Philby spy biography

British ring of spies for the Soviet Union

The Cambridge Five was a ring of spies in the United Kingdom that passed information to the Soviet Union during the Second World War and the Cold War and was active from the s until at least the early s.

None of the known members were ever prosecuted for spying. The number and membership of the ring emerged slowly, from the s onwards.^[1]

The general public first became aware of the conspiracy in after the sudden flight of Donald Maclean (–, codename Homer) and Guy Burgess (–, codename Hicks) to the Soviet Union.

Suspicion immediately fell on Kim Philby (–, codenames Sonny, Stanley), who eventually fled to the Soviet Union in Following Philby's flight, British intelligence obtained confessions from Anthony Blunt (–, codename Johnson) and then John Cairncross (–, codename Liszt), who have come to be seen as the last two of a group of five.

Their involvement was kept secret for many years: until for Blunt, and