His plans for Savinkov’s visit very quickly ran into the opposition of the Foreign Office, however, when it refused to grant him an entry visa. Not to be deterred by this, Reilly approached C directly and requested that he ignore the Foreign Office and instruct the Paris Passport Control Officer51 to issue a visa regardless. Not unsurprisingly, C refused. Never able to accept no for an answer, Reilly went straight back to Paris to appeal to the Passport Control Office to issue the visa directly. Maj. Thomas Langton was the Passport Control Officer in Paris, but it is more likely that Reilly made a beeline for his deputy, Maj. William ‘Robbie’ Field Robinson, who was a close friend of his. Whatever persuasion he used, the upshot was that a British entry visa was issued to Savinkov by the Paris PCO.52 Not surprisingly, this incident caused major fallout within SIS and indeed in wider government circles. It is perhaps no coincidence that by early 1922 SIS had, to all intents and purposes, officially severed its links with Reilly.
In a revealing letter to an SIS colleague dated 23 January 1922, Reilly ends by saying, ‘I am not calling at the office; as Morton may perhaps have told you, just now it is healthier for me to keep out of the way for a while’.53
C’s position is made even clearer by a cable from SIS headquarters in London to the Vienna station, dated 1 February 1922, who were clearly seeking clarification about Reilly’s status:
In reply to your letter about Reilly, I wired you yesterday to say that you should give him no more information than was absolutely necessary.
To be quite frank I rather share your views and am of the opinion that he knows far too much about our organisation. Owing to his unofficial connection with us he knows such a lot that it would hardly do to quarrel with him, or, in fact, to let him see that he is receiving different treatment to that which he has become accustomed.
He worked for this office during the war in Russia and he then undoubtedly rendered us considerable service. Since the Armistice he has kept in touch with us and I think that, on the whole, we have received a great deal more information from him than he has obtained from us, although we have been able in many cases to give him facilities which he would otherwise not have enjoyed.
You no doubt know that he is Boris Savinkov’s right-hand man, and it is probably Reilly who is financing the whole movement and he can therefore be looked upon as being of some considerable importance.
He is exceedingly clever, certainly not anti-British and is genuinely working against the Bolsheviks as much as he is able.
I think the above will give you the cue as to how to deal with him; you should certainly not appear to be hiding anything from him or show a want of frankness, but at the same time be careful not to tell him anything of real importance.
It just strikes me that he may ask you to give facilities for two individuals, with whom he is in touch and who are two of Savinkov’s principal assistants, to proceed to Constantinople. Naturally any such request must be forwarded to the competent authorities, as the last thing in the world we should wish is to become embroiled in any way with Savinkov, although of course we are not adverse to hearing all about the gentleman and his plans.
If Reilly’s position was in any doubt, an SIS cable to the New York Passport Control Officer the following July was even more succinct:
S.G. Reilly worked for us during and after the war in Russia, and knows a certain amount about our organisation as it was then constituted. He is apparently familiar with your name as he asked for a letter of introduction to you personally, in case he had difficulty with his passports. We avoided giving him any letter, as although he probably thinks Passport Control is cover for this department, it is just as well that he should not be certain. In fact, if he puts any questions, it will be as well for you to say that your work is entirely Passport Control and that you know nothing of any other work as the organisation is now completely altered. As Reilly travels on a British passport, there is no reason why he should worry you at all, but in case he rolls up this is just to warn you that he has now nothing to do with us.55
Reilly’s departure from SIS was not, of course, an isolated one. SIS were at this time shedding a good number of operatives who had initially been recruited during the war. George Hill and William Field Robinson also left SIS in 1922. With the onset of peace, rapprochement with Russia, and government budget cuts, the service could no longer maintain its establishment at previous levels. Reilly apparently took the decision to dispense with his services rather badly and appealed to C to reconsider.
The appeals evidently fell on deaf ears. For Reilly there were to be no more second chances – the final curtain had indeed fallen on his brief but highly eventful SIS career.
TWELVE
A CHANGE OF BAIT
Reilly’s relationship with SIS was not the only one that hit the rocks in 1922. In the early months of the previous year he had struck up a business association with Brig. Sir Edward Spears, who had left the army the previous year. Whilst Spears had good connections that he had built up in the army, he lacked, by his own admission, business experience.1 He proposed to make good this deficiency by taking on Reilly as a partner in the tobacco business they set up in the Czech capital Prague. Their biggest venture was, however, an attempt to commercially market Czech radium, to which end they founded the Radium Corporation Ltd.
Spears’ first impression of Reilly was ‘rather seedy but really quite nice’.2 Throughout their tempestuous business relationship Spears, like Lockhart and C before him, seems caught between these two opposing sides of Reilly’s character. Often frustrated, and at times angered by his methods, he can never bring himself to dislike Reilly on a personal level.
In July 1921 Reilly met Lockhart again while on a business trip to Prague with Spears. Lockhart, who was now commercial secretary at the British Legation in Prague, was involved in ‘smoothing the way for the revival of Central European banks’.3 Spears and Reilly lunched with Lockhart, and discussed with him the situation concerning commercial opportunities and the banking negotiations that he was involved in. Reilly was, as usual, mixing business with pleasure, and seems to have taken Spears on a hectic round of socialising during their stay. The same day as their lunch with Lockhart, Spears recorded in his diary:
…with Reilly to a Russian Charity Fête – very popular and hot – did not like it. R[eilly] made great friends with some Russian singers. Poor people they are having a bad time. Lost children… one of them, a colonel in Russian army former ADC to an Archduke and a friend of Polovtsoffs. R[eilly] dragged me to dine at the place they play at. They sang gipsy songs to us… overcome by R[eilly]’s generosity.4
By the following month, Reilly’s unreliability was becoming apparent to Spears; who wrote:
Reilly was to have seen Guedalla5 at 3 did not turn up, absorbed in Russian business, I rather annoyed… Guedalla and Guy6 gave me the impression they are not at all keen on Reilly – saw R[eilly] at the Albany7 – he delighted as he saw Churchill who wants him to see L[loyd]G[eorge].8
The atmosphere was hardly improved when Spears received what he considered to be a ‘rude’ telegram from Reilly two weeks later. ‘I won’t stand cheek’, 9 Spears recorded in his diary that day. Within months, however, their relationship had taken an even greater turn for the worse. What had started out as misgivings about reliability and protocol now focused on Reilly’s honesty in his dealings with the company. Suspicions had apparently been raised as to the amount of money Reilly was taking from company funds and receiving in expenses.10 Matters came to a head on the morning of 25 October when Spears arrived at the office and was outraged to find that the phone had been cut off ‘owing to Reilly not having paid’.11 After a row over an inflated expenses claim, Reilly appears to have placated Spears with yet another of his ‘get-rich-quick’ schemes, for as Spears’ diary records, on 22 November he and Reilly proceeded to the British and North European Bank ‘to see Rheiar re a Bulgarian egg scheme’. The following week Spears was again lecturing Reilly: