Newly declassified MI5 files have revealed first-hand confessions from three of Britain’s most infamous double agents, including Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt, who spied for the Soviet Union.
The files, released on Tuesday, 14th January 2025, by the National Archives, provide a rare insight into the “Ring of Five,” a group of former Cambridge University students who passed British secrets to the Soviets from the 1930s to at least the 1950s, Reuters reports.
Among the documents is a six-page, incomplete 1963 confession from Philby, the group’s ringleader and a senior figure in MI6.
He detailed his 1934 recruitment by a man named “Otto” at the suggestion of his wife, Lizzy, a Communist Party member.
“In short he proposed that I should work for an organisation which I was able to identify later as the OGPU (the Soviet secret police),” Philby wrote.
Philby also recounted recruiting Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, tipping them off in 1951 that Maclean was about to be exposed, which led to their defection to the Soviet Union.
Philby himself fled to Moscow shortly after his confession and was later honoured by Russia’s foreign intelligence service.
In Blunt’s case, a transcript of his 1964 confession to MI5 officer Arthur Martin reveals he cooperated in exchange for immunity.
At the time, Blunt was an art adviser to Queen Elizabeth II, a role he retained until 1972. A 1973 note in the files stated, “She [the queen] took it all very calmly and without surprise.”
Blunt’s Soviet ties were only publicly revealed in 1979.
John Cairncross, the last member of the spy ring identified in the 1990s, admitted in a 1964 interview that he had spied for Russia from 1936 to 1951. “Cairncross has admitted spying from 1936 to 1951,” a U.S. telegram stated.
Some of these files will be part of the “MI5: Official Secrets” exhibition, showcasing the agency’s history. “While much of our work must remain secret, this exhibition reflects our ongoing commitment to being open wherever we can,” said MI5 chief Ken McCallum.
Additional records reveal MI5’s interest in actor Dirk Bogarde, suspected of Russian contact, though suspicions were dismissed.
Also released was a surveillance guide from 1939 to 1951, advising against disguises: “The use of facial disguise is not recommended. A false moustache or beard is easily detected.”
