Nicholas Elliot

Nicholas Elliot was an MI6 officer. 'A former head of MI6's London office', Elliot was also engaged with a number of far right and intelligence connected organisations.

In MI6 counter-intelligence, with postings in Berne, Istanbul, London and Beirut, it was Elliott who confronted Kim Philby in Beirut in 1963, sparking Philby's flight to the Soviet Union. Apart from his Pinay Circle activities Elliott is also a Council Member of the Wilkinson/ McWhirter/Ivens group, the Research Foundation for the Study of Terrorism. Elliott's memoirs are among the numerous works by former intelligence officers which the government will not permit to be published.

Pinay Circle

In this country, Cercle regulars number about 15, drawn mostly from the rich Tory right. Leading political lights are Paul Channon and Alan Duncan. David Burnside, the former British Airways public affairs chief, is a member - not for his BA work but for his passionate espousal of Ulster Unionism. Viscount Cranborne, John Major's former senior aide, has attended Cercle gatherings.

Brian Crozier, the author and well-known Cold-Warrior with close ties to MI6 and the CIA, is a senior member. Anthony Cavendish, the former senior MI5 man, is an old Cercle hand. Nicholas Elliot, the ex-MI6 officer, used to go to their meetings.

Philby

Yesterday Mr George Young, a former deputy director-general of MI6 said that Philby had never been properly vetted. Mr Young said on ITN's News at One that Philby knew 'the skids were under him'. He had been tipped off. When an MI6 officer, Mr Nicholas Elliot, was sent out to Beirut to present him with the evidence against him, 'he knew the game was up and preferred to get away rather than take the offer of immunity'.

Friend of Graham Greene

In the genteel surroundings of a London club, Mrs Greene, 87, sat circled by friends of her husband, including Nicholas Elliot, the former head of MI6

'The Harry Lime of Cheapside' - Lonrho connection

For a time the buccaneering Rowland hired an MI6 man, Nicholas Elliot, and called him the Harry Lime of Cheapside because of his links with Kim Philby. Eventually... the two men fell out.

The source of Rowland's fortune and Lonrho's revival was allegedly his unique foresight of marvellous opportunities in black Africa as the European powers abandoned their colonies in the Sixties. 'Africa is down,' he told friends. 'It can only go up.' Delighting in crisscrossing the continent in his private planes the lone gun stealthily peddling influence among Africa's dictators - Rowland deployed his self-deprecating style to buy businesses cheap and meddle in the continent's messy politics. His life, he professed, was dedicated to Lonrho.

'I'm prepared to be buggered if it helps Lonrho,' Rowland once told Nicholas Elliot, the former MI6 officer and Lonrho director, as they waited to deliver a massive bribe to a West African dictator. 'Would you?' Rowland asked. Alarmed, Elliot blurted: 'No, Tiny. Because I don't own 20 pc of Lonrho's shares.' Rowland scoffed.

Nicholas Elliot, a former MI6 officer and a Lonrho director, told how business trips to Africa aboard his private jet would often end with Mr Rowland stepping off the plane in Zurich. There he would accompany assistants carrying bags bulging with cash to his bankers in Bahnhofstrasse, deposit the money, then fly home. It was a procedure he followed many times.

Affiliations

• Institute for the Study of Conflict | Research Foundation for the Study of Terrorism