‘The story was on the front pages, if not daily, then certainly weekly’

Author Alex Grant tells us why he has written a book about an almost forgotten spy scandal of the 1960s and explains its relevance in LGBT history

By Sarah Ward

The name John Vassall, may not be immediately recognisable to many, but for those who lived through the early 1960s, they may remember the Vassall case as a scandal that rocked parliament.

A clerk working in the British embassy in Moscow in the 1950s, Vassall went on to spy for the country’s cold war enemy after he was drugged, then raped and blackmailed with photographs of the assault by KGB officers.

It was in the early 1960s that his espionage was uncovered, a scandal that dominated the headlines and saw Vassall sent to prison for 18 years. 

In his recently published book Sex, Spies and Scandal: The John Vassall affair, Oundle author Alex Grant, tells the story of Vassall’s spying in-depth for the first time, putting it in the context of the British climate at that time as well as exploring its place in LGBT history.

Alex, who is a former journalist and London Labour councillor and has worked for the past few years as a ghostwriter, came to the story after originally setting out to write about Dolphin Square - the notorious residence in Pimlico, London, which has been the subject of scandal and intrigue for many decades. (Read more here).

Alex Grant.

Clerk John Vassall had lived there in the 1950s - his expensive rent partly paid for by the spying fees he received from the Russians - and it was still his home when he was arrested in September 1962.

But after another book was published about the infamous residence, Grant’s agent decided he should hone in on Vassell instead.
He said:

“The thing about Vassall is, if you speak to people born in the 1950s, they will remember the Vassall scandal, but only after a bit of prompting. The Profumo scandal which happened a few months later overrode everything. My theory is that because the Profumo scandal has a cast of lots of young women in swimsuits, it has been written about more, but the Vassall case was just as big at the time. If you look at press archives, for the last few months of 62 and early 63 the story was on the front pages - if not daily, then certainly weekly.

“Apart from an instant history written in 1963 and full of homophobia, the Vassall case had not been written about at book length. It is mentioned in lots of books but it is often mentioned as a prelude to the Profumo scandal and a minor scandal rather than a massive story.

“But if you look at what happened, not only was Vassall unmasked as someone who had spied for seven years, it was a massive scandal because the admiralty had been warned, certainly by 1961, there was another spy within the admiralty and their security measures were frankly woeful.

“In those days there was no routine random searches of staff in their way in or out of the building and so Vassall, for seven years was both in Moscow and in London, able to carry large stashes of documents out of the office, where he would either then hand them over to the Russians to be photographed, or photographed by himself at home.” 

He continues:

“Also a reason why it became such a big scandal was because of Tam Galbraith, Tory MP in Scotland. Vassall had worked in his private office between 1957 and 1959. They had struck off some sort of friendship and had stayed in touch after Vassall moved onto a different job. They exchanged lots of postcards - a couple of which were addressed to ‘My dear Vassall’. The media got hold of all these after Vassall’s arrest and started publishing them all and the clear implication was that Vassall and Galbraith had become lovers and Galbraith had been either aware of, or an accomplice in his spying.

“It was even alleged when Vassall was arrested they were both on the verge of defecting to Moscow. Complete fiction. They had become friends but there was no evidence it was a sexual relationship at all. 

“But Galbraith was forced to resign in early November 1962, a few weeks after Vassall’s trial.

“There was was a big public inquiry that went on into the spring of 1963, which inevitably was a whitewash and basically concluded that no-one in the admiralty could have been accountable for Vassall being a spy. No one had known he was gay - which was nonsense, but importantly, two reporters were jailed for not revealing their sources. 

“So it is actually quite an important milestone in media history, as well as LGBT history, because it was the last time English reporters were sent to jail for not revealing their sources.”

Vassall was jailed for 18 years, but released from Wormwood Scrubs after ten years and went on to have what Grant describes as an ‘extraordinary afterlife’. He wrote his memoir and after changing his surname went back to clerical work.

Asked whether he liked his subject, Grant says: 

“He had many flaws. He was vain, naive and a snob. He was very self obsessed, but he did not deserve to be the victim of rape. While he obviously made lots of mistakes, he did not deserve to be jailed for 18 years. And also the way he was treated in the press, a homophobic rampage, that went on after his arrest and imprisonment. 

“The Wolfenden report, was published in 1957 recommending decriminalisation of some homosexual activity - it took a full ten years, until 67, when a private members bill finally decriminalised homosexuality. 

“My view is that it may well have happened earlier had the Vassall case not happened, because although he was a completely lone operator, it led to lots of speculation that Vassall was part of a secret cabal of gay spies in Westminster and Whitehall and the rest needed to be hunted down.”

Alex also discovered during his research that the story had a Northamptonshire link. Harmar Nicholls, the MP from Peterborough from 1950 to 1974 (his constituency then also covered parts of Northants including Oundle and Thrapston) was also involved in a relationship with Vassell, an affair which Vassell confirmed but which Harmar denied. Alex’s confirmation came from newly released declassified MI5 files.

He says:

“There is no suggestion whatsoever that Harmar Nicolls was aware of, or an accomplice in Vassall’s spying, but they had this relationship and it was known about at the time by MI5 and presumably political circles.”

Nicholls became a peer in 1975, was an MEP and died in 2000.

You can of course read the full story by buying a copy here.