The Vassall Tribunal was a

public inquiry A tribunal of inquiry is an official review of events or actions ordered by a government body. In many common law countries, such as the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, Australia and Canada, such a public inquiry differs from a royal ...

undertaken in 1963 by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

government in the wake of the

John Vassall William John Christopher Vassall (20 September 1924 – 18 November 1996) was a British civil servant who spied for the Soviet Union, allegedly under pressure of blackmail, from 1954 until his arrest in 1962. Although operating only at a junior ...

affair. Vassall, a

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

working in the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

, had been revealed the previous year to be a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

spy, and considerable criticism had been levelled at the security arrangements that were in place. The tribunal was established to investigate the claims and determine whether any blame could be laid on officials or ministers. At first, the inquiry was to be conducted by three senior civil servants: the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasury Solicitor, and the Second Secretary at the Treasury. Before it could begin, letters were discovered in Vassall's possession from

Tam Galbraith Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith, known as Tam Galbraith, (10 March 1917 – 2 January 1982) was a Scottish Unionist Party (Scotland), Unionist politician. Early life The eldest son and heir of Thomas Galbraith, 1st Baron Strathclyde, Galbr ...

, who had been

Civil Lord of the Admiralty The Civil Lord of the Admiralty formally known as the Office of the Civil Lord of Admiralty also referred to as the Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the Board of Admiralty who was responsible for managing the Royal N ...

. Vassall had been Galbraith's junior private secretary, but some people suggested that it was odd that a minister would communicate by post with an official of his own department, and there was considerable speculation of impropriety in the press. Given Vassall's homosexuality, which had become known, it began to be put around that he and Galbraith were involved with each other and that Galbraith might have shielded him from discovery. The committee of civil servants investigated the correspondence and declared it innocent, but the verdict was not universally accepted. Eventually, the Prime Minister was compelled to open a wider inquiry, conducted by three jurists: the Viscount Radcliffe, Mr Justice Barry, and

Milner Holland Sir Edward Milner Holland (8 September 1902 – 2 November 1969) was a British lawyer. He served as the Attorney-General of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1951 to 1969. Holland was born in Sutton, Surrey, the second son of the publisher Sir Edward ...

QC. The inquiry determined that Vassall had not been helped or favoured by any of his seniors. The inquiry was controversial in some quarters for requiring journalists to reveal the sources that they claimed for their allegations and for having prosecuted two journalists, Brendan Mulholland of the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and Reg Foster of the ''

Daily Sketch The ''Daily Sketch'' was a British national tabloid newspaper, founded in Manchester in 1909 by Sir Edward Hulton. It was bought in 1920 by Lord Rothermere's Daily Mirror Newspapers, but in 1925 Rothermere sold it to William and Gomer Berry ...

'', who refused and were jailed for contempt of court,

Lord Radcliffe Cyril John Radcliffe, 1st Viscount Radcliffe, (30 March 1899 – 1 April 1977) was a British lawyer and Law Lord best known for his role in the Partition of India. He served as the first chancellor of the University of Warwick from its foundatio ...

sentencing Mulholland for six months and Foster for three months.Wilson, John
''Understanding Journalism: A Guide to Issues''. Routledge, 2006.
At Google Books. Retrieved 27 October 2017.Wilkinson, Nicholas John
''Secrecy and the Media: The Official History of the United Kingdom's D-Notice System'', p. 203. Routledge, 2009.
At Google Books. Retrieved 27 October 2017.

References

{{reflist Vassall, John Espionage scandals and incidents Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations 1963 in the United Kingdom 1963 in British politics LGBT history in the United Kingdom