It is a necessary part of the spy’s modus vivendi that gives little away; deception is at the very core of his being. Today, however, more than a quarter of a century after his death, Anthony Blunt* shines unprecedented light on his life as a Russian spy who, even after confessing, was allowed to continue his career at the heart of the Establishment as Surveyor of the Queen’s Pictures.

[...] After his exposure he wrote a 30,000-word memoir, which was donated anonymously to the British Library in 1984 — the year after his death — on condition that it remain closed for 25 years. Today that memoir is made public, and raises the intriguing question: even in death, can a spy ever be trusted to tell the truth? The whole truth?

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the times