Frank Newsam
Sir Frank Aubrey Newsam, GCB, KBE, CVO, MC (13 November 1893 – 25 April 1964) was a British civil servant notable for his service as Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office from 1948 to 1957, although he had been a central figure for many years previously.
His eventual successor Philip Allen regarded him as operating in the tradition of preserving the liberty of the subject wherever possible; those who had worked under him also noted his highly prized commitment to keeping the politicians in charge of the department out of trouble at all costs.
[2] In September 1918, while a Lieutenant, he was awarded the Military Cross; the citation referred to him going "forward collecting all stragglers and reorganising the line when one of the companies commenced to retire", so restoring the offensive capability of his unit.
[5] Late in the war, Newsam served with the first battalion of the 30th Punjabis in India[3] (in October 1919 he was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers).
Especially after Anderson left in 1932 (his successor Sir Russell Scott came from the Treasury with little knowledge of the operation of the Home Office), no other civil servant rivalled his experience.
[9] Newsam sat on a departmental committee of inquiry into Firearms in 1934,[10] and this was followed by the problem of addressing the disorder caused by fighting between members of the British Union of Fascists and its opponents.
[7] He duly took up his post in September 1939 but after only a few months in Tunbridge Wells, he was recalled to London to take charge of the criminal and aliens divisions,[2] now with the rank of Assistant Under-Secretary of State.
With the Home Office responsible for relations with the Crown Dependencies, Newsam drew up plans for the restoration of life in the Channel Islands once German occupation was ended.
[2] Newsam's plans were subsequently put into effect in 1945, and led to a long association with the islands where he helped reform constitutions and develop their legal and administrative systems.
[17] He saw that the project found the land needed for its buildings (at Bramshill, near Hartley Wintney in Hampshire), and became the founder chairman of the Board of Governors of the Police Staff College in 1947.
[2] On 10 August 1948 it was announced that Sir Alexander Maxwell was to retire at the end of September, and that Newsam had been appointed to follow him as permanent secretary at the Home Office.
[2] With Ede maintaining control over the department, Newsam had to deal with routine matters including presenting evidence to the Royal Commission on Betting, Lotteries and Gaming.
[22] After the Conservatives returned to government in 1951, Newsam's activity and knowledge of his department enabled him to assert himself and he was thought to have almost eclipsed the Home Secretaries who were nominally superior.
[26] In 1949 Newsam gave evidence for the Home Office at the Royal Commission on Capital Punishment under Sir Ernest Gowers, largely defending the established system.
[31] Philip Allen later wrote that Newsam was "gravely concerned" when Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe disregarded his recommendation and refused to reprieve Bentley.
[36] In 1954 Newsam was caught up in a diplomatic incident over Antoni Klimowicz, a 24-year-old Polish man who stowed away on the ship Jarosław Dąbrowski and attempted to go ashore in London and claim asylum.
[41] The Bar council approached the police and requested the tapes in order to provide evidence for an investigation into the professional conduct of Hill's barrister, Patrick Marrinan.
[2] When this use of tapping powers was revealed in June 1957 (by which time Rab Butler had succeeded Lloyd George), there was a major row with the Leader of the Opposition Hugh Gaitskell demanding a full explanation.
[42] Marrinan was subsequently disbarred and expelled by Lincoln's Inn,[43] but Butler was forced to appoint a committee of Privy Counsellors under Sir Norman Birkett to look into the prerogative power of intercepting telephone communications.
[44] When Rab Butler arrived at the Home Office, he quickly decided that his own wish to take charge and reform the department was likely to bring him into conflict with Newsam.
[47] In retirement, Newsam was commissioned by the British Medical Association to report into whether it was realistic for doctors to withdraw from the National Health Service should their pay demand be rejected.
