The genius of Le Carré's writing came from the tightly compressed class world he depicted: almost no proletariat (yet the entire ruling class in the 70s feared us); almost no sex; but the post-war middle class shown in fine-grained layers... 1/
2/ So as in private school staff room, every character framed within strict limits... and all characters defined by actions and voice... hence two great actors come up with very similar landing places, decades apart... (Rikki Tarr) 
3/ As in Balzac and Dickens, all the characters are recognisable types - that's why we should drop the "spy novel" label - from a specific class formation and historical period, and yet become so real they never leave you...
4/ Britain's post-war decline was a story of white men who lost an empire and found a suddenly militant working class (1968-79) on their doorstep.. all Le Carré's settings are metaphors for that...
5/ ...Their values weren't just challenged by American dominance, colonial independence and working class militancy, but by the hollowness of the central conflict with the USSR, which became a game...
6/ If the point to writing is to dramatise the main question of your time, in real time, Le Carré did that.
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