The unedited unpublished second autobiography of T Dan Smith is part of an archive of material presented to Amber Films by Smith and a digital copy of the original document has now been made by an Amber Volunteer. Most scanned pages are of the original typed ones, but some were photocopies, presumably made by Smith himself. A few pages are typed on the back of previously used grey sheets (building work specifications). Many have handwritten corrections. The page numbering is not always consistent; it cannot be known, except from the flow of the text, whether any pages are missing or if the numbers were simply omitted.
there are no pages 138, 139, 271, 272, 382, 383
page 243 is labelled 241
there are two pages labelled 254, similarly 268
a retyped version of page 280 was found at 380 (the original, hand-corrected version has been left in, having the same text)
Longer chapters have been split into two to avoid excessive file sizes.
Dan was born 11th May 1915 in the downstairs front room of a terraced flat, 62 Holly Ave, Wallsend. At the bottom of this street was Wallsend G Pit which had brought his father to Wallsend from County Durham and it was crossed by streets leading to the shipyards and engineering works on the river. Housing conditions were poor, the only water tap was in the backyard, the lavatory an ash closet in an outhouse (dug out weekly by corporation men). Unsanitary conditions bred disease and radical politics.
Demoralised troops at the end of WWI passed Dan’s house on the way from station to drill hall for demob – his earliest memory. Dan’s father told him how ordinary people were exploited both in peace and war; there was little provision for the returning ‘heroes’.
Dan’s family moved into a colliery house in Portugal Place, Wallsend – rent free when his father was working but in a worse environment. A urinal opposite the front door (his mother campaigned for its closure); a 12 foot wall enclosing the corporation cleansing depot – horse carts went out early each morning (to clean the ash closets); a blacksmith’s shop outside the back door (Dan worked the bellows when old enough); two slaughter houses next to that – cattle driven along the back lane to slaughter every Monday afternoon. A cousin ran one slaughter house, so Dan came to assist in the slaughter of sheep.
Dan’s parents were christian socialists and pacifists. Work became increasingly hard to find for his father; his mother took on an early morning cleaning job (back to ensure he and his sister properly washed for school); then took on evening cleaning job as well – made sacrifices to ensure children had a better chance in life, specifically a piano bought on HP, then a second hand gramophone and records (Caruso etc). Dan became boy soprano in church choir. Dan’s father rewarded him for spelling and reading and learning poetry, so his education was better than his undistinguished school provided.
Portugal Place at least had a flush toilet in yard, shared with lower flat. Deaths of children – from TB etc – quite ‘normal’ in the area though. Dan’s father liked a drink, a bet and to watch boxing; his mother opposed this on religious grounds. His uncle was known as the miners’ lawyer and was caretaker of the Miners’ Welfare. Dan’s mother had come from a Cumberland farming family.
Wallsend returned its first Labour MP in 1923 election; Dan’s father remained suspicious of him as a London barrister and knight. Minority Labour government was ineffective and short-lived. Dan’s family heroes were radicals. He got to see a number of radical speakers in the 1926 strike.
Chapter 2: Teenage Years in the 30’s
Jobs for school leavers were available because their wages were so low, but most were dead end; Dan’s sister had become a nurse and moved to Midland; his mother wanted Dan to work on her brother’s farm but that didn’t work out. By chance he got an office job, as postboy at a shipyard at age 14. He was sacked first day for failing to use ‘sir’; had to quickly find another job – as painter’s apprentice (which carried lead poisoning risk). By now entering 1930’s depression, work hard to find; bosses cutting pay and demanding longer hours. His pay then about 1d an hour, for pushing a barrow to take materials and scaffold to jobs, then ‘promoted’ to painting railings on new council estates created for slum clearance.
His boss’s son taught him graining, marbling and other skilled work an invited him to go to night classes – at Rutherford Technical College where he learned more skills two nights/week and studied fine art the third; he marvels at the skills level attained by apprentices then.
Between 1930 and 36 he had to change jobs many times to stay in work and learned many survival tricks. One government scheme required him to attend ‘Dole School’ three times a week (where he even had to do a class in hairdressing) and to prove he’d been looking for work every morning by getting employers to sign his dole card. The lads pretended Heaton and Jarrow dole schools were in fact Eton and Harrow.
Against this background he formed a political consciousness, started reading Marx et al. Met his wife (Ada) at a ballroom dancing class in 1935. She similarly lacked education but was well read. The economy was picking up by then but world politics darkening; Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, but also to start of Soviet purges which made him anti-Stalin. Dan joined the League Against Imperialism, supporting Ghandi etc. Closer to were home demands for slum clearance, health and welfare; Newcastle remained Tory controlled. Dan learned debating and public speaking skills through WEA courses etc. He and Ada joined the International Friendship League, were able to spend weekends walking in the countryside with other European youths, met Ted Short through that, disappointed how quickly the international friendship evaporated in 1939.
Dan’s attitude to war had been shaped by his family; he’s signed the Peace Pledge in 1937, took part in setting up Newcastle branch of Peace Pledge Union. While he believed the aim of capitalism was to crush the USSR, he also saw that Stalin had played a part in consolidating Hitler, through the ‘social fascist’ policy. His socialist anti-war was unpopular in the wave of intolerant patriotism sweeping the country, but they built a Newcastle war resisters movement and Dan spoke at public meetings; at the very least there should be no betrayal of those sacrificing as there had been after WWI. Dan was classified medically unfit because an attack of scarlet fever in 1937 had left him deaf in one ear; he was ‘drafted’ to work as a coach painter.
