A Very British Ending (Catesby Series)

by Edward Wilson

  Mr Maudling replied: ‘The Government would contemplate the use of the Armed Forces only if that were absolutely essential to maintain vital services to the nation.’

  Century House, Lambeth. London: 15 February 1972

  The first thing Catesby found in his inbox was an envelope addressed to him with Chinese ideograms. He guessed that was the meaning of the Chinese, for his name and title were written in English below – the sender had correctly assumed that the mail-room staff were not fluent in Mandarin. Catesby knew it wasn’t from Mao, because there wasn’t a stamp or street address on the envelope – it was internal circulation.

  Catesby opened the envelope and found a greeting card featuring a multi-coloured animal with a long tail and more Chinese writing. The inside of the card had HAPPY NEW YEAR written in a largely friendly hand and was signed, Best wishes, Paul – in Chinese and English. Paul was head of China T Section and someone Catesby liked and trusted.

  The next item in the inbox was from the SIS legal team and concerned the ‘State of Emergency’ that had been declared by the government. The legal team advised that, ‘under Section 1 of the Emergency Powers Act, 1920’, it would be ‘right and proper’ for SIS officers ‘to render all assistance possible to the Armed Forces in order to maintain vital services to the nation.’ In other words, thought Catesby, we are entitled to spy on trade unions and political activists in order to assist the Army.

  Catesby put down the memo and picked up the greeting card celebrating the Chinese lunar new year. He looked again at the stylised animal on the front of the card. It was the beginning of ‘The Year of the Rat’.

  London: 15 February 1972

  The letter had JJ’s name typed on it, but there was no address, stamp or postmark. It had been delivered when no one was at home. The first thing that JJ noticed when he opened the envelope was the size of the stationery. It was 8x10 rather than A4. It wasn’t definite proof, yet a strong indication that it had been written in the USA. But the fact that it had been hand-delivered in London indicated local connections. The letter itself was typewritten and bore no date, salutation or signature.

  I can’t identify myself for reasons you can well appreciate. I am, however, certain that you will have a good idea of who I am. Needless to say, I am sympathetic to the causes you represent and to your concern about the present situation in the UK. My sympathy must, however, remain top secret.

  There are still traitors in the service in which you were once a distinguished officer, but I am sure this will come to you as no surprise.

  The most insidious traitor is Henry Bone. He was a long-term friend and protector of Kim Philby and aided and abetted his escape to the Soviet Union, but he was not the only one to do in the Secret Intelligence Service. Bone has also had a close relationship with the ‘Fourth Man’ and has been involved in art fraud, as well as spying for the Soviet Union. As you know, there was a Communist cell in 10 Downing Street during Harold Wilson’s premiership. Bone was instrumental in destroying SIS files that would have revealed Wilson as a long-term Soviet agent. Bone also destroyed and suppressed intelligence material relating to the Communist backgrounds of members of Wilson’s cabinet and the Labour Party.

  Another dangerous Communist agent is William Catesby. He became a Communist while a student at Trinity College, Cambridge. When he was called up for military service, a Soviet agent in military intelligence arranged for Catesby to be assigned to the Special Operations Executive. He was later parachuted into central France where he aided and abetted the Maquis Rouge – the Communist section of the French Resistance movement. While in France, Catesby devoted much of his time helping the Maquis Rouge set up Communist cells that would remain stay in place after the German defeat. These Communist cells have remained active ever since and many of Catesby’s former Maquis Rouge comrades played an important role in organising strikes and disruption during the events of May, 1968.

  In May of 1951, Catesby murdered a former German Army officer in Bremen. If Catesby is ever brought to account for this murder, he will argue that he did so because the ex-German officer was a war criminal who was about to escape justice. This is a lie. Catesby murdered the German because he was a former intelligence officer who had detailed knowledge of Catesby’s Communist activities during the war and afterwards as well. Catesby is a long-serving Communist agent. He has spent much of his career advising Communist members of the Labour Party and Communist trade union leaders on how to avoid detection by the Security Service.

