I ‘physically' argued with John le Carre over spy novels, says ex-MI6 chief
Sir Richard, 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 that the spymaster was still angry about the author's opposition to the Iraq war.
He said that his 'cynicism', as Sir Richard called it, came from the betrayals of the double agents George Blake and Kim Philby who between them had caused the deaths, imprisonments or disappearances of thousands of agents.
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