Politically, they started opposing the wartime coalition of the main parties. In turn, the communists attacked them as Hitler’s agents, ignoring the earlier Stalin-Hitler pact, and that it was Stalin’s purges that had destroyed the leadership of the Soviet army.
Chapter 3: Councillor T. Dan Smith
After the war, and his infamy as a left-wing anti-war activist, he agreed to wishes of Ada that, if they were to have children, he would be a proper husband and father unlike many ‘revolutionaries’. Daughters born 1947, 1952 and son in 1956.
Dan was appalled by Churchill’s acquiescence in handing over Easter Europe to the Soviet Union and in agreeing the division of Germany – it was, after all, to liberate Poland and Czechoslovakia that we’d gone to war. Division of Germany was template for that of Vietnam, Korea, China/Formosa and ensured continued conflicts between communism and capitalism.
There was a huge swing to the left in non-communist Europe, including the Labour victory in Britain, but the socialist movements did not behind the big social economic and technological changes needed to respond to the now entrenched Soviet bloc.
Dan found that many of his wartime predictions were correct but he was now outside politics, waiting to see what happened. At this point he started his first business, Smiths Decorators together with one of his old TU friends – who had remained an activist and who drew Dan back into politics. Dan joined his local ward party, was soon sent as a delegate to the city party, and then onto the panel from which wards selected councillors.
Labour had taken control of Newcastle in 1945 but had achieved little and were back in minority by 1949. Dan was invited to attend selection for the Walker ward, a safe Labour seat. Dan’s history ensured he would meet opposition – a former member of the National Executive of the ILP, he had been expelled from that as a Trotskyist but then expelled from the Trotskyists as a centrist. He had publicly attacked Labour policies, was known as a republican and humanist but won easily due to rank and file support and was then elected councillor with a large majority – in May 1950, age 35.
Dan soon noted how antiquated the council system was, with Aldermen and Lord Mayors and all the trappings of now irrelevant ‘tradition without ambition’, far removed from the realities of the cities slums. Dan was allocated to what were deemed the least important committees, Libraries, and Schools and Charities, but he used these as a base and developed the library service into one of the best in the country. He started to intervene in council debates, and started to get support for getting his policies into the party election manifesto.
He became Chair of the City Labour Party in 1955 and held this for three years, not standing for fourth. He initiated debates on many policy areas, made speeches to National Conference, one of which was one of the first to be televised. Began to see that would be able to have impact on national democratic politics by concentrating on local and regional issues.
One concern was to get the Tech College upgraded to a Polytechnic and to have Poly and University adjacent on a single campus with shared facilities. The Northern region way behind in developing higher education. Also had policy groups working on Sport, Arts, transport.
Aiming to give power to the provinces, saw new regional structure as essential for development of a powerful and purposeful labour movement. Parliamentary labour party always to the right of local parties because only right wing candidates can raise the finance to stand. Dan saw need for LP to professionalise, to employ staff in order to be fit for the 80’s and 90’s.
Newcastle stayed in Tory hands until 1958. Dan led attacks on the appalling amenity lacking housing schemes being put up, especially Noble Street, despite opposition of many in the old guard of his own party. Organisationally, was enuring that candidates for next election would be more active in supporting policies of the City Party. He also needed to get the council’s chief officers, particularly Town Clerk and City Treasurer responsive to democratically decided policies, ie Finance Committee should work out ways of implementing policy rather than determine it.
After the victory in 1958, Dan was able to be elected to his choice of committees – Housing and Planning. He lost vote for Leader of Labour Group but was elected joint Deputy. His first act as chair of Housing to meet the City Architect and tell him to stop building the houses then being constructed in Scotswood and elsewhere. But Dan was resisted by members of his own group on that committee, quickly became aware of the power of major contractors, a local builder’s lobby with Council supporters on both sides.
Dan became aware of a builder’s lobby working to destroy him following a phone call in 1959. The caller had been a special branch officer who had been monitoring Dan’s activities during the war. He warned Dan of a campaign orchestrated in Newcastle but with backing in London. The basis of this was the Cruden affair; it was diffused but at a high cost to many, including a financial cost to the city, and a heart attack for himself.
Chapter 4: Power in Local Government and the Region
As Chair of Housing in 1958 he had, for the first time, power and a budget to change lives, and a mandate for change from a reforming City Party. But he experienced resistance and had to avoid the process whereby elected officials are co-opted, distanced from those who elected them and the policies they’d been elected on. Housing problems in the city were acute, with those without homes, long-waiting list, slums etc. He forced development of a housing policy, committing the council to firm dates for housing and re-housing. Basically, people could be given a firm promise of when they’d be rehoused – it might be a long wait but removed uncertainty. This policy brought him to the attention of the Ministry of Housing.
‘Operation Revitalise’ – part of Dan’s housing policy, designed to save and modernise as many old houses as possible. But, it required legislation to allow purchase of rented property before the rot set in and it became unsaveable. Keith Joseph, Minister for Housing, failed to introduce this legislation with consequences we still feel.
This was not the only problem; the previous council’s city plan had provided no land for public housing and it’s building along Scotswood Road was a municipal outrage. Many blocks had already been built, three or four stories high, on a sloping site so that those at the top had to climb the equivalent to a 15 storey block. The site (Noble St) became deeply unpopular and soon a ghetto for ‘problem’ families. It was a social and financial disaster. Dan fought successfully to scrap this policy and bring humanity into housing policy. He ordered an end to such developments although it took two years to bring in change.
Dan argues that, whatever his reputation after Poulson, he prevented further schemes like Noble St. Moreover, he never used his position in Newcastle to his own advantage.
