From the archive
The Cambridge Five: Stalin’s Men at the Heart of Britain
Allen M. Hornblum, author of The Invisible Harry Gold, reviews Antonia Senior’s new book on the Cambridge Five, examining how a group of privileged Cambridge graduates came to betray their country—and why the British government was so slow to hold them accountable.
Secret agents come in just about all sizes, genders, races, and ages. Few, as history informs us, resemble the handsome, broad-shouldered James Bond. In reality, most spies are rather ordinary. Atomic spy Harry Gold, for example, was utterly unmemorable: Short, round, and decidedly working class. He was easily dismissed at first sight, presuming one took the time to observe him at all.
Other covert operatives may prove visible but with unassailable pedigrees. Such privilege comes with its own Achilles’ heel, however, as it did with several members of an elite university club, the Apostles. Britain's most notorious spies for the Soviet Union, the Cambridge Five, thought of themselves as exceptional and even impervious to being outed. How could such an elite group of young men ever be suspected? But now their disturbing tale of treachery and hubris is being retold by journalist and podcaster Antonia Senior.
A former student of Cambridge historian and British intelligence expert Christopher Andrew, Senior is certainly not the first to tackle this embarrassing and controversial chapter of British history. There are numerous articles, books, and films on the subject, including a well-received 2014 Ben Macintyre biography on Kim Philby, one of the Five. This was followed by a popular recent television series based on Macintyre's Philby book. In addition to exploring these previous works as well as the spies’ own commentaries, Senior’s investigation took her to both American and British National Archives to examine newly released material and similar repositories in Poland, Lithuania, and Albania.
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