As many as 37 secret agents who passed some of Britain's most sensitive secrets to the former Soviet Union from the 1930s onwards are set to be named in a book published later this week, following the disclosure at the weekend that an 87-year-old grandmother and a former Scotland Yard officer had worked for the KGB.
Facing mounting calls from the Conservatives to launch an investigation into what the British Government knew and when, the Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, has ordered Mr Stephen Lander, the head of the intelligence agency MI5, to provide an immediate and full report into the matter, which surfaced in a series of articles in the London Times.
The Mitrokhin Archive, written by Professor Christopher Andrew, an historian of British and Soviet intelligence, claims that Britain was told in 1992 that Mrs Melita Norwood (87), who worked as a clerk at the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association for 20 years, had passed a large amount of sensitive material detailing Britain's atomic capability to the KGB. The information provided by Mrs Norwood enabled the former Soviet Union to achieve atomic capability at least two years ahead of schedule.
Mrs Norwood's name and that of the former Scotland Yard detective, Mr John Symonds (63), emerged in a file which was smuggled out of the former Soviet Union when Mr Vasili Mitrokhin, head archivist at the KGB's headquarters in Moscow, defected to Britain when he became disillusioned with the Russian regime.
The shadow home secretary, Ms Ann Widdecombe, urged Mr Straw to reveal what the British Government knew about the `Mitrokhin file', and when. It is understood that Mrs Norwood's file reached Mr Straw's desk in 1997 and that earlier this year the then Attorney General, Mr John Morris, decided it was too late to order a prosecution.
However, a spokesman for the Home Office insisted claims that Mrs Norwood would not be prosecuted or interviewed by the security services were "incorrect". Ms Widdecombe said that the former Conservative Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, who was in office from early 1993 until May 1997 had confirmed "absolutely that he knew nothing about this." Meanwhile, after explaining that she had worked for the KGB from Communist idealism and not for financial gain, Mrs Norwood was keeping a low profile at her home in Bexleyheath, south London, yesterday. It is understood that she is preparing to make a further statement later today.
Mr Symonds, however, was detailing his work for the KGB, explaining how he was recruited into the service in 1972 after he had left Britain following his exposure as a corrupt detective. In a BBC television interview, Mr Symonds, whose KGB codename was `Scot,' said he had worked as an agent between 1972 and 1980, seducing female diplomats and employees at embassies to trick them into revealing secrets or to recruit them into the KGB.
"I was taught how to be a better lover, or perhaps I wasn't a very good one before. It was very pleasant. I was taught by an extremely beautiful, two extremely beautiful girls. That was quite an interesting part," he said.
The revelations are to be investigated by the Commons Security and Intelligence Committee.