He notes that Building Contractors would employ councillors in a range of capacities (consultants, solicitors, agents etc) to secure inside support. Councillors were meant to declare interest in such cases, though unscrupulous developers would offer indirect benefits to avoid this. Dan was offered many such but avoided all; he had direct interests as chair of a decorating company which he always declared.
In 1960 he was elected leader of the Labour Group and was mandated to make the job of Council Leader an official and properly resourced position. Previously the Lord Mayor was (temporarily and ‘apolitical’) leader, the Chief Officers (Town Clerk, City Treasurer and Engineer) were a law unto themselves; this system was not fit for a modern democratic council with the scale of activities it faced. Financial control was a particular issue as the sums involved became so large; Dan knew skills needed development here if the council was to be efficient and able to negotiate properly with commercial enterprises. The financial control systems meant you could be sacked for stealing an eraser, but they could not report on a financial disaster like Noble St.
As Council Leader, Dan would have council officers answer to him and would introduce a new Planning Department (to be led by Wilf Burns). His changes met with much resistance and it was at this point he was informed of a plot against him. Two major schemes already approved (Pilgrim St traffic island and a shopping development in Princess St) needed to be stopped to fit in with his idea for a comprehensive city plan, as did an approved planning application for Midland Bank to build a modern office block on Grey St. Dan wanted world class architects involved in city redevelopment.
Nationally, Dan was approached by the Minister of Transport, Ernest Marples, to serve on a committee dealing with traffic in towns.
Dan recognised that the policies he wanted for Newcastle called for regional thinking and argued for creation of an elected regional authority. This met resistance from other councils, fearing domination by Newcastle. Higher education was being expanded and Dan had pressed both for Newcastle University independent of Durham and for a new Polytechnic, with both on adjacent central sites. He proposed extending the role of the North East Industrial Development Association, founding a Regional Arts Association, followed by a regional sports council (though he failed to get Newcastle FC to join in and modernise). Then the development of Newcastle Airport as a regional airport, then the cooperation of councils along the Tyne to clean it up. All of these ok as long as Newcastle not seen to dominate. Wilf Burns was now in post and together they developed a series of city and regional policies. Newcastle was now attracting a lot of media attention and Dan did much TV and Radio (including Desert Island Disks!).
Dan’s greatest regrets relate to buildings built after he left the city. Eldon Square’s redevelopment had been conditional on an Arne Jacobson design including a new luxury hotel. Eldon Square was supposed to be council owned, bringing in money to pay for the development of the new metro system, initiated by Dan with Marples, that will bring shoppers to it. Instead private developers will benefit from the public investment. Newcastle Council discarded the Jacobson design and the international hotel upon which the demolition of old Eldon Square had been conditional; instead of the lively heart of the city envisaged, we got an ‘advert for the brick industry’, an environmental tragedy constructed around one of Britain’s commercial gold mines. The opening of the metro in 1981 illustrates the long lag between conception and implementation. Dan was promoting this idea in the early 60’s.
Another failure was not persuading successive Health Ministers to build a proposed new hospital adjacent to the RVI and University. Instead it was inconveniently built out of town (the Freeman, presumably). This prevented University/Poly/hospital links that could have attracted new jobs to the City.
Chapter 5: Arrested in Wandsworth. “The Poulson Affair” Part 1
Chapter 5 Part 2
1968, Barry Payton, new Town Clerk at Wandsworth called in the police following a tip-off of irregularities re building contracts. Poulson was working there. Met police and audit inspectors investigated and a ‘dossier’ of evidence was sent to the DPP. In early 1970 others were charged re building contracts, Dan with a single conspiracy re a PR contract.
In June 1970 the Tories won the general election. Reginald Maudling – associated with at least two of those named in dossier – is appointed Home Secretary, ie in charge of the Met police etc. The DPP decided that further investigations on the basis of the dossier unlikely to be fruitful because of lack of access to bank accounts, so Poulson was not prosecuted then. Dan points out that that bank account details were available in at least the Poulson cases that concerned him.
It was not until Poulson went bankrupt in 1972 that he faced prosecution; at that point Maudling had to resign. But Dan was charged on a non-Poulson non-building charge in Wandsworth, the start of a decade of investigation, trial, jail.
Dan was first questioned in November 1968. The leader of Wandsworth council was Sydney Sporle. A company set up by Bill Kirkup, Dan’s accountant, but attributed to Dan had been awarded a contract to carry out PR work for the borough. As a result of meeting Sporle, Dan had offered him work for OSB (a Poulson company) to get commercial PR contracts in London, but not in his own borough. Dan set up a company with Sporle and his wife, and also got involved in a bid for ITV franchises through him – Sporle was an above the board operator with powerful contacts, not a small-time corrupt councillor as he was made out. Dan stresses it was Kirkup who secured the Wandsworth PR contract, Dan didn’t make money from it, yet Kirkup was never charged.
Dan had met Maudling after this first police interview to discuss Poulson; he had said then that he worried about Poulson’s approach and his association with him would not last, they also discussed Wandsworth and Maudling thought Dan was in the clear on this. Maudling suggested Dan forgot they’d ever met. In January 1969 Poulson contacted Dan to set up a meeting at which Dan’s association with OSB was terminated, his other agreements with Ropergate (Poulson’s main company) to be renegotiated.
OSB had initially been set up by Dan and others to market steel-framed houses. Poulson was involved to finance the company. Poulson’s account of the setting up of this company in his book ‘The Price’ is entirely wrong, according to Dan.
The Poulson affair really got started when Poulson filed for bankruptcy in January 1972. For Dan it is mysterious that the prime minister and central government to intervene in a bankruptcy case; as we’ve seen, in 1970 there as not enough evidence to justify further investigation, now, suddenly, there was.