  As you well know, the Secret Intelligence Service has been totally penetrated by the KGB. This is why Communist spies like Catesby and Bone are allowed to prosper and how others – on the brink of exposure – have been helped to slip away.

  I can also confirm that the former head of the Security Service, Roger Hollis, is a Communist spy. He was recruited by left-wing American journalist, Agnes Smedley, to whom he was very close, when he was working for British America Tobacco in Shanghai. During his time in China, Hollis also had connections with the Soviet spy, Richard Sorge.

  I hope that in the near future the organisations that you represent will be in receipt of considerable financial assets in order to help in your struggle against Communism and social decay in the United Kingdom. I am sure that you will be able to use your newly acquired skills as a merchant banker to facilitate receipt of these funds and to disguise their origins.

  JJ had always suspected that he had powerful allies and this letter proved it. Most of the information in the letter confirmed what JJ had long suspected. But the possibility of large financial support would be an enormous help to plans still in embryo. ROC and POC were already set up. ROC, the Resistance Operations Committee, was an anti-Communist guerrilla force largely formed from reserve and retired officers. At the core of POC, the Psychological Operations Committee, were former members of IRD, the Information Research Department. The IRD was a secret organisation founded in 1948as a response to the ‘developing ommunist threat to the whole fabric of Western civilisation’. C The aim of IRD was to spread anti-Soviet propaganda through the news media, which included working with the CIA in supporting Encounter and other Mockingbird op magazines. Eventually, the IRD exceeded its original brief by using covert means to attack the British Left and the Trade Union movement through lies and distortion. JJ entirely agreed. The fight against Communism, decadence and immigration was a no-holds-barred fight to the finish

  10 Downing Street: 18 February 1972

  Catesby’s rise through the ranks of SIS hadn’t been meteoric, but it had been steady. He wasn’t yet a director, like Bone and the other mandarins, but he was head of his own department, the Sov Bloc T Section – a slight promotion from his former post heading up the E. Europe P Section. Catesby wasn’t a permanent member of JIC, but he was often co-opted to Joint Intelligence Committee meetings.

  JIC usually met just around the corner at the Cabinet Office at 70 Whitehall, which actually was a much more stately building. Catesby didn’t know why the meeting had been changed to 10 Downing Street, for it didn’t look like the Prime Minister would be attending after all – the PM had, apparently, been summoned to a crisis meeting elsewhere. But the change pleased Catesby. He much preferred the intimacy and status of the Cabinet Room. It was, however, a bit dingy even at midday. There was so little natural light that the three brass chandeliers had been switched on. And it was eerily quiet too. The heavy doors were soundproofed and the curtains were thick velvet. All the better, thought Catesby, for bugging devices. There was a rumour that a microphone was hidden behind Gladstone’s portrait, which loomed down over Catesby. He was tempted to say, ‘Testing one, two.’ But it wouldn’t be a very tasteful joke for someone in his position.

  The atmosphere was febrile and furtive owing to the ongoing crises in Britain and Northern Ireland. The JIC members formed little conspiratorial knots as they moved around the room drinking coffee or tea from bone china cups. The tones were hushed, but all the snatched conversations that Cat
esby picked up were about the State of Emergency – which, however, was conspicuous by its absence from the agenda. As soon as the JIC chairman entered the room, the knots began to disperse and sit down.

  None of the late Victorian chairs – that Bone decried as ‘ghastly’ – had armrests except for one. The general, deputising for the Chief of Defence Staff, was about to plop himself into the chair with armrests and Catesby had to stop him. ‘I’m sorry,’ said Catesby, ‘that chair is reserved for the Prime Minister. He’s probably not coming, but it’s best…’

  ‘Certainly,’ said the general moving to an armless chair, ‘one mustn’t breach etiquette.’

  Catesby smiled smugly. He had never bossed around a general before. How he wished his stepson had been there to see it.

  Most of the Cabinet Room was taken up by a forty-foot-long table shaped like a boat. Another Downing Street newcomer leaned over to Catesby and said, ‘Did the Prime Minister bring in this table because it reminds him of sailing Morning Cloud?’

