A file release from MI5

Aneurin Bevan

One name that immediately jumps out from this latest release, is Aneurin Bevan. There are two files (catalogue reference: KV 2/4807 and KV 2/4808) that relate to Bevan, who is best remembered as the founder of the National Health Service.

Bevan was born in 1897 in Tredegar, South Wales, into a mining family. He carried on that tradition by becoming a coal miner when he left school at 13. He became a Marxist but was committed to parliamentary democracy, and he was elected Labour MP for Ebbw Vale in 1929, a seat he held for the rest of his life.

The files show that MI5, through its network of Chief Constables, monitored Bevan’s activities, and his pre-war associations with communists. However, the only action taken was simply monitoring.

Bevan was a notable orator, and frequently outspoken. There are many transcripts of his speeches in the files – particularly passionate sections are frequently underlined. During the war he was a strong critic of the Churchill coalition. It is noted that, post-war, Bevan ‘had been very careful to have no association’ with the Communist Party.

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The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets

Join Mark Dunton, on 27 November 2026, for an exploration of the secret world of the British Security Service, MI5 from its origins to the modern day.

Sir Michael Tippett

There are a couple of files (catalogue reference: KV 2/4859-4860) concerning Sir Michael Tippett, one of the most distinctive British composers of the 20th century. He joined the Communist Party in 1934 and the Trotskyists in 1936. He also joined the Labour Party and the Peace Pledge Union (he was committed to pacifism).

During the Second World War he registered as a conscientious objector. In 1943 he was sentenced to three months imprisonment for failing to comply with the conditions of that registration. By that time, he had become ‘a successful composer of serious music’.

Arnold Ridley and Sylvia Matthews

From the world of television, fans of the beloved comedy series Dad’s Army will be fascinated to learn that there is a passing reference to Arnold Ridley, who played Private Godfrey, in an MI5 file (catalogue reference: KV 2/4858). It is noted that Arnold Ridley of the Authors' Club had accompanied a Miss Sylvia Matthews when she called into a London police office to give a statement on 8 September 1939. Ridley had long been established as a successful playwright. His play The Ghost Train had been a huge hit in the 1920s, hence his membership of the Authors' Club (one of Britain's oldest literary institutions). But what was Sylvia Matthews’ statement about?

It related to a British passport she had been persuaded to obtain for a German communist, Werner Emil Schmidt. Sylvia explained that she met and fell in love with him in late 1936, and went on to live with him in a house share (which seems to have been akin to being a Communist commune) in London NW8.

He was then deported in May 1937 and she followed him to France. She obtained a British passport for him from a friend ‘so that Schmidt and I could return to England and marry’ but everything went awry: Schmidt took her out to Mexico and deserted her, leaving her stranded. She found that the passport he had been given had been altered and Schmidt had inserted his photo in it.

The matter was referred to Special Branch (whose remit included intelligence work). We do not know the outcome. The file contains hints that Schmidt might have returned to the UK after the war, but there is nothing substantial reported in this respect. The reference to Arnold Ridley is very brief, and nothing else is known about the context as it applies to him: we can only surmise that he accompanied Sylvia to the police office to lend moral support to her as a friend or acquaintance.

Suspected Espionage

8th September 9

A Miss Sylvia Matthews, of 7, Headfort Place, Chapel Street, S.W.1., called at this office this evening and made the attached statement respecting a British passport she was persuaded to obtain for a German named Werner Emil SCHMIDT, at present thought to be in New York. The object of her visit was to clear her mind and to inform the authorities that the passport in question might be used in an irregular manner. She last saw it in Paris and it had certainly been altered she states. It was originally made out for a young British subject named Angus Maxy.

Miss Matthews, who was accompanied by Mr. Arnold Ridley, of the Authors' Club, particularly asked that no enquiries respecting her should be made at Headfort Place. She had a flat at 55, Embassy House, West End Lane, where she can be seen.

[signature]
Inspector.

Superintendent.

Hard Hit and Button Boots

There are several spy cases in this release, where individuals passed secrets to the Soviet Union, for financial rather than ideological reasons. One such case is that of Frank Clifton Bossard (catalogue reference: KV 2/4760-4783).

Bossard was a former RAF officer, senior intelligence officer and technical specialist. While working for the Ministry of Aviation, he sold British missile secrets to Soviet intelligence from 1961 to his arrest in 1965. He had got heavily in debt and craved a higher standard of living.

'a most sensitive source'

Thanks to information received from ‘a most sensitive source’ – a Soviet double agent, MI5 started to investigate Bossard in June 1964. They became aware that he was receiving cash at the rate of £2,000 per year from an unknown source, and he was spending heavily. He lived with his wife Eileen in the leafy village of Cobham in Surrey, classic commuter territory. A later MI5 report, referring to Bossard, who wore a bowler hat, commented ‘outwardly he seemed a man of respectability with conservative tastes’.

The couple were given certain codenames by MI5 – the general one used was VEX, so Mr and Mrs VEX, while the A4 branch (the surveillance teams known as the ‘Watchers’) referred to Frank as HARDHIT and Eileen as BUTTON BOOTS. MI5 began by bugging Bossard’s office telephone, and the watchers assiduously carried out surveillance on him as he went about his daily commute to and from Waterloo Station and also Tottenham Court Road Station (close to the Ministry of Aviation office in New Oxford Street).

Stepping up surveillance

After a few months, MI5 stepped up surveillance by setting up an observation post in a neighbour’s home and they placed a listening device in the Bossards’ home. The files contain a huge volume of transcripts of the couple’s conversations. They show that they frequently had rows, with Eileen (in between playing the piano), regularly berating Frank about an affair he had had with a married woman, or for wasting money, or being lazy.

