Enemies Within : Communists, the Cambridge Spies and the Making of Modern Britain

What pushed Blunt, Burgess, Cairncross, Maclean and Philby into Soviet hands? Looking at the revelations that rocked the intelligence world to its core, Richard Davenport-Hines returns with a sharp analysis of the spying world and beyond to unmask why these men and others betrayed national interest, loyalty and ideology for personal gain. Traitors follows the Cambridge Five (Blunt, Burgess, Cairncross, Maclean, and Philby) alongside a new cast of characters who who were collateral damage to the revelations of their duplicity, namely Victor Rothschild and Archie Clark Kerr (Lord Inverchapel). By exploring the scandals associated with these men, this book provides a rational analysis of why and how these men and others were corrupted by foreign agents and what this cost Britain and its allies.

The Cambridge Spies have attracted extensive interest but the allegations of Establishment cover-ups and high-level corruption never lose topicality. As Cambridge undergraduates, these hedonistic, addiction-riddled bright minds were looked after. They had good prospects and ascended to some of the most power positions within and outside of Britain, at governmental level - neither money nor blackmail were at stake.