Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carré

First published: 1974

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Spy

Time of plot: 1971-1973

Locale: Devon County and London, England; Hong Kong; Czechoslovakia

Principal characters

• George Smiley, an intelligence officer who has been forced into retirement from the Secret Intelligence Service (nicknamed the Circus)
• Bill Haydon, a highly placed Circus officer
• Jim Prideaux, Bill’s friend and former colleague, now a temporary master (teacher) at Thursgood’s preparatory school
• Peter Guillam, a Circus officer who has been sidelined
• Ricki Tarr, a Circus field officer
• Control, the former head of the Circus, now deceased
• Karla,, a Russian spymaster
• Oliver Lacon, a government official responsible for oversight of the Circus
• Bill Roach, a new student at Thursgood’s

The Story:

Jim Prideaux and Bill Roach are both new to the English preparatory school of Thursgood’s in Devon. Prideaux is a mysterious character with a crooked back who has taken a temporary appointment, while Roach is a lonely student who is gratified when Prideaux praises his powers of observation.

In London, George Smiley was until recently an officer in the British Secret Intelligence Service known to its members as the Circus. Smiley arrives home one evening to find an old associate, Peter Guillam, waiting for him. Guillam drives Smiley to the residence of Circus adviser and overseer Oliver Lacon in order to hear a story from field officer Ricki Tarr. It seems that Tarr has deserted his post in Hong Kong and secretly made his way back to England after becoming involved with the wife of a Soviet trade delegate. Hoping to defect, she had confided that there was a “mole,” or double agent, in the Circus and that another agent named Polyakov collected the mole’s intelligence for a Soviet spymaster known as Karla. Tarr cabled his superiors about the situation in guarded terms, but when the Circus did nothing and the woman disappeared, Tarr fled.

In talking over Tarr’s story, Smiley and Lacon discuss the disaster that led to the forced resignation of Smiley and his superior, the aging director of the Circus known only as Control. The disaster was the botched Operation Testify, in which Control sent Prideaux on a secret mission to Czechoslovakia to interview another potential defector about a spy in the Circus—apparently the very mole whom Tarr has just told them about. After being shot in the back, Prideaux was taken to the Soviet Union for interrogation. He was released only through the efforts of his old friend and colleague (and perhaps one-time lover) Bill Haydon. In the wake of the disaster, Percy Alleline became head of the Circus, his position bolstered by a new, steady flow of seemingly valuable intelligence (code-named Witchcraft) about the Soviet bloc from a mysterious source (code-named Merlin). Haydon emerged as Alleline’s deputy, and about the same time he began an affair with Smiley’s chronically unfaithful wife Ann.

Tarr’s story makes it clear that Control was right about the mole, and Lacon authorizes Smiley to identify him. Smiley secures a safe house where he can work undisturbed, poring over documents delivered by Lacon and Guillam. At one point, he tells Guillam about his own unnerving encounter with Karla in 1955. He also slips out to interview other retired colleagues: Former Circus head of research Connie Sachs is able to give him more information about Polyakov. Sam Collins, who was at Circus headquarters the night Prideaux was shot, explains that he called Smiley’s house in desperation, only to learn from Ann that her husband was out of the country. Haydon showed up at Circus headquarters shortly afterward to take command, suggesting that he had been spending the night with Ann.

In the meantime, Prideaux has been located by Smiley’s trusted friend Inspector Mendel, and Smiley sets out to interview him. Roach is finally able to help Prideaux, informing him that a stranger has come looking for him. Prideaux explains to Smiley that Control had narrowed the identity of the mole to one of five officers and that Prideaux was to determine which one it was and relay the information to him using code words based on a children’s fortune-telling rhyme: “Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, Indian chief.” The five suspects were Alleline (Tinker), Haydon (Tailor), Roy Bland (Soldier), Toby Esterhase (Poor man), and Smiley himself (Beggar man). All but Smiley are still employed at the Circus.

Now Smiley tricks Esterhase into an interrogation and establishes that the Witchcraft intelligence—much of which he suspects is of minor value—is collected by the mole from Merlin (that is, from Polyakov) in a Circus safe house. The mole uses the opportunity to pass Polyakov British secrets of much greater value. Those who know of the Merlin operation think that rumors of a mole in the Circus are merely a cover story—they know the mole meets with Polyakov, but they think that Polyakov is the one providing valuable secrets and the mole is the one trading minor intelligence in return.

With the help of Guillam and Mendel, Smiley sets a trap for the mole: Tarr sends a telegram to Alleline informing him that he has vital information. The mole is guaranteed to hear of the telegram (if he is not Alleline himself); he will assume that the information is about him, and he will be forced to arrange an emergency meeting with Polyakov. The plan works, and the traitor arrives at the safe house. He turns out to be Tailor—Bill Haydon.

In the aftermath of the disclosure, Alleline is given indefinite leave and Smiley is invited back to the Circus to repair the damage done by the mole. Haydon confesses all to Smiley, explaining that Operation Testify was a trap designed to destroy Control and that Witchcraft was intended to install the easily managed Alleline in his place. Haydon knew the details of Testify because Prideaux, who thought Control was going mad, made the mistake of confiding in him before he left for Czechoslovakia. Finally, Haydon admits that he began the affair with Ann in order to cloud Smiley’s judgment.

Plans are made to swap Haydon for British agents in the Soviet Union, but Prideaux slips into the compound in which he is being held and breaks his neck. He then returns to Thursgood’s to take up his new life, looked over by Roach.

Bibliography

Aronoff, Myron Joel. The Spy Novels of John le Carré: Balancing Ethics and Politics. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999. Addresses such subjects as bureaucratic politics, ethics in espionage, and the similarities between real-life and fictional spies. Includes a dramatis personae, comprehensive notes, and primary and secondary bibliographies.

Beene, LynnDianne. John le Carré. New York: Twayne, 1992. A thorough examination of le Carré’s career, placing his work within the tradition of espionage fiction. Chronology, substantial bibliography.

Cobbs, John L. Understanding John le Carré. Columbia: University of Carolina Press, 1998. Considers le Carré’s espionage works, his 1971 mainstream novel The Naïve and Sentimental Lover, and his post-Smiley thrillers through The Tailor of Panama (1996). Good bibliography.

Le Carré, John. Conversations with John le Carré. Edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Judith Baughman. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2004. Collection of major interviews in which le Carré comments upon his own work.

Monaghan, David. Smiley’s Circus: A Guide to the Secret World of John le Carré. New York: Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Press, 1986. Invaluable handbook to the Circus. Includes chronologies of major operations, an extensive and detailed who’s who, short plot summaries, maps, and illustrations.

O’Neill, Philip. “Le Carré: Faith and Dreams.” In The Quest for le Carré, edited by Alan Bold. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1988. Analysis of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in terms of its appeal to English readers after the collapse of the British Empire.