Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Smiley reflects on the growing divide between former colleagues Control and Alleline. In the past, Alleline worked to replace a local ruler in a Middle Eastern country. The mission was aborted and Alleline blamed Control for the failure. After, Alleline was removed from field operations. He was given responsibilities back in Britain, but this new role felt to him like a punishment. He was eventually promoted because he had institutional backing from people Control dismissed as “golfers and Conservatives” (107).

Smiley receives files about Operation Witchcraft, the first of which carries Alleline’s name. Alleline famously established a dedicated reading room at the Circus named the Adriatic Working Party. Smiley considers the reading room Alleline’s attempt to demonstrate his worth and earn a position at the top of the Circus. Everyone who wanted to enter and read the important documents inside was carefully watched by a janitor. Only those on a pre-approved list were permitted to enter the reading room. As Smiley recalls, he previous doubted the authenticity of a document taken from this project. The document provided information taken from a high-level source in the Russian navy. Though the Circus wanted to verify and evaluate the information, Alleline refused them access. He vouched for the source, who was nicknamed Merlin. Control, who bore a long-standing grudge against Alleline, was visibly angry at Alleline’s apparent success. Smiley switches to Lacon’s files and continues the story of Operation Witchcraft. He suspects that Control was already aware of a mole in the Circus, but his investigations were hindered by the failure of Operation Testify in Czechoslovakia.

Smiley reads through the night and then returns to his house, exhausted. He rests during the day and returns to the hotel in the evening, where Lacon is already waiting with the stolen files. As Smiley continues, he learns that the Merlin source does not provide any follow-up material for some time. Alleline uses this time to ask for more money and resources. After seven weeks, Operation Witchcraft produces three new reports on the same day. The reports are filled with useful information about subjects Smiley considers to be “Roy Bland territory” (115), and one very detailed report which Smiley associates with Haydon’s specialties. 

Though he once trusted Control completely, Control’s reaction to the Merlin reports makes Smiley wonder whether his mentor might have lost his effectiveness. As more information comes from Alleline’s source, the high-quality documents cannot be corroborated, though they appear to be accurate. Smiley turns to the list of names who were permitted to enter the Adriatic Working Party reading room. Alleline, Bland, Esterhase, and Haydon stand out to him, as they did to Control. Haydon is a distant cousin of Smiley’s wife, Ann. After the supposed death of Control, Ann frequently asked Smiley about Haydon and his potential for promotion. She wondered whether he was more or less important than Smiley.

Smiley remembers how Control ordered him to seek out Esterhase and ask him about a two-month delay in the paperwork filed by Esterhase’s department, the lamplighters. In Smiley’s opinion, Alleline may have given Esterhase instructions to be carried out secretly and without records. Esterhase dodged Smiley’s questions, and Smiley knew that Esterhase was lying, so he visited Bland as he worked his way through Control’s chief suspects. Bland is an intellectual, well-versed in communist literature, who was recruited to the Circus from a poor background by Smiley himself. He toured Eastern Europe as “a minor left-wing intellectual in search of light, often liked but never trusted” (123). Bland rejected Smiley’s attempts to find out more about Merlin. As he looks through the reports now, Smiley reads Alleline’s praise for Bland, Haydon, and Esterhase. 

Smiley remembers a meeting with Haydon. He is aware that Haydon conducted an affair with his wife, Ann. Smiley believes that Haydon is part of a select group of four men involved in the Merlin information gathering operation. He suspects that Bland translates the material from Russian and Haydon writes reports based on these translations. During the meeting, Smiley brought this hunch up, but Haydon dismissed Smiley’s concerns, suggesting that Smiley was still bitter about the fight between Alleline and Control. Haydon also suggested that Smiley was more concerned about Merlin being associated with Alleline than anything else. While Haydon tried to suggest to Smiley that Alleline might have colluded with the Russian spymaster Karla, Smiley demanded more information about Merlin. Haydon revealed that he was aware that Control was suspicious of everyone in the Circus and that he kept detailed files on Bland, Haydon, Alleline, and Esterhase. Haydon got this information from a secretary in the office. Haydon also warned Smiley about being too closely allied to Control and his obsessions over Alleline’s successful work with the Merlin source.

