Just Finished Reading: The Secret Twenties – British Intelligence, The Russians and the Jazz Age by Timothy Phillips (FP: 2017) [329pp] 

It was, at least in some ways, a good thing. With the end of the Great War all government departments, no matter how vital to national defence, would be assured of significant budget cuts. Afterall, the country had almost bankrupted itself fighting the Central Powers and could no longer afford much that many had started to take for granted. One department, however, had a new threat to face and needed the budget – still cut but not wholly removed – to fight it. Since the Russian Revolution of 1917 the British (and indeed Europe at large) had fully expected the Bolsheviks to attempt to export their revolutionary ideology further west. Fortunately, it would not be easy for Russian agitators to slip into the country to cause their particular brand of mayhem. Until that is, in his infinite wisdom, Prime Minister Asquith INVITED them in. The PM was certain that ‘normalising’ relations with the dominant Soviet government would cool their fervour and reintegrate them into ‘polite society’ before they could cause too much harm. Over the protests of the Intelligence services trade and cultural exchange was to be discussed and established at meetings in London. Soon a large delegation of Russian diplomatic and auxiliary staff had taken up residence in the heart of the Empire. MI5 (British counter-intelligence) and Special Branch (the political arm of the police force) were convinced that at least some of the staff must be spies. They were right. Over the subsequent decades British Intelligence monitored mail, spied on members of the British Communist Party (including elected officials), government ministers and prominent icons of British intelligentsia as well as celebrity guests of the new Soviet regime. There were successes as well as almost farcical failures in intelligence gathering. Time was wasted in investigations of those who flirted with Communism whilst dedicated spies, both Russian and British, passed on vital secrets to Moscow. British intelligence had a lot to learn but learn they did and these lessons came in very handy indeed following the next great war... 

I have missed the dark and seedy world of the spy for a while now so this was exactly what I needed. Researching recently declassified files from MI5 archives the author not only delved into the ongoing struggle between the still underfunded, fledgling and to be honest rather amateurish counterintelligence efforts of the British as they fought the hardnosed and dedicated Russian operatives on their native soil. Almost as interesting was the many insights into the shift in attitudes in the general population (as exhibited in intercepted correspondence) towards authority, sex, politics and the larger establishment. Although seen as a period of at least relative peace between two titanic conflicts the 1920’s and 1930’s where far from as peaceful as most people would have thought. Not only were huge technological and economic shifts happening in the background but newly minted nations across the world were fighting for their futures and often came into the world bathed in blood. It was a time of great change and great struggle. Not all of those struggles took place in the full light of day. Indeed, the day-to-day struggles in the shadows were often just as important, if not more so, than those screamed from newspaper headlines. An interesting and highly informative look at part of that struggle. Recommended.