Tinker, Tailor, Tory, Traitor

Alec Guinness as George Smiley in the BBC’s adaptation of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

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We should never lose our capacity for shock. This week Donald Trump, a Republican, not some far-leftist from the Democratic Socialists of America, is befriending communist North Korea, while denigrating the democratic south.

Here in the UK, the party most likely to appease Putin and betray Ukraine is not Andy Burnham’s Labour government, but Nigel Farage’s Reform, which wraps itself in the Union Jack from head to toe.

Indeed, the courts have already jailed one of Reform’s senior figures for taking money from the Russians.

Even though the Kim Philbys of the 21^st century come from the right, conservative treason is an unjustly neglected subject.

I bounced off the BBC’s decision to reshow its great adaptation of John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, the best description of how hatred of Britain’s decline drives members of the establishment to betray their country.

As ill luck would have it, John Irvin, the director of the BBC adaptation died, this week. As a memorial to him and warning to the rest of us, here is my account of what drives supposed “patriots” to treason.

The BBC is re-showing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, one of the greatest dramas of the golden age of British television. It’s an adaptation of the John le Carré novel, which so brilliantly explores imperial decline by showing how fury at the loss of status propels members of the establishment to treason. The BBC filmed its adaptation in 1979, almost 50 years ago.

But Le Carré has a message about elite betrayals that resonates in our age of Putin, Trump and Farage. He understands that betrayal is driven by hatred of your own country, not love of a foreign power.