AI Summary
5 min readIn October 1955, Kim Philby was strap-hanging on the London Underground when he read over a stranger’s shoulder that a Member of Parliament had just asked the Prime Minister whether the government would continue to “shield the dubious third man activities of Mr. Philby.” It was the first time the name of the former MI6 officer had been publicly linked to the Cambridge spy ring in the British Parliament, and it set off a chain of events that would see Philby cleared by the Foreign Secretary, hold a masterful press conference from his mother’s flat, and eventually be rehired by the very intelligence service that had fired him.
The Interrogations Begin
When Philby was recalled from Washington in 1951 after his friends Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess fled to Moscow, he knew the game was about the evidence. He understood that British intelligence almost never convicted spies without a confession, and that the case against him was entirely circumstantial: he had been left-wing at Cambridge, his first wife was a communist, and he had put up Burgess as a houseguest. The first interrogation, by MI5 officer Dick White, was gentle. Philby could sense from the questions that they had nothing new. He had answers for everything.
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What you'll learn
- 1 Kim Philby: Interrogated by MI5 (Ep 3)
- 2 (00:24) **Setup: Philby Returns to London Under Suspicion** - The Cambridge spy ring has been exposed after Burgess and MacLean flee to Moscow, and Philby is recalled from Washington to face interrogation
- 3 (04:48) **First Interrogation: Dick White's Gentle Approach** - MI5 officer Dick White conducts an initial, relatively light interview where Philby easily deflects suspicion
- 4 (07:39) **American Pressure Mounts: Bill Harvey's Vendetta** - The CIA, led by Bill Harvey, pushes hard against Philby while James Angleton defends his friend
- 5 (13:26) **Philby is Forced Out of MI6** - Under American pressure, the chief of MI6 reluctantly fires Philby with a £4,000 payout (over £100,000 today)
- 6 (14:58) **MI5 vs MI6: A Cultural Divide** - MI6 largely defends Philby as one of their own, while MI5's middle-class officers are convinced he's a traitor
- 7 (16:59) **Second Interrogation: "Buster" Milmo Turns Up the Heat** - A tougher three-hour interrogation by a famous barrister who broke German spies in WWII
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
Two of the Cambridge spies have fled to Moscow and now the finger of suspicion is pointing at the Third Man - Kim Philby. But will the top MI6 officer crack under pressure as the claims against him become public?
Listen as David and Gordon tell the story of Kim Philby’s unravelling.
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