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Harry Palmer reads the New Statesman

A quiz, your verdicts on the departure of Tony 'where did those weapons go' Blair plus news from the

By Ben Davies

Will you miss him? We’d like to hear your verdict on Blair. We’ve asked for the thoughts of people from the worlds of health, diplomacy, politics and much more to assess the past decade. Why not have a read and then add your comment?

We’ve also compiled a hilarious quiz entirely for your benefit so you can discover what sort of Blairite you are.

Now a rather embarrassing confession. I’m reading a book by Len Deighton.

I’ve always rather liked the Harry Palmer films starring Michael Caine, particularly Funeral in Berlin. Anyway I came across a rather nice hardback edition of the Ipcress File at a National Trust house. Don’t worry it was legally acquired, not snatched while my pregnant wife distracted an elderly steward…

Anyway I digress. At the start of Chapter 2 Palmer is walking down London’s Charlotte Street towards Soho when he purchased “two packets of Gauloises, sank a quick grappa with Mario and Franco at the Terrazza, bought a Statesman, some Normandy butter and garlic sausage”.

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Now this got us thinking. The Ipcress File was first published in 1962 – easy to find out if you’ve got a first edition – so just what could HP have been reading about?

A quick email to walking New Statesman archive, rain expert and media guru Professor Brian Cathcart and we thought we’d worked it out…

To a spy the Vassall affair would have been particularly interesting. John Vassall was a gay civil servant who got photographed in some rather compromising situations with a Soviet citizen enabling the Russians to recruit him as a spy.

He then became a secretary to Tory minister Tam Galbraith which gave him access to all sorts of classified documents which he passed over to the USSR.

Eventually someone realised that Vassall had a rather high standard of living for his salary and it was a top news item for most of autumn 1962.

In a thundering editorial, Paul Johnson wrote about it in the 16 November edition of the NS.

In it Harold Macmillan is castigated by our former editor for regarding the “security chaos in the Admiralty as purely secondary to the political aspects of the affair”.

But it can’t have been the Vassall piece Palmer was reading. Nor could it have been the review of Ian Fleming’s The Spy Who Loved me from the 11 May edition.

We know this because Deighton refers to Palmer’s stroll down Charlotte Street taking place on “that sort of January morning that has enough sunshine to point up the dirt without raising the temperature”.

So what could our spy have been reading? Was it Bertrand Russell’s defence of unilateral disarmament in the letter pages? Or Johnson’s profile of the Cold War Earl – foreign secretary Alexander Douglas-Home? A review of such titles as Lenin’s Collected Works and Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx? All were in the 5 January edition. Or perhaps an item on Soviet ideology in the 12 January edition?

Personally I think the clue is in some of the other items Palmer bought.

Deighton wants us to know Palmer is a sophisticate and the reference to the NS indicates that just as surely as the normandy butter shows he is a gourmet.

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Select and enter your email address Your weekly guide to the best writing on ideas, politics, books and culture every Saturday. The best way to sign up for The Saturday Read is via saturdayread.substack.com The New Statesman's quick and essential guide to the news and politics of the day. The best way to sign up for Morning Call is via morningcall.substack.com Our Thursday ideas newsletter, delving into philosophy, criticism, and intellectual history. The best way to sign up for The Salvo is via thesalvo.substack.com Stay up to date with NS events, subscription offers & updates. Weekly analysis of the shift to a new economy from the New Statesman's Spotlight on Policy team. The best way to sign up for The Green Transition is via spotlightonpolicy.substack.com
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  • Facility / Grounds Management and Maintenance
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Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
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