Latest release of files from MI5

Today we have made available to the public 147 previously top secret files from the Security Service, or MI5.

The records cover a range of subjects predominantly from the 1960s and 1970s although there are some from earlier years.

Personal files include individuals classed as Cold War-era Soviet intelligence officers, agents and suspected agents, right wing extremists who came to the attention of MI5, and other individuals of Security Service enquiry.

All the files in the release will be available to download from Discovery, our catalogue.

Many of the files concern individuals involved in the Profumo Affair. They include Evgenyi Ivanov, the Soviet intelligence officer at the centre of the controversy, and Stephen Ward, the osteopath and portrait artist who was well connected with people of influence, before being tried and found guilty of living off immoral earnings.

There are also files on several people with links to the Cambridge spy ring, including Fred Warner, Jack Hewit, Victor and Tess Rothschild, and Goronwy Rees.

Thirteen files relate to John Vassall, the British civil servant who was jailed for spying for the Soviet Union, likely under threat of blackmail, and another selection of files on the Krogers, the suburban couple implicated in the Portland spy ring.

Read more about the release in our blog Spies, Social Climbers, and Suspicious Stories.

Click here to find out more about previous MI5 releases.