482 • SERGUEIEV, LILY
the first two years of World War I was engaged in training troops. In
December 1910 he was elected a Conservative MP, and he remained
in the House of Commons, latterly representing Aldershot, for nearly
30 years. In 1940, having been chairman of the Cement-Makers’ Fed-
eration, he was appointed director of cement in the Ministry of
Works, and in February 1942 he was sent toHugh Dalton’sMinis-
try of Economic Warfare, where he sacked the first director ofSpe-
cial Operations Executive(SOE),Sir Frank Nelson,andthen
dismissed his replacementSir Charles Hambro18 months later.
After the war Lord Selborne’s proposal to maintain SOE’s world-
wide organization into the peace was rejected by the new prime min-
ister, Clement Attlee, so he devoted himself to the Church of England
and the National Provincial Bank. He died at home, on his estate at
Blackmoor, Hampshire, in September 1971.SERGUEIEV, LILY.CodenamedtreasurebyMI5, Lily Sergueiev
first became known to the British authorities when she appeared in
Madrid in June 1943 seeking a visa for Britain. In an interview with
Kenneth Bentonthe following month, Sergueiev admitted that she
had been sent to England as anAbwehrspy and disclosed a mass of
material about her German controller in Paris. The decision was
taken to allow her to come to London, and in October 1943 she
reached Gibraltar, where she came into conflict with the authorities
over her dog, which was obliged to go into quarantine rather than
accompany its owner to England.
After a lengthy interrogation, Sergueiev was enrolled as adouble
agent, and in January 1944, with the help ofRonald Reed,trea-
suremade radio contact with the Abwehr. This was to be a unique
event, because her usual method of communication wassecret writ-
ingin letters sent to an address in Lisbon. In March 1944 Sergueiev
flew to Portugal for a meeting with her Abwehr controller, who sup-
plied her with a new transmitter. Using the radio, she reestablished
wireless contact upon her return, but a Radio Security Service (RSS)
operator was substituted to replace the temperamental double agent.
Although she had no knowledge ofgarboor any of MI5’s other
double agents,treasurecontributed to an elaboratedeception
scheme designed to deceive the enemy over where theD-Dayland-
ings were likely to occur. Sergueiev subsequently joined the French