The Guy Liddell Diaries, Volume I: 1939-1942: 1939-1942: MI5's Director of Counter-Espionage in World War II

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There is not a shred of evidence behind my hypothesis that Liddell might have wooed Sissmore in the first part of 1939, but then there is not a shred of evidence that he maintained a contact in Soviet intelligence to whom he passed secrets, as has been the implication by such as Costello. Moreover, Liddell had not recruited Burgess to MI5, even though he had wanted to, but been talked out of it by John Curry. He was obviously hoping he could trust these guys despite his concerns but that he was attracted to Blunt by his art background.

Liddell marriage to Calypso Baring, the daughter of Lord Revelstoke was to cause him great unhappiness and it was dissolved in 1943 after she had deserted him for her American half-brother, leaving Liddell to fight a long battle for custody of their son and three daughters. A 1988 article in The Atlantic also suggested that Liddell may have been the "Fifth Man" of the spy ring, due to his close relationship with Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt and Kim Philby. These include Sir Dick White, Philby's nemesis in both MI5 and MI6, both of which White headed, and Peter Wright (of Spycatcher fame), one of the most avid of all mole-hunters. Liddell had to rescue the agent from the police after he was recognised and arrested as an enemy alien.It is an abridgment of a private diary that Guy Liddell kept during the Second World War, detailing on an almost daily basis via dictation to his secretary, his work in the counter-espionage realm.

Yet a careful reading of the text shows some embarrassments, contradictions, and attempts to cover up unpleasantries. Why he would want to banish his sharpest counter-espionage officer, and replace her with the second-rate Roger Hollis – not the move of a ‘remarkable and accomplished professional’ – is something that defies logic. I rest my case: in 1940, with Nazi Germany an ally of Soviet Russia, Liddell should have done all he could to stifle such menaces as Münzenberg. Tommy said that he was very glad to hear this, since it was quite possible that the story might get round to the Royal Family; he would then be able to say that he had already heard it and looked into it and was satisfied that there was nothing in in it.He was unquestionably one of the most reclusive and remarkable men of his generation, and a legend within his own organisation. When she began to help Percy Glading with a scheme to convey plans of a British gun to the Soviet Union, she found herself liking the man. In the spring of 1938 he visited the USA and determined that both the military authorities and the FBI were "more than anxious to establish a liaison with us, which could cover not only Soviet, German and Italian activities, but also those of the Japanese".

Liddell thought that there was now "a unique opportunity" to capitalise on the "existing good relations and reinforce cooperation which might prove of vital importance' if the liaison developed `in future emergency or war".He was Britain's most celebrated wartime spymaster, who ran a 'double-cross' system of agents inside Nazi Germany.