Arthur S. Martin

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Arthur Martin, a member of the intelligence community in Britain in the early to middle 20th century, was a primary investigator in the spy scandals in Britain in the post-war era. He became head of the D1 Section of D Branch of MI5 in 1960 and worked with Peter Wright in various investigations including Roger Hollis and Anthony Blunt. These events are described in detail in Nigel Wests' "Mole-hunt" and Peter Wright's "Spycatcher."

In 1964, Michael Straight admitted to Arthur Martin and the FBI that Anthony Blunt had recruited him while at Cambridge. Straight was an American who had been at Cambridge University with the Cambridge spies. John Cairncross, known as "The Fifth Man" also admitted to Martin that he was an associate of Blunt and he had passed papers to the Soviet government. Martin set up a meeting with Blunt on April 23, 1964. At that meeting, Blunt admitted that he had worked for the Soviet government. Blunt was later interrogated by Peter Wright.^[1]

In 1963, Howard Wilson was elected to Prime Minister. Previous to the election, the FBI told MI5 they had discovered a KGB mole working in MI5 while MI5 had been trying to recruit Wilson's campaign manager, George Gaunt, to spy on Wilson. After Blunt confessed, it was clear that his position and his social and political connexions posed a serious threat to the credibility of MI5. (Compounding this crises was the fact that MI5 had actually been informed of the presence of a mole ten years earlier but had not responded to this appropriately.) The executive officer during this time, Roger Hollis, felt that Wilson's government would use this information against MI5 if the incoming government found out. Hollis and Martin decided to engage in a cover-up and did not even tell the then Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, what had transpired and what they intended to do. They offered Anthony Blunt immunity instead and he confessed when interviewed by Martin. This cover-up was also confirmed by Peter Wright. Later, when Hollis and his deputy, Graham Mitchell, fell under suspicion of being KGB moles, Wilson was not informed.^[2]

After retiring from the intelligence service in 1970,^[3] Martin was a member of the Clerks Department in the House of Commons^[4]

Arthur Martin died February 1, 1996 (Obituary, The Guardian, 2 February, 1996)^[5]