But, back to January 1970 when he was charged with a non-Poulson related conspiracy charge in Wandsworth. Note that his solicitor, Marron, had broken confidentiality and supplied the police with cash books detailing payments from Smith PR to Sporle and from Ropergate to Smith PR. Note also that James Callaghan was Home Secretary then; he was also National Treasurer of the Labour Party – while Andrew Cunningham was Chair of its Finance Committee. So Poulson had Maudling, Cunningham had Callaghan – and Dan was the fall guy.
Dan was found not guilty on the Wandsworth charge in July 1971. Following his acquittal he was offered a job in a Northampton electrical company and would have settled there but the company had financial problems so that didn’t last and he was back to Newcastle after two years.
The Poulson affair was marked by the intervention of three prime ministers, the resignation of a home secretary and a back-bench MP, the censure of three other MPs, three major investigations (Radcliffe Maud Committee 1973, Salmon Royal Commission 1974, Select Committee 1976). But none of this would have happened if Poulson hadn’t gone bankrupt.
Dan was questioned in the Poulson bankruptcy hearings, but, more importantly, the publicity these hearings received prejudiced any chance of a subsequent fair trial for Dan.
He spends some time rejecting the allegations made in Poulson’s book, ‘The Price’, including the chronology of when they met (1962), whether Dan delivered anything for the money received (Dan cites seven Peterlee contracts as evidence he did deliver), how much he got from Poulson (156k for Smith companies, but only 12k in 8 years to Dan personally; Dan stresses Poulson got no work in areas Dan could influence, ie Newcastle).
Dan ended his association with Poulson in September 1969. Note that the deal between Poulson and Mrs Cunningham which led to Dan’s 1974 guilty happened in October 1969. Dan had introduced Poulson to Andy Cunningham; Dan in unconvinced Cunningham ever acted illegally, however, while Dan expressly excluded Poulson’s practice from authorities where he had influence, this was not the case with Cunningham.
Continues to reject Poulson’s claims in ‘The Price’, including in relation to dealings with Crudens and the Skarne prefabricated building system from Sweden.
Chapter 6: Intrigue at all Levels Part 1
Gives a lot of detail about different companies set up in 1969, including Progressive Public Relations, set up with Marron (solicitor) and Cunningham, to receive fees from Ropergate following Dan’s split from OSB. Dan notes that Poulson also, without his knowledge, set up a separate agreement with Cunningham, excluding him. Dan tried to set up a meeting to discuss this and fees owed from OSB but, instead, he was arrested and Poulson went bankrupt.
When Dan asked Marron to conduct his defence, he did not consider that Marron had a conflict of interest and would act first in his own interest and that of other clients including Cunningham and Whittals Builders. Dan only learned in 1975 that Marron had gone to the police in March 1970 and was supplying them with his defence information re Wandsworth, presumably assuming this would put himself in the clear should the police start investigation Progressive PR.
The process of being charged, magistrates court, crown court is already hell for someone not accustomed to it, especially if they are also a familiar face, it dominates your whole life. His first trial was held in the Law Courts in the Strand; his QC requested Dan have a separate trial and this was granted; that first trial continued without him and Dan was shocked that Sydney Sporle got 6 years. Dan’s own trial then took place at the Old Bailey, end of June 1971. After a 9 day trial he was found not guilty after only a 10 minute deliberation by the jury, Dan was awarded costs.
His problems with Marron can to a head over the costs; Dan had to pay his QC; he needed a bank loan to do this before the court reimbursed him; he needed a schedule of costs from Marron to get this. Marron had failed to supply this by May 1972, instead issuing a writ for payment of the QC’s fees; Marron was preparing to use the issuing of a writ as evidence against Dan. And then Marron did not submit the claim to the court until January 1973, meaning Dan had to wait until March 1973 to be ale to pay off his borrowings for the costs – in part because the court only paid £5k out of the £8k claim; in addition Marron’s accounts were wrong and he overpaid himself by nearly £500 which he kept until 1975.
Dan now discusses in some detail the conduct of Marron as a witness in the trial of Roy Hadwin and others in Leeds 1975 (Dan was also a witness there); he admits, under oath, that he had gone to the police with a defence document while acting as Dan’s defence. Detail here concerns the relationship between Dan’s Progressive PR, Poulson’s OSB and Ropergate and Whittals Builders who had sought a licence to be a contractor for OSB; Marron was seeking to assert that he was merely Dan’s puppet in these arrangements while Dan asserts Marron was directly involved and he was out of OSB by then. Dan also discusses the accounts and tax payments of Progressive PR and what he claims are Marron’s misrepresentations over that, including the claim that he’d paid Dan £250 in cash.
Chapter 7: Peterlee Who was really Guilty/a>
Dan’s association with Peterlee: First phase, T Dan Smith Associates agreed in 1962 to act as press relations service to the corporation to attract industry to the area. He relinquished the PR role in 1968 on becoming chair of the Peterlee and Aycliffe Development Corporations.
The PR job was difficult, largely because the corporation’s general manager, AV Williams, had alienated most around him; Dan agreed with Williams that his assistant, Ken Allen, be paid a small fee for liaison work; only later did Dan realise Allen had become much more involved in the PR work than agreed.
When Poulson went bankrupt and the crown could no longer avoid taking action against him (as for Dan it should have done at the time of his Wandsworth prosecution), the crown also need to convict Dan of something, having failed to convict him twice. They needed to show he’d used his influence directly on behalf of Poulson. Scotland Yard scrutinised his 15 years as a councillor in Newcastle; for 4 of these he’d had a Poulson connection, but they found nothing; nor could they find anything relating to his position as chair of the Northern Economic Planning Council. That only left his Peterlee chair position, which he’d taken on only 4 months before being questioned by the police for the first time.
