Was Muggeridge in fact a former communist? He was an enthusiast of the Russian Revolution early on, and his parents and in-laws were socialists, but he was one

Was Muggeridge in fact a former communist? He was an enthusiast of the Russian Revolution early on, and his parents and in-laws were socialists, but he was one of not many journalists who told the truth about the famine in the USSR in the 1930s. He worked for British intelligence during WW II, but hardly in deep cover--his Italian opposite number in his overseas posting (in Portuguese East Africa?) knew perfectly well who he was, and was apparently tempted to run him over.