Why spy? John Cairncross and the Cambridge Five
Dr Chris Smith |
TEDxLambethSalon
• June 2021
Between 1937 and 1951, John Cairncross and the other members of the Cambridge Ring of Five (Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt), all entered into the service of the British state and into highly sensitive positions. All the while they were secretly leaking thousands of documents to Moscow. But why did they do it? What motivates a person to betray their country?