In October 1973, "Control", head of British intelligence (referred to as "The Circus"), sends agent Jim Prideaux to Budapest to meet a Hungarian general wishing to defect. Prideaux is shot and presumed killed. Amidst the international incident that follows, Control and his right-hand man George Smiley are forced into retirement; Control dies of illness shortly after.
Percy Alleline becomes the new Chief, Bill Haydon his deputy and Roy Bland and Toby Esterhase as lieutenants. Despite Control and Smiley's misgivings, their successors have already begun a secret operation—"Witchcraft"—to obtain highly sensitive information from the Soviet Union, which is in turn being traded with the CIA for American intelligence. Smiley is brought out of retirement by Cabinet Office civil servant Oliver Lacon to investigate a claim by Ricki Tarr, a British spy, that for years there has been a mole in a senior role in the Circus, as Control had suspected. Smiley chooses a trustworthy agent, Peter Guillam, and retired Special Branch officer Mendel to help him. He interviews former Circus analyst Connie Sachs, who was sacked by Alleline after deducing that Alexei Polyakov, a Soviet cultural attaché in London, was a spy.
Tarr tells Smiley that on a mission to Istanbul, he had an affair with Irina,
a Soviet agent. She wanted to reveal the name of a mole in the top ranks of the Circus but when
Tarr reported this to London, they ignored him and ordered him straight home, while the Soviets
promptly kidnapped Irina. Concluding that the mole had intercepted his message,
Tarr went into hiding, suspected of defecting and murdering the British station chief. Smiley
sends Guillam to steal the Circus logbook for the night Tarr had called and he finds the pages for that
night have been cut out, supporting Tarr's story. Smiley interviews Prideaux, who reveals that after brutal interrogation, he was
exchanged by the Soviets but sacked from the service. Prideaux says the purpose of the mission to Hungary
was to get the name of the mole. Control had codenamed the suspects "Tinker" (Alleline),
"Tailor" (Haydon), "Soldier" (Bland), "Poorman" (Esterhase) and "Beggarman" (Smiley).
Smiley learns that Alleline, Haydon, Bland and Esterhase have been meeting Polyakov—the "Witchcraft" source—at a safe house somewhere in London, where Polyakov gives them supposedly high-grade Soviet intelligence, in exchange for low-grade British material to help him maintain his cover with the Soviets. However, the mole is passing substantive material, including US intelligence, to Polyakov, his handler, whilst Polyakov's material has just enough substance to persuade the CIA to share information with the British. Smiley blackmails the location of the safe house out of Esterhase, whose exile status makes him vulnerable to deportation. Smiley then has Tarr appear at the Paris office, implying he knows who the mole is. The mole is revealed to be Haydon when he meets Polyakov at the safe house, where Smiley captures him. The Circus plans to exchange Haydon with the Soviets but he is killed by Prideaux, who felt betrayed by him in the Budapest incident. Smiley returns to the Circus as its new chief.
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