My spat with John le Carré over spy novels got ‘physical', says ex-MI6 chief

Yahoo

04-04-2025

A former MI6 chief has told how he 'physically' argued with John le Carré for making 'betrayal the currency of espionage' in his spy novels.
Sir Richard Dearlove says he thinks 'trust and integrity' is actually 'the stronger currency'.
Le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwell, was best known for his Cold War thrillers featuring the spy boss George Smiley, including The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
His novels regularly featured double agents and 'moles', and he took a dim view of the activities of the British intelligence agencies after his own cover was blown six years into his MI5 and MI6 service.
Sir Richard – who was the head of MI6 between 1999 and 2004 – was asked on his One Decision podcast whether it was true that spying was 'sinister' and 'shady'.
The 89-year-old replied: 'I think in reality it isn't a reflection of character, it's a reflection maybe of circumstance and that there are occasions that are unavoidable in this profession where the circumstances become sinister and individuals are forced to act in a way which is disconcerting.
'I'm always trying to defend its integrity. For example, the big argument I had with Le Carré, and I did actually physically have it with him, was that he had made betrayal the currency of espionage.
'Of course it is sometimes but the stronger currency of espionage is trust and integrity, because if you're making a betrayal, particularly of an evil empire, the people helping you to make that have got to behave with absolute integrity and trust.'
The pair had a public argument in 2019, with Sir Richard hitting out at Le Carré at a literary festival. He called the author a 'counter-intelligence nihilist' and claimed most MI6 officers were 'pretty angry' with him.
Le Carré responded by suggesting the spymaster was still angry about the author's opposition to the Iraq war.
He said his 'cynicism', as Sir Richard called it, came from the betrayals of double agents George Blake and Kim Philby who between them had caused the deaths, imprisonments or disappearances of thousands of agents.
Following Le Carré's death from pneumonia aged 89 in December 2020, Sir Richard once again criticised the writer. He called his novels a 'stain' on the intelligence service and said he had 'tarred the moral reputation of his colleagues'.
This was in contrast to high-profile tributes from other intelligence officers, including Richard Moore, the current head of MI6, who called Le Carré a 'giant of literature'.
Sir Richard rose through the ranks of MI6 to become the head of the intelligence service, known as C, between 1999 and 2004.
His time in charge was marred by controversy over unreliable intelligence about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Le Carré became an MI5 officer in 1958, running agents and tapping telephone lines, before moving to MI6 in 1960.
His intelligence career came to an end in 1964 when it was discovered that his identity had been exposed by Philby, a member of the Cambridge Five.
The ring of spies passed information from the UK to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the Cold War after being recruited while at the University of Cambridge.
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