John Bingham (Lord Clanmorris)

John Bingham, Lord Clanmorris, (1908-1988) also known as Michael Ward, was a British novelist and intelligence officer, reputed to be the inspiration for the character George Smiley, created by his former colleague David Cornwell (John Le Carré).

Bingham was the son of Maurice Bingham, Sixth Lord Clanmorris and Leila Cloete, a descendant of one of the earliest Dutch settlers in South Africa. He was educated at Cheltenham College.ref>Michael Jago, The Man Who Was George Smiley: The Life of John Bingham, Biteback Publishing, 2013, p.22.</ref>

Through a family contact with Lord Rothermere, Bingham found a job on the Hull Daily Mail in 1930. he moved to the Sunday Dispatch in 1933.

He was briefly a member of the British Democratic Party in the 1930s, a move which led to criticism from his uncle, the MP for Belfast East, Herbert Dixon.

MI5

It was through Dixon's contacts that Bingham gained an entrée to MI5, using suspicions about what he later decided was an innocent German acquaintance. He was subsequently interviewed by Maxwell Knight, who introduced himself as Captain King.

After Knight was authorised to recruit five new officers by the head of MI5 B Division, Guy Liddell, on 18 June 1940, Bingham was one of the first approached. For much of World War Two, he worked as Maxwell Knight's deputy in B5(b) section at 308 Hood House, Dolphin Square.

However, among his first tasks, carried out directly for Liddell, was the creation of an MI5 press section, which would eventually be run by Derek Tangye. He subsequently became heavily involved in MI5's Double Cross deception operations against German intelligence. He interrogated potential agents among aliens being processed at the Royal Patriotic Schools. He also posed as an Abwehr officer to trap British nationals attempting spy for the Germans, notably Irma Stapleton, arrested on 19 November 1941.

In 1942, he conducted security investigations on General Charles De Gaulle, along with Bill Younger, and on Lady Diana Cooper. Using the name 'John Bentley', he also investigated the Portuguese diplomat Rogeiro Menezes.

In the summer of 1944, Bingham was ordered to continue associating with right-wing pro-German groups, despite the imminence of German defeat. With B Division work winding down, Bingham was seconded to the Allied Control Council in Germany in 1945, on the initiative of Guy Liddell. Based in Gehrden, Hanover, Bingham spent much of his time interviewing refugees and attempting to weed out Soviet agents. He returned to London in June 1948.

Bingham rejoined MI5 in 1950 after two years on Fleet Street.

According to Mike Hughes, Bingham became head of MI5's F4 agent-running section after Knight's retirement in the mid-1950s.

Bingham inherited the title of Lord Clanmorris in 1960.

He retired from MI5 in 1979.