[MLL] I spied for Stalin
I spied for Stalin at War Office, Death-bed confession of the spy who got away - The Times The Times - 30th Oct 2004 1) Death-bed confession of the spy who got away 2) I spied for Stalin at War Office, publisher confessed 3) Passwords and secret night meetings 4) MI5 agents acted on tip-off by Communist informer 1) Death-bed confession of the spy who got away = By Michael Evans and Magnus Linklater A SECRET death-bed confession from a publisher who served in military intelligence in the Second World War has exposed an extraordinary story of espionage and treachery. James MacGibbon, who died four years ago, aged 88, admitted in a 12-page affidavit, kept secret until now, that he spied for the Russians while working in the War Office. He will join a long list of spies who served two masters, notably Harold Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt. The full extent of his espionage emerged last week after MI5 agreed to a request by his family to release details of surveillance it had carried out on him after a tip-off in 1949. Based in Washington and London, where he was involved in planning Operation Overlord, the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, MacGibbon was questioned by William Skardon, the legendary MI5 interrogator who uncovered Klaus Fuchs, the atom spy in 1950. But MacGibbon survived the interrogation and was taken off a list of suspects. Before he died, he typed out a confession which The Times now makes public for the first time. He wrote how alarmed he had become when he realised who was questioning him. It was a relief when some weeks later, he called me into the War Office to tell me I had been 'cleared'. I was impressed when Skardon's name was disclosed to know I had been interrogated by the top man and had lied my way out. MacGibbon , whose father was the Minister of Glasgow Cathedral was a Tory until 1934 when he joined the Communist Party. When war broke out, he was drafted into military intelligence because he spoke German. Afterwards, as head of MacGibbon Kee, he published Cecil Day Lewis and Humphrey Lyttleton. His son, Hamish MacGibbon, defended his father's decision to pass information to the Russians. He said: The information that has been recently released adds little to what we, as the family, knew. It confirms our view that all he did was to report on German troop movements to our Russian allies. This was exactly the right thing to do. It has not altered our view of him as a man and a father of whom we are very proud. 2) I spied for Stalin at War Office, publisher confessed = By Magnus Linklater After the death of his widow, a Soviet agent reveals posthumously how he passed on information about troop movements THE first time James MacGibbon told me about his life as a Soviet agent was on a summer afternoon as we floated on a boat down the River Stour in Essex - Constable country. He was in his seventies, a warm and charming friend whom I had known since my earliest days in journalism. He talked about his pre-war membership of the Communist Party, and how strongly he had felt about the importance of supporting the Russians, as our wartime allies. He confided, almost in passing, an extraordinary secret: he had used his position in Churchill's War Office to send top-level information to Moscow. I suggested that it was important for him to write it down. Six weeks later a document arrived in the post. Along with chat about family life, he revealed how he had been put in touch with a Soviet contact called Natasha, and had devised a way of passing on to her top-secret details about German troop movements, and about Allied dispositions, including plans for Operation Overlord - the projected invasion of France. MacGibbon, who ran the publishing firm MacGibbon and Kee, died in 2000. His only request was that I wait until after the death of his wife, Jean, to publish it. Jean died in 2002, after which the family decided to approach MI5 for further details about MacGibbon's career. Last week a MI5 dossier was handed over, showing that, in 1950, he was suspected of espionage and put under surveillance. MacGibbon had told me that he had been questioned by Jim Skardon, who had broken the atom spy, Klaus Fuchs - but had revealed nothing. I was impressed to know that I had been interrogated by the top man and had lied my way out, he said. MacGibbon's 12-page account of his progress from pre-war membership of the Communist Party to secret wartime meetings with Natasha, reads like a spy thriller. It has, too, a strangely innocent feel. Convinced that, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, it was his duty to keep the Soviets up to date with German troop movements, MacGibbon made contact with the Soviet Embassy in London. He met Natasha at a spot near Westbourne Terrace. We exchanged passwords and walked along together (it was dark), he wrote. I passed on my first note on
