M: Maxwell Knight
by Henry Hemming, Preface, £20
The epigraph to this fascinating book is the extraordinary statement of EM Forster in Two Cheers for Democracy: “If I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country.” It could only have been made by a member of the Bloomsbury Group, for whom friendship was the supreme value. Maxwell Knight, or “M” as he was known in intelligence circles, was, fortunately, built of sterner and more patriotic stuff than Forster.
