George Smiley Confession Shock

I have always enjoyed John Le Carré books and I have always valued them above mere airport page turners. Indeed, I have just received, on my Kindle, the latest effort, Legacy of Spies.  All the familiar names crop up; Toby Esterhase, Percy Alleline, Roy Bland, Bill Haydon, Jim Prideaux, Oliver Lacon, Oliver Mendel, Alec Leamas and of course Peter Guillam. Even so, I don’t think I would have persisted with Le Carré, beyond the cold war, had it not been for the enduring impression of Alec Guinness portrayal as George on BBC TV. I always hoped that the next novel would recreate the Guinness magic – none ever did. I even forgave Le Carré his increasingly eccentric interventions in politics. So, it was out of idle curiosity rather than fervent admiration that I attended the remote streaming of “An Evening with George Smiley” at a cinema in York last week. My colleague, rather less tolerant than I, agreed to remain seated for the first half (despite the thinly disguised association of Brexiteers with fascists) but reserved his right to walk out in protest during the second half which was to be an interview by the saintly Jon Snow. The second half was not quite as saccharine as we had feared although it required a certain indulgence to forgive the frequent close-ups of Snow’s unpolished shoes and silly socks. But back to the revelation of the first half that prompted me to write this piece.

Le Carré, looking pretty good for his age, in discussing the complexity of Smiley’s character, read out a quote from the new book [spoiler alert].

‘So was it all for England, then?’ he resumed. ‘There was a time, of course there was. But whose England? Which England? England all alone, a citizen of nowhere? I’m a European, Peter. If I had a mission – if I was ever aware of one beyond our business with the enemy, it was to Europe. If I was heartless, I was heartless for Europe. If I had an unattainable ideal, it was of leading Europe out of her darkness towards a new age of reason. I have it still.”

Europhilia was a side of Smiley I had never imagined.  As I said, I have ignored Cornwell’s politics because he is a very entertaining writer and I abided by DH Lawrence’s maxim, “never trust the teller (artist) trust the tale. “I could just imagine Alec Guinness polishing his glasses on his tie and musing “however did I come to say that Peter?” So, there is obviously a piece of Smiley’s biography missing.  It looks as if it could be the wartime interlude when George meets Robert Schuman,  native of Luxembourg, wartime Resistance member, French politician and arch schemer of the European Project, in German-occupied France and is radicalised as a Europhile.  This story is yet to be published but is obviously uppermost in Mr Cornwell’s mind. I won’t be reading it when it comes out.  Instead, I think I’ll stick to my box set of Tinker Tailor and my memories of the real characters I encountered in my own brief spell in Defence Intelligence, just a few years after George had cleared the Circus stable and entrapped the enigmatic Karla.  Even allowing for the fact that few of those I met in the intelligence community were who they said they were, I don’t recall a rabid Europhile amongst them! And by the way, I hope we are still actively spying on the French!

I don’t think I shall be trusting either the tale or the teller from now on!