Rogue Agent

‘It is impossible not to keep the pages turning’ Scotland on Sunday‘It’s a brilliant book everyone, go and get it!’ Dan Snow ‘Compelling and meticulously researched, the riveting life of a maverick Scottish spy.’ Charles Cumming________THE THRILLING BIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT BRUCE LOCKHART, BRITAIN’S ‘AGENT’ IN MOSCOW Sir Robert Bruce Lockhart (1887–1970) was an impressive figure: a diplomat, intelligence agent, conspirator, journalist and propagandist who played a key role in both world wars. He was a man who charmed his way into the confidences of everyone from Leon Trotsky to Anthony Eden. A man whom the influential press baron Lord Beaverbook claimed ‘could well have been prime minister’.

And yet Lockhart died almost forgotten and near destitute, a Scottish footnote in the pages of history. Rogue Agent is the first biography of this gifted yet habitually flawed maverick. It chronicles his many exploits, from his time as Britain’s ‘Agent’ in Moscow, and his role in a plot to bring down the communist regime, to leading the Political Warfare Executive, a secret body responsible for disinformation and propaganda in the Second World War. Exploring Lockhart’s unorthodox thinking and contributions to the development of psychological warfare as well as his hedonistic lifestyle, late nights and many affairs that left him in a state of perpetual debt, Rogue Agent tells the thrilling story of this unconventional war hero.

____‘[A] rigorously researched yet lively and highly readable account’ Professor Rory Cormac, author of How to Stage a Coup ‘Riveting… reads like a thriller.’ Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich ‘A mesmerising tale of espionage and journalism.’ James Hawes, author of The Shortest History of Germany