NB he took on the Peterlee Chair while still Regional Planning Chair. He wanted that role to try to launch a regional science centre there, an initiative supported by the regional universities and Polytechnics and unique in the UK. This fitted well with Harold Wilson (then pm) and his technology agenda, but a problem was that Tony Benn (Minister for Technology) opposed IBM which was involved in the initiative, having installed computers at Newcastle and Durham Unis. Had this vision come off it would have created a major centre for research and production, new employment for an area previously dependent on coal mining. One important development that did come off resulting from his getting together Williams, Poulson and bosses from S&N Breweries was a hotel for Peterlee (the Norseman, 1964 – it seems to still be there as the Peterlee Lodge)
Smith’s connections with Peterlee were investigated by Scotland Yard in 1974/5. He was indicted for using his position to exercise influence in favour of Poulson, the indictment asserts that at no stage did Dan disclose his interest in Poulson and that, without Dan’s influence, no officer at Peterlee would have thought Poulson deserving of a contract and, indeed would have been unaware of him.
Dan asserts that this indictment was absurd. a) He had no reason to declare relationship with Poulson while in his PR role. His relationship was, in any case, with Ropergate which was never subject to any action by the crown. Dan asserts that there was nothing immoral about working for Ropergate which was basically a sound practice; it would only have been wrong if he’d promoted it where he was in a position of authority, which is why Poulson never got work in Newcastle under Dan’s watch; b) Poulson was well known to Peterlee officers through many meetings, eg over the Norseman.. Most of the Poulson commissions at Peterlee – seven between 1963 and 1968 – were placed before Dan was Chair, so he could not have influenced them.
The errors in the indictment were not challenged, however, because of Dan’s guilty plea, had he not pleaded guilty they would have been revealed. The Crown’s case rested largely on a Poulson contract for an Arts Centre, envisaged as part of the Science Park project, discussed when Dan was Chair. Dan argues that Williams proposed Poulson for this; there was some opposition but Dan accepted Poulson’s suitability for this work – even though he had by then fallen out with Poulson and so there could be nothing in it for him. He notes he had resigned his role as Chair when arrested in January 1970; the Arts Centre contract wasn’t finally awarded until 4 months later. The Regional Science Park scheme came to a halt after his Wandsworth arrest.
So why did he plead guilty? He’d had 4 years where family life had been made impossible, he’d been hounded by the press, his health was bad.
Dan’s closest business associate was his accountant Bill Kirkup – had been recommended by his bank manager in the early days of the decorating companies. Kirkup was also a Tory politician and had been chair of Newcastle’s Housing Committee in the 1950’s. When Dan became ill with his second heart attack he passed the running of his PR companies to Kirkup. Kirkup then (1965/6) formed a relationship with a London advertising company, Foley-Brickley’s and Dan became involved as a director of that company. It was via them that Dan’s PR company got the Wandsworth PR contract. In the Wandsworth trial, the crown accepted Kirkup’s account that he’d just followed Dan’s instructions whereas the company pursuing the Wandsworth PR contract was a Kirkup association. The link between Dan Associates and Foley-Brickley was the basis for the charges against Smith and Sydney Sporle – that it was a weak link is evidenced by the failure of the charge against Dan; however Sporle was convicted. Kirkup was in complete control of the administration of the link to Poulson’s Ropergate including payment to Sporle, he was also the link to Foley-Brickley – how come he was never charged? Kirkup had in fact set up new companies to manage the links to Wandsworth (and Islington) to remove the Foley-Brickley link because they were going bankrupt; one of these bore Dan’s name but Dan had no legal responsibility for it.
Dan now spends some time talking about the finances; his main claim is the the amount he personally received from Poulson was less that £12000 over seven years. There were some Poulson-funded trips but Dan asserts these always involved business. Continues the give examples of where Kirkup was acting independently in the PR business while Dan was ill, asserting that Kirkup had made contacts and payments that Dan was unaware of.
Discusses his relationship with Ted Short (later Lord Glenamara), at the time of the Poulson affair Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the House of Commons, reported to have received £500 from Smith. At the time, this being a period Dan describes as hysteria over Poulson, it led to headlines calling for Short’s resignation etc.
Dan had met Short in the International Friendship League before WWII and was impressed by his debating skill, though regarded him as right wing. Short was elected Labour Councillor in 1948 and was leader of the Labour group when Dan was elected in 1950 and remained so until 1954, even after he’d been elected MP. Short centre-right position allied him to Gaitskell, then to Wilson after the latter’s death. Short generally supported Dan’s policies for City and region. Short defended Dan when accused over Crudens and it was to him that Dan turned for help when needing funds for the Wandsworth defence. After Wandsworth and with Short on the backbenches after the Tory victory in the 1970 election, Dan approached him about joining a group involved in North Sea Oil – this came to nothing due to Poulson’s bankruptcy.
Dan continues to assert that the Poulson affair should have begun in 1970, with Wandsworth, but that it was a political decision (taken initially by Labour) to suppress it then. Only when Poulson went bankrupt did the ‘hysteria’ start and Dan believes he was selected as ‘fall guy’.
Dan mentioned the payment to Short to the BBC immediately prior to his imprisonment; he did so believing it strengthened his hand for appeal to be able to show he had legitimate dealings with someone as clearly honest as Short. Short was by then back in ministerial position so Dan’s revelation caused major upset. The payment to Short was made in 1963 (not after the 1970 election as implied above). There is some disagreement over whether the payment was £500 or £250 and whether it was paid in cash or by cheque. The media storm over this was particularly intense as Short, as Leader of the House, would have been responsible for a new register of MPs interests and would have chaired the Committee of Privileges.
