Britain’s unending fascination with the Cambridge spies

Will we ever tire of the Cambridge spies? Kim Philby, Anthony Blunt, Burgess and Maclean – and to a lesser extent John Caincross, the fifth man in the circle – are names as familiar to us now as certain brands of detergent or the line-up of the Beatles. To compliment the countless books, dramas and documentaries about them, this week the national archives declassified MI5 files on the subject. They cover Philby’s recruitment and subsequent flight to Moscow, as well as the Queen’s nine-year unawareness that Blunt (who worked for Buckingham Palace) had confessed to his past as a Soviet agent. It seems that whatever we think of Burgess, Maclean and co. – whether we see them as despicable traitors or as a juicy, albeit sinister, part of post-war history – we’re endlessly enthralled by their story.

Part of it is surely the complexity of the characters involved.