12. Anthony Blunt’s spying activities ended with Burgess’s and Maclean’s defections
Anthony Blunt met Guy Burgess when the latter arrived in London in May 1951 and assisted him in preparing for his departure for France. For years the Soviet’s recruiter of spies in Cambridge and elsewhere, Blunt curtailed most of his spying activities following questioning by MI5 in 1952. MI5’s chief interest in Blunt included his relationship with Burgess during the latter’s final days in London. Blunt’s social standing and his relationship with the Royal Family caused the intelligence agency to treat him with the proverbial velvet gloves. He denied any espionage activities and MI5 accepted him at his word. Blunt received a knighthood in 1956 for his long service to the Royal Family.
In 1963 an American Blunt had recruited to spy for the Soviets in the 1930s named Michael Straight confessed to Presidential aide Arthur Schlesinger Jr his former activities with the Cambridge 5. Schlesinger informed the CIA, which in turn informed MI5. Faced with the confession, Blunt admitted his activities as a spy for the Soviet Union. MI5, in return for his full confession, agreed to keep his treason an official state secret for a period of fifteen years. He also received immunity from prosecution. Queen Elizabeth II was informed of his treachery, though then Prime Minister Douglas-Home was not. Blunt continued to move in exalted social circles, his treason officially protected from exposure to the public by the British government, until 1979.