A Spy Among Friends was published by Bloomsbury in 2014. Kim Philby — the most damaging Soviet mole in British intelligence history — is not the central character of this book. Nicholas Elliott is. Elliott was Philby’s closest friend in MI6: they shared the same background (public school, establishment family), the same club, the same worldview. Elliott defended Philby against suspicion for over a decade. When the evidence finally became overwhelming in 1963, Elliott was sent to Beirut (where Philby was working as a journalist) to extract his confession.
Macintyre argues that the Philby case is ultimately about friendship — not ideology. Philby’s betrayal was not merely of his country but of the specific men who trusted him personally: Elliott, who championed him; the agents in Eastern Europe who were identified and executed because Philby passed their names to Moscow; the colleagues whose careers were destroyed by association.
The confrontation in Beirut — Elliott offering Philby immunity in exchange for a full confession, Philby giving a partial admission and then defecting to Moscow before the deal was complete — is the book’s emotional climax: a friendship destroyed in a hotel room, with both men knowing it was over but neither able to speak the truth of what had happened between them.
Collecting A Spy Among Friends
First edition (Bloomsbury, London, 2014): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $15–$30
- Signed first: $30–$60