MI5 files: The biggest secrets uncovered from the Cambridge Five archives
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From a major UK film star to the Queen’s senior courtier – declassifed documents tell a new story about British spies. More than 100 secret MI5 files have been declassified for the first time, shedding light on the lives of five of Britain’s most infamous KGB spies. New information is revealed about the confessions of Kim Philby and Anthony Blunt, two British MI5 agents who spied for the Soviet Union.
![[A photo of Anthony Blunt inside one of the many files MI5 has made available to the National Archives]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/12/a38e1605-9e16-4c7a-9324-8027fe006ab6.jpg)
Along with Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and John Cairncross, the group came to be known as the ‘Cambridge Five,’ with all of them being former Cambridge University students who passed information to the KGB from the 1930s until at least the 1950s. The documents from MI5 have been made public by the National Archives. They detail the investigations into the group that plagued Britain’s secret service for decades. Their story has shocked and inspired people in the UK and beyond for years – and now more of the secrets are laid bare.
![[The KGB was said to have targeted the film star Dirk Bogarde due to his sexuality]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/00/316a5beff28b8e7298d6880a16178409Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2Nzg1OTUw-2.1187428.jpg)
Dramatic confessions, daring near-getaways and never-before-seen suspects are all part of the bundle, which dates back to the MI5’s early years before the First World War. Here are the five biggest takeaways from the MI5 files:. Bogarde was warned by MI5 that he could be the target of an “entrapment” attempt by the KGB over rumours about his sexuality.
![[Queen Elizabeth II with Anthony Blunt]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/00/45b39393207d55a5b1d98b289e7f0766Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2NjkzODY5-2.1439266.jpg)
The documents show that the actor was “clearly disturbed” after learning that his name was on a list of “six practising British homosexuals” which was passed to the Russians. Mr Bogarde, who died in 1999, never came out publicly as gay, although he maintained a long-term relationship with his manager, Anthony Forwood.
![[British double agent Kim Philby was difficult to read]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/14/00/a4b32d8ca5f81fe798ca2fc083a22417Y29udGVudHNlYXJjaGFwaSwxNzM2Nzk3MDA2-2.1090851.jpg)
