Inside British Intelligence: 100 Years of MI5 and MI6 [Illustrated] [Paperback]

An interesting book that reads well enough, but more like a fictional spy novel than a well researched history book; and that's its failing. A quick look at the sources will show you mainly American and Israelis with a smattering of British sources - predominantly former officers from over a decade ago, some of which are known whistleblowers. Much of it is therefore out of date and more worryingly, often in wildly factually inaccurate. Additionally, I felt that if I counted them up I'd find more pages written about the CIA and Mossad than MI5 and MI6 combined. Like I said, an interesting enough read if you're not interested in what MI5 and MI6 are really about, and certainly don't expect to learn much about the UK intelligence services and their 100 year history. Can I send the book back? Sorry.

Inside British Intelligence is described by its publisher as "the definitive and up-to-date history of two of the oldest and most powerful secret services in the world" though it has no source notes, has very little on M15 and M16 before 1990 - and what there is is unfamiliar only because it is often inaccurate - and is largely devoted to the activities of Mossad and CIA .

There is no mention of important British intelligence episodes such as the Zinoviev letter which influenced the outcome of the 1924 election, the breaking of Enigma, the Venlo incident where two SIS officers were captured at the outbreak of war, the Profumo Affair, Buster Crabb, the running of Penkovsky and his role in the Cuban missile crisis and the intelligence services role in Empire. All very curious.

Mr Thomas a self-styled "leading expert on the intelligence community" knows a great deal about what people wore (suits "tailored by Gieves & Hawkes, a hand-sewn shirt with double cuffs and his Travellers Club tie" etc), what they said, thought, ate and drank at particular moments but is less certain in other areas: sometimes Century House is the headquarters of M15 (p.208 and 255) and sometimes correctly M16 (p.286); sometimes Sir Christopher Curwen is head of M15 (p.216)and sometimes rightly M16 (p.195); Vernon Kell is head of MI6(p.421) and sometimes accurately M15(p.78); the M15 chiefs Stella Rimington and Patrick Walker also mysteriously work for M16 (p.177 and p.255). Maybe Mr Thomas knows something we don't?

He makes much of his `prime sources' which for the UK are: Eddie Chapman, a low-level World War Two agent who died aged 83 twelve years ago; the former M16 officer Richard Tomlinson who claims Princess Diana was murdered by British Intelligence and the former M15 couple Annie Machon (who believes Mossad was behind the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in London in 1994) and David Shayler (who has declared himself the messiah and having discovered eternal life). For some reason, Mr Thomas prefers these accounts to the thousands of readily available M15 documents declassified over the last twenty years.

He cites an extensive bibliography but doesn't appear to have consulted the books himself . A few pages about The Cambridge Spies, extensively chronicled in numerous books, gives a flavour of the Thomas interpretation of history : Kim Philby's father St John Philby is called Sir Harry Philby, Kim is a member of the Apostles (he was not) and is recruited at Cambridge (he was not) is a fluent Spanish speaker (he was not) and appears to defect from Britain rather than is commonly assumed Beirut. Maclean begins his spying career in 1938 some three years after the generally accepted date of his recruitment and his London apartment is bugged though in truth he didn't have one and commuted from just outside London.

Guy Burgess is described as a counterintelligence officer (he wasn't), serves alongside George Blake in the Far East Department (he doesn't) , his outrageous behaviour in Washington leads to calls for his recall in the summer of 1950 (he only arrived in August 1950) ; he is ordered to leave America "within forty-eight hours" of engineering traffic violations to warn Maclean( the violations take place in February 1951 , have nothing to do with his departure and he leaves in May 1951), he returns to "a job in the Foreign Office" (he doesn't) etc. Blunt is identified by the press as `the Third Man' thirty years earlier than the reality. You get the picture.

The book, a series of incorrectly spelt names, discredited conspiracy theories and repetitious, often completely fabricated, stories the purpose of which it is sometimes difficult to ascertain, jumps around in time and location with no central narrative and it is difficult to ascertain at whom it is aimed since readers new to the subject will be baffled and those with some knowledge will be exasperated.

One can only assume in this wilderness of mirrors that a deeper deception game is being played by the proof reader and our intelligence expert, a winner, as he proudly states , of "the Mark Twain Society Award for Reporting Excellence and an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Investigation" to confuse us when the official histories of M15 by Christopher Andrew and M16 by Keith Jeffery appear later this year and next. That can be the only explanation for this farrago of nonsense.

The subtitle of Gordon Thomas' latest - `100 years of MI5 and MI6' led me to believe I was in for an insightful overview of a century of spooks. A preface with an authoritative listing of the directors of Britain's secret service branches from 1909 promised similar. But it's not. This is very much a book by a journalist. It has some rattling good tales yet it is really a compilation. Some are like feature length articles; others can only be described as anecdotes.
Although many chapters set out to be a cohesive narrative, the author readily diverts to talk about other things. Flashbacks and extensive fillings-in of backgrounds sometimes make the main thread difficult to follow. I was also left confused between MI5 and MI6. Stories about either were woven together so that the non-expert is adrift in understanding which agency is being described.
The non-sequiturs seem strange unless I'm missing something. A gripping chapter about the probable murder of Dr David Kelly and the travesty of the Hutton Inquiry concludes with a description of Saddam Hussein's execution. Another section on the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the 1990s has a paragraph in the middle about MI5 mistrusting Harold Wilson. A paragraph about recruiting starts off, "In the 1970s, MI5...." The next par talks about focus on Cambridge and Oxford that "...were turning out graduates who had returned from the war." This, of course, was thirty years earlier. It is a pattern that repeats in so many chapters, jumping backwards, forwards and sideways to other topics.
There are a few irritating errors too. In July 1941, we are told, Germany had overrun Europe and acquired Russia as an ally. Difficult to believe as Germany had invaded Russia on 22nd June that year. Blunt is described as being identified as the Third Man by the press after Burgess and MacLean fled in 1951. Not so as it was not until 1979 that his spying became public knowledge. Forest Gate is described as being in south London when it's deep in East Ender's territory.
The title is somewhat of a misnomer as much of the book is about the adventures and misadventures of the CIA and Mossad. The Chinese secret service is also well covered.
Many of the stories are already well known but some were entirely new to me. Thomas has built an enviable network of contacts over the years and in this book they have spilt the beans on a number of special jobs. I found many of them quite fascinating.
Although the run of the narrative is sometimes tiresome, this book is definitely a good read for those interested in the real life George Smiley world of espionage. (NRB)