I was just browsing a new book, and the claim was made (in it) that Hollis was recruited by the KGB, early in his university days. Later, whn he joined MI5 (or was it MI6/), he gave extensive information to the Russians, via dead drops and intermediaries. In any case, Hollis presided over the Kim Philby and Klaus Fuchs disasters-yet he was never under suspicion.
Of course, being dead, it is very difficult to prove Hollis’ guilt-have the KGB archives revealed anything about this guy?
Mi-5. And it’s not true that Hollis was never under suspicion. The Trend Committee investigated hm in the 1970s.
No convincing evidence has emerged to that effect. Most people don’t seem to have been persuaded by Peter Wright’s theories on the subject.
At the moment, this seems to be a better topic for General Questions. (Even if there is some dispute regarding the topic, it seems more likely to lead to simply the posting of conflicting third party views than a genuiine debate.)
Off to GQ.
I agree with Mk VII. Peter Wright made his case in the book Spycatcher, but it’s far from compelling. Might be true, might not. As a practical matter, we’ll never know.
Was the book by any chance Chapman Pincher’s latest? Because the issue has suddenly become topical once again. Pincher wrote to the Times yesterday challenging the claim that Christopher Andrew’s new official history of MI5 disproved the theory.
As I’ve read neither of those books and cannot claim to be up to speed on the rest of the literature, my thoughts on the subject are not exactly worth much. But my impression is that few now accept the theory, largely on the grounds that nothing did emerge from the Russian archives.
Pincher strikes me as a writer who long ago staked his reputation on a pet theory and who is therefore now determined to stick to it.
The Sword and the Shield, the popularization of the KGB archives, does not mention him at all.