Chapter 10: I go to Prison for Six Years
Three years of prison experiences taught Dan about the tensions and divisions existing just below the surface of society, in the everyday lives of thousands of the disadvantaged. Those who spend time in prison generally from broken homes, marry, have children young and separate early themselves. From amongst these emerge the hard core of professional criminals; these are less represented in prison, those for whom crime is a business rarely get caught. Majority in prison are petty criminals who become recidivists; add to these the mentally ill, homeless, social outcasts and addicts. Prison can do nothing positive for these and destroys any remaining pride they may have.
The prisons are massively overcrowded, with unemployment fuelling crime and reactionaries calling for ever longer sentences. The overcrowding means prisons break the laws they are meant to uphold, but the view persists there are no votes in prison reform.
He soon realised the majority of the newly sentence already knew the ropes. He had to learn the procedures, starting with the magistrates court, the experience of being handcuffed, of losing all civil rights, the seemingly unending procedures of prison reception, every time you enter or leave (but you learn that time no longer matters).
Dan began prison life in Armley prison; he spent one year in closed prisons and two in Leyhill open prison; in this time he went in and out of reception over 90 times. His travels were caused by being a defendant and witness at Leeds and at Birmingham and by being called to appear before a Commons Special Committee and the Salmon Royal Commission.
He describes the experience of going through reception, then that of being in a small cell, usually with two other men, then the horrors of the morning experience of slopping out, drains overflowing with the excrement of double the numbers they were built for in Victorian times. A particular horror was when all three in his cell went down with chronic diarrhoea with only one bucket overnight (and the night officer not caring!) Then describes the tedious and pointless everyday routine. Cells unbearably hot in summer and cold in winter. The weekly bath with a few minutes in 4 inches of water was looked forward to like a holiday abroad. Library books could be changed weekly; visits were every 28 days in closed prison and 14 in open; letters were 2 or 3 a week in closed prison, more in open if you could afford the stamp from your wages – men couldn’t afford to both smoke and send letters.
Dan saw many cases of men who’d tried and failed to kill themselves and saved the life of one man who’d cut his wrists deeply. Prison officers are generally hostile but realise they have to secure cooperation for their job to be possible; they work in terrible conditions and their work is tedious and uninspiring but oppose prison reformers. Describes one occasion when his two cell mates had sex in front of him which tested his normal tolerance of homosexual rights.
Exercise was generally two half hour periods per day in a concrete yard. This might be extra unpleasant as prisoners who needed to shit at night would generally do so on newspaper and throw the ‘parcel’ out into the yard to avoid ‘fouling the nest’.
Chapter 11: Prison Experiences
Discusses transfer to Leyhill Open Prison, a former US army camp in Gloucestershire. This was heaven to Dan but he notes some lifers could not cope with the freedoms and preferred the ordered regime of the closed prison. Leyhill had an elected Council – Dan was not elected Chair because of the unpopularity of politicians – and many clubs. Dan decided to devote himself to the latter, both as a way to pass the time and as a step towards prison reform. He set up a variety club which preformed shows for prisoners and also outside audiences. Also a business forum which brought in external business executives and TU leaders. He founded a music society and revived a bowling club, the latter being allowed to compete against external teams. A lifers group worked on outside projects, including creating a ceramic mural for the local village. A drama society, led by a local teacher, put on successful plays. All of this made Dan see the potential for the arts in rehabilitation of prisoners. There was also a prison newspaper which Dan took his six-month spell of editing. Art work produced was of a high standard and some prisoners entered the Koestler awards, a competition open to prisoners; Dan won a commendation for two ceramic pieces.
A minority of prison officers saw the value of the open system and the clubs, a larger number saw it just as an easier job than in a closed prison, another minority were hostile to anything progressive.
Describes the parole system – he was knocked back the first time (after 2 years) and had to wait another year. Also the licence system for release of lifers. Describes the tension of your life passing while events happen outside. Briefly talks about meeting lifers who had been sentenced to death before abolition in 1965. Dan met with many lifers in his time inside, over 150 and learned a lot about life in the process. Since release he has talked at Universities by invitation of students but was surprised that no academics teaching crime and punishment issues have been interested to talk to him.
Notes again how a large proportion of prisoners are recidivists and many seem to find prison, even in overcrowded cells, more hospitable than the outside world. Gives figures on the overcrowding of the 5 closed prisons he was in.
Chapter 12: The Justice Business
Notes that successive home secretaries who might have considered reform have been influenced by the reactions of ‘intellectual hooligans’ of the hand and flog-em brigade and the view that there are no votes in penal reform. But there are vast numbers of people who experience the system as offenders or as their relatives and friends maybe 1 in 5 of the population given the crime rate at that time. He suggests a campaign aimed at families of both offenders and victims to try to bridge the gap. He points to the vast cost of crime and of the justice system and how it must be more sensible to spend some of this money trying to fight against crime.
Prison overcrowding is the most urgent problem. He urges the removal from prison of those who are ‘social disability’ offenders – ie the mentally ill, the addicts etc.. He proposes the building of large numbers of hostels for 30-50 as half-way houses, also longer term sheltered accommodation for those who’ll need it. Staff should be more from medical and welfare professions than current prison service backgrounds. Meaningful work to be provided, ideally developing talents that exist amongst the offenders, producing a sense of self-worth etc. Also notes the link between youth unemployment and crime as an issue needing to be tackled. Notes how our advances in tackling disease have progressed – from an era when those with infectious diseases were isolated in prison -like conditions – through the application of science. A similar approach is needed for crime. Judges may have expertise in deciding guilt but they do not necessarily have the expert knowledge – including of available resources – to determine appropriate punishment. He proposes introduction of a Sentencing Board to decide this after guilt has been determined and gives some detail on how this might work.
