Ben Macintyre describes the slow dawning of treachery described in the final volume of Liddell’s remarkable diaries.

Surprisingly he did not notify the White House or the US Office of Naval Intelligence about this plan. It describes in meticulous detail the daily workings of MI5 (the Security Service), MI6 (the Secret Intelligence Service) and other parts of the Whitehall intelligence machine: the turf battles, the personalities, anecdotes, successes and failures.He transferred to MI5 with his team in October 1931, where he became an expert on Soviet subversive activities within the UK and recruited agents, including his private secretary Dick Wright, and future head of B5(b) Maxwell Knight, in preparation for possible war with Germany. In October 1950 Kim Philby warned Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean that they were being investigated by MI5.

The administrative nature of such a job did not appeal to him; his agents were loyal to him and he reciprocated that loyalty. Was this not the same Liddell who recruited Anthony Blunt and Victor Rothschild into his organisation, and then wanted to bring in Guy Burgess, only being talked out of it by John Curry? Between 1879 and 1884 Guy was educated at the Royal Naval Academy, Southsea, the Institution Aubert Savary, Paris, and finally for a year at Clifton College, Bristol. After the war, Liddell joined Scotland Yard where, in liaison with Special Branch and the Foreign Office, he was involved in breaking a spy ring based around the All Russian Cooperative Society in London. Although the document was not recovered, more than enough evidence was found of Soviet espionage, which was enhanced by the unexpected defection of a terrified code clerk, Anton Miller, who had been detained while attempting to burn incriminating files.The rumour probably first appeared in David Mure’s extraordinary Last Temptation, a faux memoir in which he uses the Guy/Alice Liddell connection to concoct a veiled dramatization of Liddell’s life and career. I have to agree with Muggeridge about White “the teacher” Couldn’t we find anybody more inspiring in 1945? In the words of Rupert Allason, 'his unwise friendships and his preference for homosexual company, posthumously wrecked his reputation as a shrewd intelligence professional.

This is the first volume of Nigel West's acclaimed presentation of these fascinating diaries from the heart of Britain's Second World War intelligence operations.Liddell provides a day-by-day account of the unfolding drama, while the diaries' matter-of-fact writing style barely conceals how personal the betrayal was for the MI5 man who was close friends with some of the key protagonists and who struggled to believe what they had done. It took me a while to get through this: mostly the extended day and as consequence the additional hours in the garden, so come late evening the eyelids were drooping. According to Nigel West: "He (Liddell) was responsible for co-ordinating the police raid on the Arcos building in Moorgate in May 1927 (which also housed the Soviet trade delegation), in pursuit of a missing classified RAF document. Fourth, if Attlee had really listened carefully to her, and found her arguments persuasive, he would hardly have allowed Liddell to continue on in MI5 without even an investigation, and to be promoted to Deputy Director-General as some kind of designate. WALLFLOWERS is the codename given to one of the Security Service's most treasured possessions, the daily journal dictated from August 1939 to June 1945 by MI5's Director of Counter Espionage, Guy Liddell, to his secretary, Margo Huggins.

In the latter half of the year – when he applied to become a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers – he was on the staff of Imperial Military Railways, in Victoria Street, London. Although Olga wanted to give up her job with MI5 Knight managed to persuade her to stay on until Glading was in the net.He died of heart failure aged 66 in 1958 at his home, 18 Richmond Court, Sloane Street, London, and was buried at Putney Vale Cemetery. But he was also a man of considerable ability, and rather likeable, with an open face and a keen sense of humour, who knew a good deal about maps and photography. This created serious problems for Liddell as Burgess was a close friend and they were often seen together at parties, clubs and the opera.