  ‘No,’ said Catesby beginning to relish his status as a Number 10 insider, ‘it was actually Harold Macmillan who commissioned this table. He wanted one shaped so that he could make eye-contact with his entire cabinet.’

  Just as the meeting was about to begin the clock on the mantelpiece began to chime – and five seconds later, a clock on a table opposite the PM’s vacant chair began to chime. Harold Wilson had brought in the second clock so he could time his meetings without awkwardly looking at his watch or twisting around.

  ‘I suppose,’ said the general, ‘that one is Washington time and the other is Moscow time.’

  The only smiles were bleak ones. Catesby felt vaguely sorry for the general and hoped that he would never have to shoot him to prevent a military coup.

  The first part of the JIC meeting was taken up by Northern Ireland where the situation continued to deteriorate rapidly. Last month’s shooting in Londonderry was already known as Bloody Sunday. The Army officer gave an update on the situation and the state of the casualties. Many were still in a critical condition. Catesby listened with horror and fear. If it could happen in Londonderry, why could it not happen in London or Yorkshire? In Ipswich or Norwich? Once again, Catesby realised that he didn’t have much of a stomach for violence. He wished that he could weave a magic protecting veil that he could spread over the island nation that he loved.

  The second agenda item was ‘SIS and SALT’. Although the UK was not directly involved in the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks that now alternated between Helsinki and Vienna, it was important that HM’s government had some idea what was going on behind the scenes. The DG began with a summary and then passed over to Bone and Catesby who provided details and helped answer questions.

  The next item belonged to Catesby alone. It was about a discussion document entitled, ‘An Intelligence Assessment: Defectors and Double Agents’, Catesby had written and that had been circulated to JIC members.

  ‘I don’t want to bore you,’ began Catesby.

  Bone gave an ironic smile.

  ‘Thank you, Henry. I will be as quick as possible. Most of you know that I am not a big fan of defectors as intelligence assets, particularly walk-ins. Most defectors fall into two categories. The worst, but only arguably the worst, are fake defectors who have been planted by foreign intelligence services to spread disinformation and cause chaos in our intelligence services. The other type of defector is what the Americans call “bona fide”; I prefer calling them “genuine” or “not planted”.

  ‘As opposed to “unplanted”,’ said a JIC member from the Lords who had had a good lunch, ‘such as seed potatoes chitting in one’s greenhouse.’

  ‘Quite,’ said Catesby smiling at the peer and reminding himself that he still hadn’t bought his seed potatoes. ‘The so-called genuine defector,’ continued Catesby, ‘can cause just as much damage as a planted one. They are usually motivated by ego rather than ideology. Their reasons for defecting are often shallow: they’re bored with their job; they’re unhappy in their marriage – or they want a lot more money than they could ever make as a KGB colonel. The intelligence provided by such defectors is always contaminated by embellishment and the need to impress their handlers with their own importance.’

  The head of the Security Service was nodding approval – which made his odd-shaped ears jiggle. Catesby trusted him because of his suburban ordinariness. He played tennis, went bird-watching and loved amateur dramatics. In fact, the head of the Security Service lived in the same garden suburb as Harold Wilson – and they both loved Gilbert and Sullivan.

  ‘I think,’ said the head of Five in his most portentous am-dram voice, ‘that we know to whom you are referring.’

  Catesby looked at the JIC chairman. The chairman turned to the stenographer, ‘Don’t copy or minute this.’

  ‘We’re obviously talking about EMPUSA,’ said Catesby, ‘who in my view, is a confidence trickster who has split the CIA into two camps. The problem is that EMPUSA has an enormous influence on ADDOCI.’

  ‘In plain English,’ said DG SIS, ‘ADDOCI translates as CIA Head of Counter-intelligence. Our code name for him is FURIOSO, but his actual name is James Angleton.’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ said the JIC chairman, ‘that we should continue this discussion. I hope that all of us present realise that we have strayed on to a very sensitive area.’