Chapter 13: Salmon, But Nothing Fresh Part 1
Dan was sentenced April 1974. The Poulson affair didn’t then go away but kept making headlines. Wilson had become PM again in 1974 and the Ted Short incident (Ch.9 above) alerted him to the risks; his answer was to set up a Royal Commission. Ted Short, as Leader of the House, had rejected calls for a Tribunal of Inquiry in favour of the Commission – despite arguments that he should have been removed from that position because of his being tainted.
For Dan the more effective Tribunal should have been called because of the gravity of the issues (including why Maudling had accepted Home Secretary post in June 1970 when the Met police were investigating a number of his associates; why the decision was taken to take no further action of the Poulson dossier; where the various leaks to the press came from; why Maudling resigned; why the Inspector of Constabulary resigned; whether there was intervention on behalf of Jeremy Thorpe). But the Salmon Commission on Standards of Conduct in Public Life was established December 1974 and reported July 1976.
The report of the commission shows, for Dan, that it adopted a very narrow interpretation of its terms of reference. It did not act as an investigative body, making findings about detailed allegations, it investigated only what had already been investigated. It did nothing to clear up the confusion over the Ropergate affair, merely perpetuated it.
Dan argues that all this commission did was to examine the evidence already used by the prosecution in the various trials. This led to the report containing errors, for example stating that ‘Between 1962 and 1970, Mr Smith incorporated 14 PR companies. The basic way in which he operated on Mr Poulson’s behalf was… to appoint councillors on various local authorities as paid ‘consultants’. The councillors would then be expected, without declaring their interest, to use their influence on Mr Poulson’s behalf’. Dan denies this, his employees were required to sign a declaration that they had declared an interest, and this was part of his successful defence in the Wandsworth case. The defence documents exist, so the report contains a falsehood; were it true then all of Dan’s employees should have been charged.
But the Commission did not succeed in ending the affair. In October 1976 the Observer reported another leak – Salmon had had evidence of links between Poulson and 3 MPs. They’d been spared prosecution because of some Parliamentary immunity (they’d have been prosecuted if councillors). The Salmon Commission had split on whether MPs should face prosecution for corruption. But it became clear that there was still more to be disclosed. A letter from John Cordle MP to Poulson, written in 1965, had been in the hands of the authorities for more than 4 years and nothing had been done. Dan contrasts the feeble response of Ropergate here with that taken to Watergate in the USA.
Chapter 14: The Parliamentary Select Committee
In November 1976 a Select Committee was set up by the Commons to inquire into conduct of its members – to meet in private. It reported in July 1977. It had already been announced by the Attorney General that there would be no further prosecutions. Three MPs were criticised in the report – Cordle, Albert Roberts and Maudling.
Maudling, as Home Secretary 1970-72, is particularly significant. His business association with Poulson was from 1966-70, while on the opposition front bench. Maudling was director and chair of several Poulson companies; he sought to obtain business for Poulson especially overseas – the Middle East, Mexico and Malta. Maudling helped Poulson obtain work in Malta at the same time as a theatre trust supported by Maudling’s wife received payments from Poulson. Maudling was, at the time, chief opposition spokesman on Commonwealth and Overseas Development – the Maltese might have expected that he’d, in the future, be a minister in a position to help them. And Maudling spoke in the Commons in favour of government aid to Malta – without declaring an interest. The Select Committee found Maudling at fault for this, but its reproof was mild and Maudling didn’t consider he needed to resign as MP. Yet ‘tiny people’ had been relentlessly pursued through the courts on issues of whether they’d declared interest; Maudling failed to do so between 1967 and 1970 when he was made Home Secretary by Heath. It should be noted that the select committee did not consider the ‘dossier’ of evidence on Poulson, on which it was decided not to proceed in 1970, so did not ask any awkward questions about why this evidence was suppressed.
In his letter of resignation as Home Secretary in 1972, Maudling claimed that he took no remuneration from Poulson, just Poulson’s support for a charity. The Committee criticised him his ‘lack of frankness’ here. For Dan this is a massive euphemism; Maudling’s wife’s travel costs had been met and lucrative employment secured for his son. In a letter to Poulson in 1968, Maudling describes the costs of the Maudling family to him as ‘colossal’.
Maudling, as director of several Poulson companies, also had responsibility to ensure they acted in a legal manner. He denied to the committee (in 1977) being aware of any irregularities in any of these companies (including OSB) despite the fact that, by then’ several ‘tiny people’ had already been sentenced in relation to OSB’s practices. Maudling tried to make out he was only nominally involved as a non-executive director, but the evidence showed him playing an active part in pursuing unpaid fees, touting for business in Bradford and in Malta etc.
Concludes, using various press comments, that the Select Committee hadn’t had the resources to carry out a complex inquiry and that little had been done to improve defence of standards in public life.
Chapter 15 Part 2
Notes that, when Select Committee Report was published, sections of evidence from Maudling, and also from Ted Short, had been deleted. Maudling had requested his evidence to Poulson Bankruptcy hearings not be included. The House of Commons only noted the censure of Maudling, nothing more.
A final insult. The Director of Public Prosecutions admitted in 1978 that there were many more who could have been charged in relation to Poulson but weren’t, on his discretion – on grounds of ‘compassion’. Dan asks why some were worthy of compassion but not the ‘tiny people’ who were prosecuted.
