better way or the antidote to fascism especially a scene from the early 1930s that makes a lot of sense. Where I find Philby to be disgusting, Philby has this line, he actually says in reference to betraying some of those exile operations, like the Georgians we just talked about, where Philby says, I've always operated on a personal and a political level.
45:54Gordon:When the two have come in conflict, I've always put politics first. And anybody who's putting politics above of friends, family, children. I find that to be very icky. No, I agree with that. I sort of get why he puts it that way, but I also just think this is a story at the end of the day about a guy who's inside totally twisted up and wrecked.
46:25David:That's one way of seeing it. Let me give you another term, which is we prize, and I'm not criticising this, loyalty to country very highly. I think ultimately Philby never felt very English or British or loyal to his country. He was loyal to his ideology, which meant betraying his country. And many years later, he's asked about this. He said, didn't you betray your country? Didn't you betray your colleagues? Didn't you betray Britain by doing this and philby has a very interesting line he says to betray you must first belong i never belonged yeah i mean i think it's a really interesting line because i think it does to me unlock quite a lot of philby and it goes back to the kind of father the weird upbringing the fact the father is kind of in the british class system but not really part of it philby again never quite fits in he's never quite a member of the british kind of establishment or elite even though he's seen you know in later years he'll be seen as emblematic with his kind of westminster and cambridge background as part of that elite but he was never part of it he never felt he belonged so he never felt he was betraying that he was never turning against it because he was never part of it that is in his own mind his justification i think for what he did he was a you know, a communist all the way through.
47:51David:And he remained kind of, he didn't betray anything because he remained pure to that cause since he was a student all through his life. Yeah.
48:00Gordon:But that's just where I think like an authoritarian or totalitarian despot who sort of aligns the interests of the state with their own personal interests, like those two things and their psychological needs, that all of that stuff just gets kind of merged together. I think Philby does something similar with his quote unquote ideology. It becomes a vehicle for a personal, very interior crusade against this system that he felt he never belonged to. And there's a great Le Carré quote about Philby where he says, behind the inbred upper class arrogance, the taste for adventure, lies the self-hate of a vain misfit for whom nothing will ever be worthy of his loyalty.
48:51Gordon:So again, I think it's this idea that none of this stuff that Philby was betraying was ever worthy of him. So it's this very self-centered, narcissistic response to the world that I think ultimately triggered so much of his betrayal, really.
49:08David:Yeah, I mean, I think he was vain, self-absorbed, and as I said, shaped perhaps by that father. But I think in his mind, he would have seen himself as just loyal to a single cause. So I'm going to moderate my pinko sympathies for Philby at this point. I think various people will never speak to me again if I sound like I'm a big Philby fan. So for those people out there listening. That's true.
49:31Gordon:Actually, for the sake of the pod, Gordon, for the sake of our show... For the sake of the pod, yeah.
49:35David:I just want to be clear. I do not endorse betraying Britain. Disclaimer, this host does not endorse betraying Britain or signing up for the communist cause and becoming a penetration agent for Moscow. That is a bad thing to do, kids, if you're thinking of doing that. If you're at Cambridge right now thinking about communism and Moscow, don't do it. Let me just be absolutely clear on that.
49:58Gordon:We're at the tail end of almost the fourth hour, Gordon, of this series. And I feel like this message could be sort of burying the lead here, wouldn't you say?
50:07David:Yeah.
50:08Gordon:This is the equivalent of a deathbed confession, Gordon. It's too late.
50:13David:Too late. It's too late to save my reputation. I guess on that note, we should finish our story of the rise of Kim Philby. As you said, we'll come back and we'll look at the fall, which is also fascinating. And, of course, involves Guy Burgess. Very involved in the fall. We'll do that a little bit further down the line. But just a reminder, members of the Declassified Club are going to hear something fantastic because we've got Kim Philby himself on the Declassified Club talking in this amazing tape about Volkov, about Kowgil, about joining the Soviet Secret Service, about joining MI6. So you can hear from the man himself and you can join the club at therestisclassified.com.
50:51David:But otherwise, we'll see you next time. We'll see you next time.
50:58Thank you.
From the publisher
A Russian agent is trying to defect to Britain, but there’s only one person in his way: Kim Philby. Will the communist double agent at the heart of MI6 sell his comrade down the river to save himself, or spare his life at the risk of giving the game away?
As David and Gordon reach the end of their first foray into the infamous life and career of Kim Philby, they ask: can you ever feel sympathy for a traitor?
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