When Smiley reported back to Control about his struggles to find out anything from Haydon, Bland, or Esterhase, Control began to take matters into his own hands as his health and mental state became worse. Smiley reflects on the night he returned unexpectedly from abroad and found Haydon in a compromising situation with Ann. Though she had carried out affairs before, the affair with Haydon was shocking to Smiley because of Haydon’s job at the Circus, because he was distantly related to Ann, and because they were together in Smiley’s own house. Smiley still does not know the exact details of the end of the affair, but he suspects that Haydon may have “hurt her deeply” (133). 

Smiley continues to read about the Merlin source. In the time that has passed since Smiley’s “enforced retirement” (134) from the Circus, Alleline has changed the way in which the organization operates. These changes can be seen in the documents associated with Merlin. In his investigations, Smiley discovers a secret funding allowance for a house in London attributed to Alleline. However, Alleline refuses to disclose the location of this house. Smiley suspects that Merlin is hidden in London. His suspicions mirror those of a member of the Foreign Office Research Department named Ribble. When Ribble pointed out these budgeting irregularities and inconsistencies in Merlin’s reporting, he was told to drop the subject. According to reports, it was suggested at the time that Merlin may be several different sources rather than one person. The memo written by Ribble also insists that the location of the London house needs to be kept more secret than ever before. Smiley’s thoughts are interrupted by a phone call. Guilliam speaks to him, asking to meet as soon as possible. 

Guilliam signs into the reading rooms in the archives at the Circus to search for more documents about Operation Testify. When Lacon claims not to have access to any of these documents, Smiley decides that Guilliam should break into the archives and take what he needs. Gilliam does so, and while anxiously watching everyone around him, he replaces a file about Operation Testify with a similarly colored, similarly sized file containing random documents. He learns about the location of secret annexes in the London Station but requires permission from Haydon to access them. As Guilliam tries to leave the building with the Operation Testify files, Esterhase stops him. He claims that Alleline has asked to meet with Guilliam. With the stolen files hidden in a bag, Guilliam agrees to go with Esterhase. He hands his bag to an archive employee and asks him to send it back to his office. 

Though Guilliam and Esterhase have worked together on several operations, they are not well acquainted. Esterhase takes Guilliam to an office where Alleline is waiting to talk to him. Guilliam sits in an empty chair and surveys Alleline’s “war party” (146), which includes Alleline, Bland, Esterhase, Haydon, and others. Alleline grills Guilliam about Tarr. In the Circus records, Tarr is still technically classified as a defector. Guilliam is aware that he has not reported his recent meetings with Tarr, a fact which could land Guilliam in trouble with the Circus. Alleline wants to know more about Tarr and mentions that Tarr has a young daughter. He tells his team that they can find Tarr by finding his daughter, who may be travelling into Britain using a false passport. Guilliam denies all knowledge of Tarr’s whereabouts and agrees to sign a form acknowledging that he has been given information from one of the Operation Witchcraft reports, one created by Merlin. The signed document states that Guilliam will not discuss what he has been told about Tarr and his family possibly returning to England. As Guilliam leaves, Haydon accompanies him and begins to ask about Smiley. Guilliam states that Smiley no longer works for the Circus and is now considered to be “out of bounds” (153). As he departs the meeting, Guilliam realizes that the young woman he has been dating might be employed by the Circus to spy on him. 

Smiley and Guilliam call a meeting with Tarr. Guilliam is furious with Tarr because he is worried that Tarr has not told them everything, or that he has not been entirely truthful. Smiley is more cautious. He interrogates Tarr in a slow, purposeful manner, making Tarr admit that he has tried to smuggle his family back into Britain using fake passports. Smiley believes that there is another dimension to this story as well. He believes that Tarr is working on behalf of the Russian spymaster Karla. As he carefully explains his theory, Tarr cannot hide his reactions. Tarr attacks Smiley and Guilliam intervenes. Smiley knows that he is correct, and he assures Tarr that he has no idea where Tarr’s family is hidden. As they leave the meeting with Tarr, Guilliam tells Smiley about a report he has seen. The report suggests that the Russians likely executed Irina and Boris. They decide not to tell Tarr about Irina’s death.