Notorious Cambridge spy Kim Philby declared ‘he would have achieved all of it once more’ as he confessed to being a Soviet spy, MI5 papers say
Cambridge spy Kim Philby had no regrets about his treachery, his interrogators said after he was unmasked.
The double agent’s confession has been published in full for the first time in newly declassified MI5 files.
After being recruited at Cambridge University in 1934, Philby joined MI6 – which mainly handled covert operations overseas – in 1940 and was once tipped as a potential leader of the organisation before he was unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1963 and was forced to flee to Moscow.
In January 1963 Philby confessed to MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott that he had been working for the Russians since the 1930s – but he lied about breaking off contact in 1946 and claimed fellow Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt would never work for the Russians.
Philby told Mr Elliott: ‘Here’s the scoop, as it were. I have had this particular moment in mind for 28 years almost, that conclusive proof would come out.’
He then said he had a choice ‘between suicide and prosecution’, adding: ‘This is not in any sense blackmail, but a statement of the alternatives before me.’
He admitted betraying Konstantin Volkov, a KGB officer who tried to defect to the West, bringing with him details of traitors operating in British intelligence and the Foreign Office. This would have led to Philby’s exposure.
Instead, as a result of Philby’s intervention, he was abducted by the Russians in Istanbul and executed.
Kim Philby joined MI6 in 1940 and was once tipped as a potential leader of the organisation before he was unmasked as a Soviet spy in 1963
In January 1963 Philby (pictured) confessed to MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott that he had been working for the Russians since the 1930s
The double agent’s confession has been published in full for the first time in newly declassified MI5 files
Philby described his life in MI6 as a time of ‘controlled schizophrenia’, adding: ‘I really did feel a tremendous loyalty to MI6, I was treated very, very well in it and I made some really marvellous friends there. But the over-ruling inspiration was the other side.’
Mr Elliott noted of Philby: ‘If he had his whole life to lead again, he would probably have behaved in the same way.’
Philby agent first fell under suspicion after fellow Cambridge spies, Donald Maclean and Guy Burgess, fled to Russia in 1951 but he managed to dodge MI5 interrogators who said he was an ‘enigma’.
The files also include a letter Philby wrote to his wife before sailing to Moscow, telling his ‘beloved’ Eleanor that he had been ‘called away at short notice’.
‘I am sorry I cannot be more explicit at the moment but my plans are somewhat vague,’ he wrote.
Philby signed off, saying: ‘Don’t worry about anything. We will meet again soon. All love to the kiddies.’
They later divorced. Philby died in 1988.