The watchers discovered that Bossard would sometimes leave a case at the left luggage office at Waterloo Station. He would collect it during his lunch hour and take it to a hotel in Bloomsbury, where he booked in using a false name. After about half an hour, he would leave the hotel and return the suitcase to the left luggage office before returning to work.

On 5th February 1965 MI5 managed to investigate the contents of Bossard’s case in his room at the Montague Hotel when he was absent. It contained many items of photographic equipment, and two diaries. Most intriguingly, within the folds of a blanket they found ‘three 45 rpm extended play records of Russian music, i.e. Soviet Army ensemble, Moscow Nights, Swan Lake. They appear to be standard EMI discs’. The case was re-packed exactly as it was found.

So by this time, MI5 knew that Bossard was spying by taking documents to a hotel to photograph them. They also thought that he might be listening to broadcasts from Moscow of the records in his possession, and that it might be a means of communication.

The arrest

On 15 March 1965 Bossard was arrested by Special Branch officers as he left Room 229 at the Ivanhoe Hotel in Bloomsbury. He was found carrying his suitcase containing classified documents, photographic equipment and exposed film. Having been caught ‘red-handed’, Bossard made no attempt to disguise his actions.

It is interesting that, despite all the evidence of tensions between them, one of his first reactions was to remark ‘my poor wife’. He declared ‘well of course I shall cooperate fully’. The general impression given by the files is that he did just that, though MI5 officers expressed doubts that he had told them the whole truth about the circumstances of his initial recruitment by the Russian Intelligence Service (RIS). MI5 were clear that his wife had known nothing of her husband’s spying activities.

Bossard was convicted at the Old Bailey of offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911 on 10 May 1965 and sentenced to 21 years imprisonment.

Spycraft

Returning to the fascinating details of the spycraft involved in Bossard’s case, working with Soviet intelligence he used the classic espionage system of ‘Dead Letter Boxes’ or DLB. A ‘Dead Letter Box’ refers to a secret place where an agent can leave or collect items without having to meet their handler face-to-face. This could be, for example, a hollow tree. Once Bossard revealed the DLB locations he used (to leave films of documents he had made, or to collect money) MI5 officers visited all of them and took photographs of the sites, some of which were along lonely country lanes.

As for the music, Bossard revealed that he had bought himself a Dansette record player and play records prescribed by Soviet intelligence. He was supposed to familiarise himself with the records, but in fact he only listened to the tunes a couple of times. Then he purchased a transistor radio, for tuning in to radio broadcasts from the Moscow area (a RIS transmitter). He would then listen out for the records being played, with each having a hidden meaning communicating what the Soviet’s wanted him to do next.

Bossard was released from prison on parole in May 1975.

TOP SECRET

-6-

"Moscow Nights"
"Swan Lake"
"Kalinka"
"Sabre Dance"
"Volga Boat Song"

He was required to play over designated portions of these records in order to familiarise himself with the different melodies. He says that in fact he only listened to the tines about twice and expressed some doubt about his ability to recognise all of them, particularly "Kalinka".

40. The significance of each tune was as follows: -

"Moscow Nights" = All well
"Swan Lake" = Use reserve D.L.B.
"Kalinka" = Meet following Saturday at sunset at permanent meeting place.
"Sabre Dance" = Cancel next drop
"Volga Boat Song" = Stop till further notice.

41. According to BOSSARD's last schedule transmissions were to take place twice, in the mornings and evenings, on the Tuesday and Wednesdays preceding and following the first Saturday in every month. The wavelengths varied from month to month and the times of broadcasts were changed periodically.

42. There had been an initial trial period when BOSSARD had been required merely to listen and report reception. After this he had head only "Moscow Nights". He had not listened in consistently and had been reproved by the R.I.S. for failing to comply with their orders to listen regularly and report.

43. Documents photographed by BOSSARD

A detailed investigation is in progress to establish which documents were photographed by BOSSARD. The analysis so far bears out BOSSARD's own statement that he had a wide discretion as to what material to choose and that directions from R.I.S. (such as the attached photograph marked A) were rare.

July, 1965

Operation FOOT

There are several files in this release concerning ‘Operation FOOT’. In 1970, Edward Heath’s Conservative government was convinced that the high numbers of Soviet intelligence officers in the UK represented ‘a real threat to our national security’. The files (Catalogue reference: KV 3/451 and KV 4/488-497) show how the Security Service had been grappling with this problem for years.

MI5 were acutely aware that there had been a significant increase in the number of official Soviet representatives in the UK since 1950. For example, the number of known and suspected Intelligence officers in the Russian Embassy was 12 in 1950. By 1971 this figure had risen to 85 – and this was only part of the story. There were many other intelligence officers working under the cover of being trade representatives.

MI5 argued for a radical solution: a mass expulsion of intelligence personnel. Warnings issued to the Soviet Union by the Foreign Secretary, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, were ignored and on 24 September 1971, under Operation FOOT, 105 Soviet officials linked to espionage were expelled. This bold action made the UK a more hostile operating environment for Soviet intelligence.

Find out more

All the files in the release are available to explore, view and download from Discovery, our catalogue. Sign in to Discovery for free access.

Read more about MI5 in Mark's new book The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets, co-authored by Stephen Twigge, a former Head of Modern Collections at The National Archives. From interrogations to surveillance logs, coded messages to intercepted phone calls, The MI5 Archive charts the clandestine activities of MI5 from its foundation in 1909 up to modern times.

You can also join Mark, on 27 November 2026, as he discusses how his book, The MI5 Archive: Official Secrets, came about and some of the riveting stories of subversion and espionage to be found within.