KEMP, PETER• 283KELL, MAJOR GENERAL SIR VERNON. Director-general of
the Security Servicefrom 1909 to 1945, Vernon Kell had been a
Daily Telegraphcorrespondent during the Boxer Rebellion in China.
When ill health forced his retirement from active duty with his regi-
ment in 1909, he was appointed head of the Home Section of the
Secret Service Bureau. He was sacked byWinston Churchillin May
1940 and died a broken man at his tiny rented cottage in Bucking-
hamshire in March 1942.
KELLY, DAVID.A former director ofPorton Down, Dr. David Kelly
was an expert on chemical and biological weapons and served as a
UN weapons inspector following the 1991 Gulf War. He was also a
consultant for theDefence Intelligence Staff. His suicide in July
2003 prompted a political controversy when it emerged that he had
been responsible for leaks to journalists concerning unease within the
intelligence community regarding the content of two dossiers pre-
pared in September 2002 and February 2003 and released by the Brit-
ish government prior to the invasion of Iraq. Lord Justice Hutton
conducted an inquiry into Kelly’s death, and theHutton Inquiryex-
onerated Tony Blair’s administration of any blame.
KEMP, PETER.Born in 1915 in Bombay, where his father was chief
justice, Peter Kemp was educated at Wellington and Trinity College,
Cambridge, and fought with the nationalists during the Spanish Civil
War. He was wounded by a mortar in the Battle of the Ebro. After
his return to London, Kemp was introduced toMI(R)by Douglas
Dodds-Parker and was sent toGibraltarin anticipation of a German
invasion. Aftermad dogwas abandoned, he was sent on a mission
aboard the submarineClydeto seize a U-boat believed to be in the
Canaries, but this too was aborted following an attack by a Royal
Navy destroyer. In 1942 Kemp raised the Small-Scale Raiding Force
to destroy enemy signal facilities in Brittany and the Channel Islands.
Kemp was parachuted intoAlbaniain 1943, accompanied byBilly
McLeanandDavid Smiley. After eight months there, Kemp trekked
across the mountains to Montenegro and was evacuated toCairofor
another mission, this time to Poland. Captured by the Red Army, he
was imprisoned by theNKVDand spent two months in Moscow be-
fore an exit visa was negotiated for him. Soon after his release, he
was parachuted intoSiambyForce 136.