  ‘I appreciate that, Sir Stewart, therefore I will now proceed to discuss my paper,’ Catesby paused, ‘…in theoretical terms without reference to specific individuals.’ Catesby continued, ‘It is possible that certain defectors will try to impress their handlers with far-fetched conspiracy theories involving impossible assassinations…’

  ‘Mr Catesby,’ said the chairman.

  ‘I apologise, Sir Stewart.’

  ‘The truth of the matter,’ said Catesby, ‘is that it is almost impossible to tell the difference between a planted and a genuine defector. One test that agent handlers should apply is to tell would-be defectors that they would be much more useful by staying in place and passing on intelligence by spy-craft methods such as dead letter drops.’

  The well-whiskyed JIC member from the Lords intervened. ‘Not an option for a spineless coward.’

  ‘Quite,’ said Catesby, ‘which is why the stay-in-place option is a useful test of commitment. Which brings us to another assessment problem, “the dangled double”. Once again, any Sov Bloc intelligence officer who freely offers his or her services should be regarded as highly suspect.’

  ‘Can you think of a single instance,’ interrupted the Chairman, ‘when a defector or double agent has been a woman?’

  Catesby smiled. ‘I can think of several women spies – particularly the Rote Kapelle, who spied against Hitler’s Germany – and women spies have been excellent, brave and ideologically motivated.’

  ‘I believe that the Rote Kapelle, or Red Orchestra, were spying for the Soviet Union.’ The person who intervened was the Permanent Secretary of the Civil Service Department. He was a stout walrus of a man who some referred to as the ‘Deputy Prime Minister’. Catesby, and others, had concerns about him. He was normally a solid type, but had lately turned nervous and volatile.

  ‘At the time,’ said Catesby, ‘there were no Western agents in Berlin to whom the Rote Kapelle could have passed their information.’ Catesby realised that he had dropped himself in it by praising the Red Orchestra. It was rumoured that the Permanent Secretary had joined the ranks of those who believed Red monsters were lurking under every bed – and he was getting worse.

  The Permanent Secretary stared at Catesby over arched fingers.

  ‘If an agent,’ said Catesby trying to return to the original subject, ‘is a dangled double, the intelligence provided will at first be highly accurate, but harmless to Moscow. The disinformation will begin once the agent is trusted by his handlers.’ Catesby glanced at the Permanent Secretary. ‘A standard tactic used by planted defectors or false doubles is to suggest that those who don’
t believe them are, in fact, moles who are trying to protect themselves.’

  The representative from GCHQ took off her reading glasses and looked at Catesby. She had known Catesby’s sister before she was forced to resign and her look was a mixture of sympathy and suspicion.

  Catesby understood and smiled back.

  ‘Is it ever possible to be absolutely certain – 100 per cent certain – that a defector or double agent is genuine?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Catesby, ‘but not until they have been assassinated or executed by the service they betrayed.’

  Manassas, Virginia: April, 1972

  It was the CIA’s best safe house: totally isolated in hilly woodland, but only a forty-minute drive from Langley. The house had a swimming pool, lake frontage and an outdoor bar and barbecue. But what Angleton liked most about it were the spectacular azaleas, which were bursting into full bloom. The house had been built in the 1950s using local stone and wood. There was nothing vulgar about it – except a water feature with Koi carp and a statue of Pan – but the overriding aesthetic style was unashamed American assertive.

  It hadn’t been easy to lure the new Genghis Khan, code-named MH/KHAN to Northern Virginia, but Nixon’s recent visit to China persuaded him that it was time to talk to the CIA.

  ‘As you know,’ said KHAN sitting cross-legged at a low table that the Tibetan caterers had supplied especially, ‘I petitioned your President to make the visit. But whether or not he paid any attention to my petition, I have no way of knowing.’

  ‘What,’ said Angleton, ‘do you think Nixon’s visit will accomplish?’

  ‘It may be many generations before we know, but I think it will mean the end of Communism in China.’