• Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech
Stories from SWNS
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    How to find safe non-gamstop casino games

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Conservation zoos ‘have powerful potential to reverse extinction’

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    Royal Navy aviators raising cash to rescue stray puppy

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    “I got a new haircut – now I look exactly like Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings”

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    £6.8billion turtle-shaped floating city unveiled

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Business
  • Life
    • Celebrity
  • Tech
    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    Why Is Cloud Storage Migration Best Left To Professionals?

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    How Tech Is Empowering Small Businesses And The Economy 

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    The Technology Behind Forex Trading – And its Wider Impact

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    Must-Have iPad Accessories At PITAKA Black Friday Sale Event

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    How To Select The Best Lead Generation Software For Your Business: Our Top Tips

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Best Technologies in the Gambling Industry That Are Worth Your Attention

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
  • Review

    The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild gameplay on the Nintendo Switch

    Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun Review

    macOS Sierra review: Mac users get a modest update this year

    Hands on: Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 review

    The Last Guardian Playstation 4 Game review

    Intel Core i7-7700K ‘Kaby Lake’ review

No Result
View All Result
Stories from SWNS
No Result
View All Result
Home Blog

Book Review: Misdefending The Realm By Antony Percy

Jess Young by Jess Young
November 7, 2017
in Blog
0
Book Review: Misdefending The Realm By Antony Percy
0
SHARES
47
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Misdefending the Realm by historian Antony Percy is an eye-opening account of the Soviet Union’s infiltration of the British government during World War Two, and the shocking failing of MI5 in dealing with the threat effectively.

Having thoroughly researched MI5’s activities during the critical era of the Nazi-Soviet Pact (1939 – 41) for a PhD, Percy is arguably the UK’s leading expert on Russian espionage within and without the Security Service during the early War years.

Calling upon a wide range of source material including biographies and memoirs, letters and recently declassified documents, he has woven together the full and untold story of MI5’s incompetence in the face of Communist subversion, and the measures the agency took in the years that followed to cover up their mistakes.

Perhaps the totem for the situation within MI5 during that period is one Walter Krivitsky, a Soviet defector brought to the UK in 1940 after helping uncover a Russian mole within the Foreign Office.

A few years earlier his intelligence, and the unrivalled opportunity he represented for routing Communists within the corridors of power, may have been taken seriously.

But by the start of the war, MI5’s eyes were squarely on the Nazis and the dangers of Communism to national security had, if not completely dismissed, been heavily underestimated.

Thus his time in the UK was largely wasted; he was not pressed for details and the information he did provide was carelessly circulated and quickly fell into the wrong hands.

Spotted by a Soviet agent working undercover in the Home Office, it came to the notice of now-infamous double-agent Guy Burgess.

As the book reveals for the first time, Burgess orchestrated a mission to Moscow, ostensibly to inform Stalin – a hoped-for ally against Hitler – that Churchill’s resolve against the Nazi forces remained undiminished.

In fact, as Percy has been able to uncover, Burgess actually intended to tell his Russian masters of Krivitsky so they could act accordingly, and to reassure them that the London spy ring remained active and committed.

The reader may be very surprised to find out that Burgess’s partner in crime for this proposed mission was none other than famed academic Isaiah Berlin. Though he denied it, Berlin was almost certainly aware of Burgess’s plans and motivations. Percy does note that in the public sphere, Berlin’s ardent communist sympathies did much to influence popular opinion to Stalin’s favour, and Churchill’s chagrin.

Krivitsky left the UK and was duly assassinated the following year. Russia, meanwhile, happily continued to place moles within government, tightening its grip further and enjoying a free flow of top-secret information, including atomic secrets.

This is just one prime example of a catalogue of errors that, the author contests, prove that MI5 was professionally incapable of defending itself – and the Realm – from Communist subversion, due to a failure of leadership, haphazard hiring practices, inadequate training, and poor tradecraft.

When its incompetence was exposed after the war, Percy explains how MI5 engaged in a shameful yet comprehensive cover-up of its failures – especially in the vetting of the atom-spy Klaus Fuchs  ̶  in order to preserve its independent existence.

Unlike the official and authorised histories of MI5, the book never glosses over the cracks. Instead, it offers an objective summation of an alarming time, when the nation’s defences had a hole at its centre. It is only to be thanked for that the Russians never seemed to share the secrets they gleaned with Hitler, or history could possibly have gone another way.

An intelligently argued and stylishly-written book replete with a wealth of period-setting illustrations, Misdefending the Realm is a heavyweight examination of its subject that will be appreciated by both casual and serious students of modern history, World War Two and espionage.

Misdefending the Realm: How MI5’s Incompetence Enabled Communist Subversion of Britain’s Institutions During the Nazi-Soviet Pact is out now, published by University of Buckingham Press and priced £20 in softcover. It is available for sale on Amazon UK

Previous Post

Teacher Loses 50lbs Thanks To An Extreme All-Taco Diet – Which Sees Him Eat 12 Every DAY

Next Post

The SmartPhone And The New Mobile Casino – A Highly Potent Combination

Jess Young

Jess Young

Next Post
The SmartPhone And The New Mobile Casino – A Highly Potent Combination

The SmartPhone And The New Mobile Casino – A Highly Potent Combination

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay Connected test

  • 121 Followers
  • 60k Followers
  • 189k Subscribers
  • 23.8k Followers
  • 99 Subscribers
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

March 5, 2014
The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

The top ten most well-known bingo phrases

January 21, 2014
The horses thunder towards a jump at the Grand National

Amazing racehorse names which never made it

April 23, 2014
HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

HGH Injections Brands: Which Ones Are Best?

January 14, 2019
Chris Fear, 33, outside the Coral betting shop which is refusing to pay out on his 485/1 winning bet

Boycott Coral! Bookmaker faces protest after refusing to pay out on a football fan’s 485/1 bet

184
Women love cheesy chat up lines, a study has revealed

Top 20 cheesy chat-up lines ladies really love

147
Women feel invisible to the opposite sex at the age of 51, researchers found

Women begin feeling invisible to men ‘when they turn 51’

138
UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

UKIP candidate claims Jews murdered each other in the Holocaust in masterplan to create State of Israel

105
Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

March 10, 2023
Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

March 8, 2023

Recent News

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

6 Benefits of Customs Clearance Services

March 10, 2023
Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

Bloomcare Rowan Garth: Reintegration Care

March 8, 2023
SWNS

SWNS all rights reserved. Copyright 2020

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Auto
  • Blog
  • Business
  • Celebrity
  • Gaming
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • News
  • Pictures
  • Property
  • Review
  • Sport
  • SWNS
  • Tech
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Recent News

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

Mobile gaming vs PC gaming: Which is better for playing casino games?

March 19, 2023
The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

The Führer’s Prophecy by Brian Klein 

March 16, 2023
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.

No Result
View All Result
  • Business
  • Life
  • Celebrity
  • Sport
  • Blog
  • Auto
  • Tech

Real Fix is a trading style of South West News Service Limited.
Copyright © 2020 South West News Service Limited.