MI5 SECRET TOOLS OF TRADECRAFT ON SHOW AT KEW ARCHIVES
A dark leather briefcase left at the Reform Club in London by Cambridge spy Guy Burgess before he fled to Moscow in May 1951 will be one of several never-before-seen artefacts on display at The National Archives’ upcoming exhibition in partnership with MI5 in Kew, it was announced today
MI5: Official Secrets marks the first time the intelligence agency has collaborated on an exhibition exploring its own 115-year history, with visitors offered a unique chance to explore spying and spy-catching equipment loaned from the MI5 private collection.
Burgess left two briefcases behind when he disappeared, with fellow Cambridge spy Anthony Blunt picking up the first and handing it over to MI5 after removing incriminating papers.
MI5 later confiscated the second case, also containing letters, papers and photographs, and this is the one loaned to The National Archives.
Burgess’ British passport will also be exhibited for the first time.
Other items include the first camera used by MI5, purchased from the Army and Navy store on Victoria Street, London, by William Melville, who could be described as the founding father of MI5 investigations.
Vernon Kell, the intelligence agency’s first Director General, noted the purchase in his diary which is also on display.
By the 1960s and 1970s, Polaroid cameras were increasingly used by MI5 officers to ensure premises they searched were left as they had been prior to the entry, an example on display being a Polaroid SX-70.
Also on display is the key to the Communist Party of Great Britain’s Westminster branch offices which MI5 acquired, allowing officers to examine membership records by literally going in through the front door.
At the other end of the political extremism scale, a British Union of Fascists (BUF) armband belonging to Mitzi Smythe, a German woman who ran a boarding house in Ramsgate, will be on display. Smythe was interned in 1940 and later held in Holloway Prison alongside British fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
Another camera loaned to the exhibition is the Robot Star 50 concealment camera which was used extensively during the Cold War. Small and compact, it was advertised as ‘silent’ and could be hidden inside a coat or bag, the smallest lens could be concealed behind a button.
A desk microphone used in the MI5 operations room in the 1970s to communicate with officers in mobile surveillance vehicles outside also features.
MI5: Official Secrets will take visitors on a journey through pivotal moments in MI5’s history, from its formation in the lead-up to the First World War, through the fight against fascism in the Second World War, exploring the spies and scandals of the Cold War, and then into the contemporary challenges of dealing with terrorism.
Saul Nassé, Chief Executive at The National Archives, said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with MI5 on this exhibition, and the objects they have shared tell their story in a compelling way.
‘Placing these artefacts alongside the files, papers, and photographs already in The National Archives’ collection allows us to provide new insights and perspectives into MI5’s activities during some of the key periods in modern British history.’
Sir Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5 said: ‘We are pleased to be able to loan these items to The National Archives for this ground-breaking exhibition. Sharing unique items from our own collection brings to life – in tangible form – some of how MI5 has worked to keep the country safe over the past 115 years.’
Mark Dunton, The National Archives’ curator ofMI5: Official Secrets, said: ‘From capturing the intrigue of counter-espionage and the daring double-agents during the world wars, to chilling Cold War confessions, and the counter-terrorism of recent times, these are the real stories that have helped inspire so many novels, tv dramas and big-screen spy thrillers we’ve come to love.’
MI5: Official Secrets will run from 5 April until 28 September at The National Archives in Kew, London. Admission is free.
Visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/mi5-official-secrets for more information.