Hitchens urges spies back to the shadows as UK debates Russia risk

British columnist Peter Hitchens argues that Britain's spies should discreetly advise the elected government rather than deliver public speeches that imply Britain is at war with Russia. He portrays the country’s intelligence apparatus as historically shadowed, noting monikers such as “the unmentionables” and referencing the old name for the Secret Intelligence Service’s offices, Century House, near Waterloo. He invokes memories of past insiders and critics who warned of the Service’s limitations, including associations with controversial figures and episodes dating back to the Second World War.

In a column published this week, Hitchens targets the current practice of publicly engaging in political discourse and tension with Moscow. He criticizes the head of SIS, Blaise Metreweli, for appearing in semi-public, engaging with media in a manner that he says frames Russia as an active, ongoing war threat. He recounts Metreweli’s remarks to the BBC’s security correspondent, Frank Gardner, as well as her broad statements on China and Hong Kong, including the jailing of British citizen Jimmy Lai. Hitchens argues that, while researchers and diplomats must relay factual information, the SIS’s public stance on international affairs risks blurring the line between intelligence guidance and policy making. He contends that Parliament should debate Russia and Ukraine openly, but that intelligence chiefs are not MPs or ministers and should not steer official policy from the outside. He asserts that SIS should return to advising the government rather than engaging in public political rhetoric, and that its substantial, secret budget should be justified by making the nation safer rather than by public theatrics.

Hitchens then turns to a broader skepticism about the long-run usefulness of Britain’s secret services. He recalls the service’s early 20th-century culture, the era of “the organs of intelligence,” and the fact that MI6/ SIS personnel historically operated in foreign capitals with limited public accountability. He notes the service’s alleged limitations in key crises—citing the early wartime kidnappings on the Dutch border and criticizing the failures he attributes to episodes such as the 1956 Suez crisis, the 2003 Iraq War, and the 2011 Libyan intervention—while acknowledging that fiction has shaped popular perceptions of espionage, particularly through John le Carré’s works. He argues that the portrayal of the Service as an American-aligned, inwardly divided institution does not demonstrate a tradition of distinction or effectiveness, and he questions why an agency limited in domestic operation would be licensed to engage in domestic politics. In his view, the solution is to recalibrate the Service’s public role: serve as a behind-the-scenes advisory body to elected leaders, not a public policy actor.

The column also contains a stream of observational asides about the evolution of national life. Hitchens cites a 1905 Ward, Lock guide to London that lists only 17 foreign embassies, highlighting how the idea of a nation and its capital has shifted dramatically in 120 years. He points to census data indicating substantial foreign-born communities, and he uses the historical snapshots to frame contemporary debates about borders and influence. He notes how Leeds’s tram scheme has been put off until the 2030s, a project he frames as emblematic of a broader reticence toward public infrastructure and urban planning, contrasted with the car lobby that once diminished trams in British cities. He contrasts these domestic debates with a broader European trend, noting how cities in France are rebuilding tram networks as a more sustainable form of urban transport and arguing that such investments may be preferable to grand, costly projects like HS2.

As the column closes, Hitchens returns to Christmas reflections, asserting that in darker, grimmer times the season’s glow becomes more meaningful. He writes that Christmas is not tainted by commerce or grim news on television, but by a sense of spiritual light: “the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” He acknowledges the harshness of current events and asks readers to hold to that glow. “The darker and grimmer life gets, the more Christmas glows and sparkles,” he says, and he wishes a very happy and blessed Christmas to readers despite everything. The piece concludes with a reminder that spies should be judged by the safety they provide, not by public pronouncements or theatrical gestures.