As the latest James Bond film is released, the obituary of Julia Pirie provides a timely reminder that the business of espionage is not all glamour:
Julia Pirie, who has died aged 90, spent two decades as an MI5 agent at the heart of the Communist Party of Great Britain, most of it as personal assistant to the party’s general secretary.
A small, dumpy woman with the appearance of a confirmed and rather matronly spinster, Julia Pirie was the most unlikely of spies.
Given her position as personal assistant to the general secretary, John Gollan, it seems highly likely that one of Julia Pirie’s earliest coups was to provide information that allowed MI5 to obtain the entire secret membership of the party. Selected members of the party were told to keep their membership secret so that they could be used by the KGB or Soviet military intelligence (the GRU) in operations in Britain.
The best bit?
Until her death on September 2 Julia Pirie continued to receive her pension from the Communist Party, paid monthly into her account from a bank in Italy.
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Michael Averko 11.03.08 at 1:54 pm
During the Cold War, it was thought that a good number of the CPUSA (Communist Party of the USA) membership were working undercover for American government intelligence.