British MI5 Officer Who Inspired George Smiley Character Dispised John Le Carre's Portrayal Of Spies

Kieran Corcoran at the British newspaper the Daily Mail offers a piece on the MI5 officer who reportedly inspired John le Carre's character George Smiley.

A Second World War intelligence agent who inspired fictional spy George Smiley 'hated everything' about how John le Carre portrayed the secret services, it has been claimed. 

John Bingham, an MI5 agent, exposed nazi sympathisers in Britain by convincing them he was a German double agent. After gaining the trust of undercover fascists, he convinced them to reveal secrets which were fed back to the intelligence services. Mr. le Carre, whose works include The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, revealed in 1999 that Smiley was inspired by Bingham, who had been his boss at MI5.

 ... But the spy, who went on to become a celebrated author himself, turned on his former colleague and friend Mr le Carre and grew to detest what he wrote about the British intelligence services, it was claimed today.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2572768/British-spy-duped-Nazi-sympathisers-revealing-secrets-WWII-inspired-John-Le-Carr-s-character-George-Smiley-despised-authors-portrayal-spies.html?ITO=1490&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490

You can also read my column on John le Carre and Ian Fleming, Spy Writer Vs. Spy Writer, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/08/spy-writer-vs-spy-writer-john-le-carre.html 

Note: John Bingham is the subject of Michael Jago's book, The Man Who Was Smiley: The Life of John Bingham (Biteback).