He notes that the Poulson affair lasted from the first police interview in 1968 until this statement in 1978 – 10 years – and still left much unanswered. Also notes that, because of the prosecutions and media attentions, the focus seemed to be the North East and Labour councils, whereas, in fact the ‘eye of the web’ was London and Poulson dealt with those in power of all parties. He asserts again, in response to the myths that had been spread that he was never tried alongside Poulson and there was never any basis for a charge relating to his time on Newcastle council or as chair of the Northern Economic Planning Council.
For Dan, the question then is whether the handling of the Poulson affair was a gigantic cover-up, sacrificing some ‘tiny people’, focussing on some labour councils in the north-east to distract attention from some more serious activities elsewhere? Such activities include:
a) The Crown Agents Affair. Crown agents act as middlemen in dealings with overseas governments. In 1977 it was revealed they had made losses of over £200 million through speculation if fringe banking and property speculation; for Dennis Skinner MP the civil servants who’d done this ‘made the train robbers look like petty thieves’. Described as ‘one of the biggest establishment scandals of all time’ and despite the fact that there had been an enquiry in 1972 which was kept private, the government set up only another private enquiry and the whole affair was soon forgotten.
b) The Lonrho Affair. A Dept of Trade investigation report in 1976 led to Heath describing this as the ‘unacceptable face of capitalism’. Those criticised included Angus Ogilvy (husband of Princess Alexandra), Lord Duncan-Sandys (former Tory Minister), ‘Tiny’ Rowland (Lonrho chief exec). The wrong=doings included busting of sanctions against Rhodesia, tax avoidance and bribery. The criticism of Ogilvy threatened scandal because of his marriage to the Queen’s cousin. Dan notes that Lonrho had, in 1978, hired ex-Chief Superintendent Kenneth Etheridge as a security adviser – the same man who’d arrested Dan in 1973 and who’d helped the Select Committee investigate links between Poulson and MPs, and who’d also been involved in the police investigation of Lonrho following the DoT report – and who’d reported to the DPP that there was no case for charges against Lonrho!
c) The Shell and BP Affairs. The first of these concerned bribery and corruption. Between 1969 and 73 these companies were found to have donated over £3million to Italian political parties; the purpose of these donations was unclear. Again in 1977 BP admitted paying £280k in commissions to an agent in relation to a contract with a Middle Eastern Government. No action was taken against these companies for corruption or dealing with corrupt companies. The second scandal again involved the sanctions against the Smith regime in Rhodesia. It was considered the illegal regime could not survive without oil; had the oil embargo worked a 7 year civil war might have been avoided. In 1978 it became apparent that Shell and BP had been organising large-scale sanctions contravention. They’d operated a ‘swap-deal’ with Total whereby Total had supplied Rhodesia (even though they too were bound by UN sanctions) while BP and Shell had supplied Total clients elsewhere in southern africa; the fact that Shell and BP had not directly supplied Rhodesia was enough to persuade the British Government not to prosecute, even though the swap deal was a fiction.
d) The ICI Affair. In 1976 ICI admitted paying at least £1.3million in ‘questionable payments’ to foreign government officials. Again, despite being exposed, no action and quietly forgotten.
e) The Leyland Affair. Again world-wide bribery was revealed, over £11million 1975-6, potentially up to £25million paid out in bribes and undercover commissions. This did lead to an enquiry and a trial over alleged forgery, but these were again noted to leave many questions unanswered.
f) The Lockheed Affair. It was revealed in 1976 that Lockheed had long been using ‘trade inducements’ to help sell aircraft. This led to scandals and inquiries in Holland, Japan, Italy, Turkey, Hong Kong, Sweden, Columbia and Mexico; Britain escaped this one.
On his release from prison, Dan was asked by a journalist about potential double standards. Payment of inducements seemed to be regarded as normal practice for international business; BA signed a £230million contract with Lockheed at this time. But ‘tiny people’ served time for corruption. At the same time, in 1977, reported fraud in the City of London totalled £115million; 82 police officers were dismissed and 301 resigned after disciplinary proceedings; Jeremy Thorpe was, in 1976, director of a fringe bank which had collapsed with £51millions debts after dubious trading – he was criticised for lending his name to a dubious organisation but cleared.
Of all these ‘affairs’ the only one with real staying power was the Poulson affair. Why?
Chapter 16: Where is Britain Heading Part 1
Re-iterates that the Poulson affair involved distortions of the truth and perversions of justice, and did little to establish any real safeguards. He reasserts the argument that the fact that only ‘tiny people’ were prosecuted, none of the mighty in relation to either Poulson or any of those other affairs, and that this indicates cover-up, the direction of the states apparatuses of investigation away from the powerful. The more recent Blunt affair is another example – another establishment figure not prosecuted (Dan contrasts the immunity of prosecution of the spy Blunt with the treatment of labour MP Will Owen, charged in 1970 with spying for Czechoslovakia, destroyed but found not guilty).
The machinery of inquiry operates to direct attention to the tiny people and away from the big people; behind the scenes there are bigger, faceless people who conspire to make these decisions.
He considers possibilities for strengthening the position of the tiny people; the then recently introduced position of ombudsman he considered to be a possibility, but it would need greater powers. He proposes a new parliamentary commission that would be geared towards protecting the individual from threats of executive power, also to give redress against abuse by the press.
He spends some time elaborating on what the role of this commission might be and on the role of the Attorney General.
Gives examples of where his Commission might have intervened in the Poulson affair. Argues that the need for some protection for the individual is increasing as executive power has increased. Points to some defects in the legal system and how ‘tiny people’ are disadvantaged in it. Notes again how social and psychological pressure can be used to make an individual plead guilty to a charge of which he is innocent – it happened to him.
