by Our News Desk

SECRET documents have revealed a wave of massive bungles by British intelligence services during the cold war.

The documents, released by the National Archives today, showed that MI6 failed to investigate clear evidence that could have exposed Kim Philby as a Soviet spy.

The inaction came after would-be Russian defector Constantin Volkov in September 1945 famously threatened to pass on the names of dozens of British officials covertly working for the Soviets.

Mr Philby, who was at the time a senior MI6 officer, managed to get himself assigned to the case and was able to thwart the plans.

The documents revealed that MI6 chief Sir Stewart Menzies ruled out an investigation into what happened, even though Mr Volkov’s apprehension by the KGB indicated he was telling the truth.

“To scrutinise the past records and maintain observation of all who might possibly fill the bill would be as impracticable as it would be invidious,” Mr Menzies concluded.

A separate document revealed government ministers feared missing Royal Navy diver Lionel “Buster” Crabb, ordered to spy on a Soviet warship for MI6, could have been captured by the Russians and used for propaganda.

Mr Crabb vanished in Portsmouth harbour on April 19 1956 while spying on the Ordzhonikidze cruiser, which had brought Soviet leaders Nikita Khrushchov and Nikolai Bulganin to Britain on a diplomatic visit.

His disappearance left security chiefs, senior civil servants and top ministers scrambling to cover up an operation that was bungled so badly it bordered on “criminal folly.”

An inquiry found that Bernard Smith, the MI6 agent handling Mr Crabb, had booked them into a hotel using their real names and addresses in the register, sparking fears they could be traced.

The previously unseen government papers also revealed deep concern that an inquest into Mr Crabb’s apparent death could cause huge public embarrassment.

Officials felt it most likely that his body was still in the water after being killed by Russian counter-measures.

And there were fears that “if it (his body) was aboard the Russian ship, they might produce it for propaganda purposes at an opportune moment either dead or alive, or they might dispose of it after leaving Portsmouth.”

The mystery surrounding Mr Crabb’s disappearance has never been solved.