[MLL] I spied for Stalin
I spied for Stalin at War Office, Death-bed confession of the spy who got away - The Times The Times - 30th Oct 2004 1) Death-bed confession of the spy who got away 2) I spied for Stalin at War Office, publisher confessed 3) Passwords and secret night meetings 4) MI5 agents acted on tip-off by Communist informer 1) Death-bed confession of the spy who got away = By Michael Evans and Magnus Linklater A SECRET death-bed confession from a publisher who served in military intelligence in the Second World War has exposed an extraordinary story of espionage and treachery. James MacGibbon, who died four years ago, aged 88, admitted in a 12-page affidavit, kept secret until now, that he spied for the Russians while working in the War Office. He will join a long list of spies who served two masters, notably Harold Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt. The full extent of his espionage emerged last week after MI5 agreed to a request by his family to release details of surveillance it had carried out on him after a tip-off in 1949. Based in Washington and London, where he was involved in planning Operation Overlord, the 1944 Allied invasion of Normandy, MacGibbon was questioned by William Skardon, the legendary MI5 interrogator who uncovered Klaus Fuchs, the atom spy in 1950. But MacGibbon survived the interrogation and was taken off a list of suspects. Before he died, he typed out a confession which The Times now makes public for the first time. He wrote how alarmed he had become when he realised who was questioning him. It was a relief when some weeks later, he called me into the War Office to tell me I had been 'cleared'. I was impressed when Skardon's name was disclosed to know I had been interrogated by the top man and had lied my way out. MacGibbon , whose father was the Minister of Glasgow Cathedral was a Tory until 1934 when he joined the Communist Party. When war broke out, he was drafted into military intelligence because he spoke German. Afterwards, as head of MacGibbon Kee, he published Cecil Day Lewis and Humphrey Lyttleton. His son, Hamish MacGibbon, defended his father's decision to pass information to the Russians. He said: The information that has been recently released adds little to what we, as the family, knew. It confirms our view that all he did was to report on German troop movements to our Russian allies. This was exactly the right thing to do. It has not altered our view of him as a man and a father of whom we are very proud. 2) I spied for Stalin at War Office, publisher confessed = By Magnus Linklater After the death of his widow, a Soviet agent reveals posthumously how he passed on information about troop movements THE first time James MacGibbon told me about his life as a Soviet agent was on a summer afternoon as we floated on a boat down the River Stour in Essex - Constable country. He was in his seventies, a warm and charming friend whom I had known since my earliest days in journalism. He talked about his pre-war membership of the Communist Party, and how strongly he had felt about the importance of supporting the Russians, as our wartime allies. He confided, almost in passing, an extraordinary secret: he had used his position in Churchill's War Office to send top-level information to Moscow. I suggested that it was important for him to write it down. Six weeks later a document arrived in the post. Along with chat about family life, he revealed how he had been put in touch with a Soviet contact called Natasha, and had devised a way of passing on to her top-secret details about German troop movements, and about Allied dispositions, including plans for Operation Overlord - the projected invasion of France. MacGibbon, who ran the publishing firm MacGibbon and Kee, died in 2000. His only request was that I wait until after the death of his wife, Jean, to publish it. Jean died in 2002, after which the family decided to approach MI5 for further details about MacGibbon's career. Last week a MI5 dossier was handed over, showing that, in 1950, he was suspected of espionage and put under surveillance. MacGibbon had told me that he had been questioned by Jim Skardon, who had broken the atom spy, Klaus Fuchs - but had revealed nothing. I was impressed to know that I had been interrogated by the top man and had lied my way out, he said. MacGibbon's 12-page account of his progress from pre-war membership of the Communist Party to secret wartime meetings with Natasha, reads like a spy thriller. It has, too, a strangely innocent feel. Convinced that, following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, it was his duty to keep the Soviets up to date with German troop movements, MacGibbon made contact with the Soviet Embassy in London. He met Natasha at a spot near Westbourne Terrace. We exchanged passwords and walked along together (it was dark), he wrote. I passed on my first note on
