Archival documents to be shown to the public for the first time reveal how British security services secretly monitored notorious double agent Kim Philby, trying to confirm or refute early suspicions of his betrayal, the Guardian reports.
In daily reports submitted to MI5 in November 1951, agents following Philby, codenamed "Peach", recorded his behaviour and movements around London. He was described as calm and unobtrusive, with no signs of nervousness, which the operatives considered characteristic of a "well-dressed man".
"Such behavior, however, should not be interpreted as a sign (a) that he was at ease or (b) that he was not paying attention to whether someone was following him. On the contrary, he used the corner of the street he was turning into in a way that would have easily enabled him to spot an unwary follower; he applied the procedure of a skilled agent on the bus," the report states.
The documents, which will be featured in the exhibition "MI5: Official Secrets" at the National Archives in Kew, raise questions about whether the British establishment protected Philby to avoid public scandal.
Kim Philby, a former student at the elite Eton and Cambridge University, became a communist in his youth and was recruited by Soviet intelligence as early as 1934. He later became a key figure in the British secret service MI6, where he also worked as a representative in Washington.
Philby was suspected of having tipped off fellow double agents Guy Burgess and Donald McLean, allowing them to escape to Moscow before they were arrested. For this reason, he was known as "The Third Man." However, he was publicly acquitted due to a lack of evidence – or, it was suspected, an attempt by MI6 to protect its own reputation.
Reports that will be shown at the exhibition confirm that Philby was wiretapped and monitored throughout 1951, while he moved freely around London.
It was also recorded that observers made jokes about Philby's "worn face" and "unkempt hair", and there are anecdotes from the surveillance, including a description of his "worn face" and "unkempt hair" days.
"He tends to grin while driving; this is almost certainly due to his vehicle being a former taxi, so this smile could be described as a sign of anxiety or embarrassment," the notes read.
The agents noticed that it did not have a rearview mirror, which made it easier for them to secretly monitor it.
Philby was part of the famous "Cambridge Five", along with Burgess, Maclean, Anthony Blunt and John Cairncross, who passed classified information to the Soviet Union for years.
After falling under suspicion again in 1962, Philby fled to Moscow in 1963, where he spent the rest of his life training Soviet spies. He died in 1988 and was buried with full KGB honors.
The exhibition at Kew will also feature transcripts of his interrogations, including an admission that he had provided information that led to the arrest and probable execution of Soviet defector Konstantin Volkov and his wife.
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