By now most of us have likely heard of John le Carré’s Smiley’s People and Catherine Belton’s Putin’s People but have you ever heard of Pemberton’s People in MI6? Within MI6, especially in the seventies and eighties, Pemberton’s People were perceived to be an infamous clique of maverick and patriotic scoundrels in British Intelligence who worked for Colonel Alan Brooke Pemberton CVO MBE. Alan Pemberton was a legendary figure and seemingly a rule unto himself in MI5 and MI6. As for his scoundrels, they embodied the qualities depicted in Winston Churchill’s “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” and Ben Macintyre’s “SAS Rogue Heroes”.
In the early fifties, Alan Pemberton was ADC (aide-de-camp) to Field Marshall Sir Gerald Walter Robert Templer during the guerrilla war known as the Malayan Emergency. From 1948 to 1953 Templer commanded the British Army in the fight against the insurgents (the Malayan National Liberation Army). Much of what transpired in that guerrilla war, involving British Intelligence and the SAS (including Brigadier Mad Mike Calvert's Malay Scouts), is still under embargo due to the Official Secrets Act.
That should come as no surprise, considering the protracted nature of the conflict in Malaya and the less-than-gentlemanly conduct of the British forces. In reality, it was a fully-fledged guerrilla war, but it wasn't officially labelled as such because many wealthy Malayan and British businessmen, who suffered damages, would have been unable to claim reparations under their insurance policies. Perhaps for similar reasons, Putin forbade anyone in Russia from describing the Russian special military operations in Ukraine in 2022 as a war.
During the Malayan Emergency, British Intelligence and covert units like the Special Air Service worked unusually closely together. In 1952, the 22 SAS Regiment was established in Malaya, and it has been based in Hereford, England, ever since. Malaya proved to be an excellent training ground for all those involved in the dark side of warfare. Even Kim Philby attempted to get involved to support the communist-backed insurgents. According to Alan Pemberton, Philby would frequently remind those concerned, in his characteristic manner, that he was a cousin of none other than Field Marshal Montgomery, in order to lend an air of officiality to his requests for information.
Similar to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Archibald David Stirling, DSO, OBE, when he established the SAS during the Second World War, Alan Pemberton started assembling a team of maverick army "friends" with combat experience from the war. A couple of decades later, this group, many of whom held high-ranking positions, became known in British Intelligence as Pemberton's People, working under him in MI5, MI6 and other units (including an organization called Diversified Corporate Services).
Pemberton's People included:
1. Major General Sir John Evelyn Anderson KBE (headed up the Royal Signals and held various positions in the War Office)
2. Roy Astley Richards (an MI6 operative, mainly known for being Winston Churchill’s wartime bodyguard)
3. Peter 'Scrubber' Stewart-Richardson OBE CDG (an eccentric British Brigadier who once tried to join the Afghan Mujahideen)
4. Barrie Northend Parkes BEM (had numerous roles in British Intelligence and the Royal Air Force)
5. Peter Goss (an SAS Colonel and Joint Intelligence Committee member involved in the Clockwork Orange Plot concerning Prime Minister Harold Wilson)
6. The infamous rogue Major Freddy Mace, who audaciously highlighted his cat-burgling and silent killing skills in his CV and featured in Hansard for all the wrong reasons
7. Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ) aka Edward Burlington, inter alia an MI6 agent and Chartered Accountant (see below)
Being experienced combatants, the British army elders in Pemberton's People had little regard for their more toffee-nosed colleagues in MI5 and MI6. Needless to say those colleagues once included the traitor Philby who had outwitted David Cornwell (aka John le Carré, the monarch of espionage literature). Thus, in their opinion both Philby and Cornwell were flawed albeit for vastly distinct reasons. As already alluded to above, during the Malayan Emergency Philby sniffed around for information to help the communist insurgents but was cold-shouldered by Templer and co who disliked know-it-all MI6 couch-potatoes such as Philby.
This attitude of the dyed-in-the-wool military elders amongst Pemberton’s People probably rattled David Cornwell when Bill Fairclough approached him to collaborate on writing The Burlington Files which were mainly about Fairclough’s exploits with Pemberton’s People. Bill Fairclough was a maverick Chartered Accountant whose recruitment was personally arranged by Alan Pemberton. They worked together intermittently from the early 1970s until the 1990s.
Bill Fairclough joined Pemberton's People relatively late and obviously would not have approached John le Carré unless he had greatly admired him not just as an author. Most of Pemberton’s People had retired or passed away by that time but David Cornwell had never been that enamoured with Alan Pemberton and co. Diplomatically, David Cornwell declined the offer, citing his decades of successful solitary writing and thereby justifiably questioning the need for a collaborative arrangement with anyone (let alone one of Pemberton’s People several of whom he had known).
Bill Fairclough has penned his memoirs, starting with the spy thriller "Beyond Enkription," which currently stands as the only published stand-alone tome in The Burlington Files. Alan McKenzie (aka Alan Pemberton) features prominently in The Burlington Files as Edward Burlington's MI6 handler. Additionally, Barrie Parkes appears as Chad Cooper, and several other characters in the thriller are based on individuals connected to Alan Pemberton, whom we cannot name for legal and/or security reasons.
Beyond Enkription is a true story set in 1974 in London about a maverick accountant, Edward Burlington in Porter Williams International aka Bill Fairclough in Coopers & Lybrand now PwC in real life. Unwittingly working for MI6, Edward Burlington began infiltrating international organised crime gangs which were ultimately controlled by rogue states. As his handler Alan Pemberton said, the best spies don’t know they have been recruited! After some frenetic attempts on his life Edward Burlington was relocated to the Caribbean where, “eyes wide open” he was recruited by the CIA and headed for shark infested waters off Haiti.
"Beyond Enkription" is a must-read for espionage enthusiasts. It is a gritty, fast-paced fact based novel with a raw noir feel, though one should not expect the delicate prose, sophisticated syntax, and tranquil plots of John le Carré. Nonetheless, one US critic has acclaimed it as being on a par with "My Silent War" by Kim Philby and "No Other Choice" by George Blake. Len Deighton and Mick Herron might even feel they co-wrote it. Interestingly, some critics have bestowed upon its protagonist the nickname "a posh Harry Palmer."
For further information about Alan Pemberton, Pemberton’s People and Diversified Corporate Services please refer to https://theburlingtonfiles.org/news_2020.01.07.php and https://www.duncancampbell.org/menu/journalism/newstatesman/newstatesman-1980/salesman%20of%20the%20secret%20world.pdf.
This article was initially published on October 31, 2022, and last updated on July 4, 2023.