> Wellingham doesn't get much chance to display loyalty, so I am
> only extrapolating from what I see.
> 1) Mathew Peele is pretty close to an underling to Wellingham.
> The chain of command should go Peele --> C --> Wellingham as PS in the
> Foreign Office. Wellingham's blatant manipulation of Peele in "Operation
> Kingmaker" sure doesn't look like he has any loyalty to Peele. There is
> a strong case for Peele to be made C, even though he might not be the
> best candidate. Neil is correct when he says that promotion from within
> the department would be beneficial to other members of the department.
Wellingham despises Peele. Despite Neil's ongoing conversations
with Wellingham, he is not directly in authority in SIS, his scope is
much larger. I would not really consider Peele to be one of his
Wellingham's men. I was speaking of how Wellingham might behave if he
had Neil's position, in which case he would have chosen his Sandbaggers.
Again, what Wellingham
>
> > But he is a political animal more than Neil.
>
> That is true. And as a political animal his decisions are
> usually based on what is expedient, not what is the best long term
> decision. Neil's decisions are based on what is the best thing
> to defeat the Soviets. As such, a good agent can expect Neil to
> be loyal to him. For Wellingham, the lose of good underling can
> happen if it becomes expedient.
I've already agreed that Wellingham's decisions are likely to be more
politically based than Neil's. I do think he has a strong sense of
responsibility and a capacity to care that would have made him good at
Neil's job. I think he might have been less likely to get his agents into
trouble in the first place than Neil was. I don't see that Neil's
decisions being based on what is the best way to defeat the Soviets means
that Neil's agents can expect him to be loyal to them. Also - Neil made
the ultimate political decision in having Laura assassinated. Neil's
treatment of Alan Denson's life is criminal - and based entirely on Neil's
needs. I was pretty disgusted with Neil tossing out Colin Grove, not
because he didn't have potential as a Sandbagger, but because he'd
embarassed Neil.
You will also note that Neil is as callous as Wellingham when it
comes to the lives of anyone other than his Sandbaggers. He doesn't give
a damn about the diplomat in Decision By Committee, only about Willie and
Karen. Wellingham did any number of things I disliked, as Neil did. As
it happens, I find Neil the more frightening of the two men.
Willie would probably be the best to work for, as far as trusting
someone to really try and take care of you. He's just not quite as smart
and devious as either Wellingham or Neil. Although there are plenty of
occasions where he is figured things out along the same lines as Neil,
where they know exactly what the other is thinking.
Gayle