Received reports that Donald MacLean, another member of the Cambridge Five and alleged to have been Burgess' lover, was suspected of being a Soviet mole and warned the KGB of the matter. Learned that MacLean and Burgess might soon be arrested. Philby warned Burgess but also warned SIS that MacLEan might be the person identified by Soviet defectors as being Soviet agent from a "good family" who served as a high-Ranking Foreign Office official. Philby hoped that once MacLean escaped, any evidence that could point to him (Philby) would disappear also. In May 1951, Burgess and MacLean, defected, fleeing to Moscow.
Came under immediate suspicion from British authorities because of his friendship with Burgess and MacLean. Further damaged by a report given to the CIA by a defector, Ismail Akhmedov-Ege, which identified Philby as a Soviet mole. Philby flatly denied the allegations and was interrogated intensely. Stewart Menzies rose to his defense, but Philby angrily resigned his position with the Foreign Office. He was further supported by future British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan who deemed Philby and ""upstanding citizen" and a "hero." Based on this type of support, Philby was brought back into SIS.
Worked in Beirut under the guise of a correspondent. His wife Aileen died in December 1957 and he married Eleanor Brewer (former wife of Sam Pope Brewer in 1959. Was clearly believed to be a Soviet spy after Soviet defector Anatoli Golytsin named him. Was confronted with the mounting evidence by friend Nicholas Elliott, a British agent then working in Beirut, Lebanon. Elliott offered immunity from prosecution if Philby cooperated and Philby filed a two page confession the next day and submitted to three days of oral confessions. Fearing a long prison sentence like that given to George Blake, Philby fled to the Soviet Union, by way of a Polish cargo ship bound for the Russian port of Odessa. Became of Soviet citizen on July 3, 1963.
