Percy Alleline

Percy Alleline is a fictional character who was the head of the "Circus", John Le Carre's fictionalised version of MI6/SIS in the novel Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Alleline was played by Michael Aldridge in the television serial based on the novel.

Related Topics:
John Le Carre - MI6 - SIS - Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - Michael Aldridge - Television

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Alleline comes from a religious Scottish background and is portrayed as a man of limited intelligence and ability, but with impeccable political contacts. His career history is full of blunders. He has rarely run agents in the field, concentrating upon administrative and low-level intelligence work under diplomatic cover in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa. After the failure of one of his operations (not the first time he'd failed badly) he is returned to London where due mainly to his long service and his political connections he is promoted to what should've been the sinecure of Director of Operations - a role that theoretically involved him rubber-stamping operational plans.

Related Topics:
Latin America - Middle East - Africa - London

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Soon after taking up this position however, the Soviet-controlled double agent Bill Haydon and his Moscow Centre controllers started to introduce Source Merlin, the provider of the 'Witchcraft' intelligence. Alleline rebuilt the core of the Circus as a self-contained "London Station", run by himself with Bill Haydon and Roy Bland as his deputies, and with Toby Esterhase performing their dirty work. London Station came to dominate the Circus's planning and operations, starving the agents in the field of work and resources. Many old-timers like George Smiley are exiled to the periphery of the Circus or even expelled totally during the heyday of Merlin; Alleline wants to promote himself and the Circus as being on a par with the cousins (as the CIA is referred to by the Circus) and doesn't really care about the quality or nature of the intelligence he's offering them.

Related Topics:
Bill Haydon - Moscow Centre - Source Merlin - Roy Bland - Toby Esterhase - George Smiley - The cousins - CIA

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When Control, the anonymous chief of the service, was forced into retirement after the failure of Operation Testify, Alleline and his coterie assumed total control of the Circus. Testify, which resulted in the shooting of Jim Prideaux, resulted in suspicions that there was a mole at the heart of the Circus, and ultimately led to George Smiley's unmasking of Haydon, and of Alleline's departure as head of the Circus.

Related Topics:
Control - Operation Testify - Jim Prideaux - George Smiley

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Alleline is presented as a bombastic bureaucrat full of low cunning and intimidation, with a distinctive turn of phrase. He has risen to his position not through tradecraft, but through plausibility and connections. He displays poor judgement throughout his career, and his use of Source Merlin and the Witchcraft product - his political ambitions (and particularly his devotion to the USA) are presented in harsher terms by Le Carre than Haydon's devotion to the USSR.

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