Rogue Agent

‘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.

‘In this rigorously researched yet lively and highly readable account, James Crossland cuts through the myth and legend to tell a compelling story.’ Professor Rory Cormac, author of How to Stage a Coup

‘This riveting account of Lockhart’s adventures in revolutionary Russia, his penchant for exotic women and extravagant nightlife, reads like a thriller.’ Julia Boyd, author of A Village in the Third Reich

‘A mesmerising tale of espionage and journalism . . . when an elite Scot with “no drop of English blood in my veins” might believe he could almost single-handedly change world history.’ James Hawes, author of The Shortest History of Germany