Lord Rothschild denies spying

Press, 5 December 1986, Page 11

Lord Rothschild denies spying

NZPA-PA London Lord Rothschild, former confidant of British Prime Ministers, demanded yestersday that the Government should clear his name over allegations that he was the “fifth man” in the notorious spy ring which included Burgess and McLean, Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt. Lord Rothschild, a former senior officer of B Division of M. 1.5, which dealt with counter-sabo-tage, said in a letter in yesterday’s “Daily Telegraph’: “Since at least

1980 up to the present time there have been innuendoes in the press to the effect that I am ‘the fifth man,’ in other words a Soviet agent. Lord Rothschild claims that M. 1.5 has “unequivocal evidence” that he was not and never had been a Soviet agent linked with Blunt and the others. He demands that his name should be cleared of any Soviet espionage connection.

“The Director-General of M. 1.5 should state publicly that it has unequivocal repeat, un-

equivocal, evidence that I am not, and never have been, a Soviet agent,” he said.

“If the regulations prevent him making such a statement, which, in the present climate, I doubt, let him do so through his legl adviser or through any othe recognisably authoritative source.”

Lord Rothschild, aged 76, a merchant banker was replying to allegations made in the House of Commons by several Labour members of Parliament that he was the “fifth man” in the

Cambridge ring of spies.

Lord Rothschild was a personal friend of Anthony Blunt, the deceased and disgraced Keeper of the Queen’s Pictures who confessed to having been a Russian spy 20 years ago. He also knew Guy Burgess, who fled to Russia with Donald McLean in the early 19505.

Lord Rothschild was a confidant of several Prime Ministers and in 1971 became head of the Think Tank set up by the then Prime Minister, Edward Heath.