The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized Official History of MI5 – Christopher Andrew

The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized Official History of MI5 by historian Christopher Andrew is an unprecedented publication, the never before revealed history of MI5.

The Defence of the Realm marks an unprecedented publishing event: to commemorate the centenary of its foundation, the British Security Service, MI5, has for the first time opened its archives to an independent historian. The book reveals the precise role of the Security Service in twentieth-century British history, from its foundation by Captain Kell of the British Army in October 1909, through two world wars, up to and including its present roles in counter-espionage and counter-terrorism. The book describes how MI5 has been managed, what its relationship has been with government, where it has triumphed and where it has failed. In all of this no restriction has been placed on the judgements made by the author.

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The book also casts new light on many events and periods in British history, showing for example that through well-placed sources MI5 was probably the pre-war department with the best understanding of Hitler’s objectives, and had a remarkable willing­ness to speak truth to power; how it was so astonish­ingly successful in turning German agents during the Second World War; and that it had much greater roles than has hitherto been realized during the end of Empire and in responding to the recurrent fears of successive governments (both Conservative and Labour) of Cold War Communist subversion.

It has new information about the Profumo affair and its aftermath, about the ‘Magnificent Five’ and about a range of formerly unconfirmed Soviet contacts. It reveals that though MI5 had a file on Harold Wilson it did not plot against him, and it describes what really happened during the failed IRA attack in Gibraltar in March 1988.

When Rab Butler was appointed Home Secretary with responsibility for the Security Service in 1957 he didn’t even know where its headquarters were. The Defence of the Realm now describes this previ­ously extremely secretive organization more fully than any previous book – and identifies all its main buildings on the endpapers.

Links and Further Reading

• Guardian Review

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