Sidney Stanley

In 1949, he evaded police and fled to France and thence to Israel, where the government granted Stanley citizenship through right-of-return, and lived the remainder of his life in relative obscurity.

[6] He gave an ambiguous account of his early career, claiming to been employed from the age of 14 in trade, in the garment business, and government contracts.

[8] In 1933, the British government ordered his deportation for being a criminal, specifically for a conspiracy to defraud,[2] though he proved untraceable;[9] however, by 1946, Stanley had established himself in a luxurious seven-room flat in Park Lane.

[10] According to Stanley, in 1946, he was returning by train from a business trip to Manchester when the guard enquired whether he would make up a foursome for a game of solo whist with some other men.

[11] At a subsequent dinner party attended by Morgan Phillips and four other Labour MPs, Stanley became involved in raising finance for the anti-communist "Freedom and Democracy" organisation,[11] though he appears to have done little more than donate a cheque for £50 which was dishonoured.

[13] In October 1946, Stanley approached fur-dealer Cyril Ross, the common acquaintance from the Manchester train, with a business proposition.

[14] In February 1948, Gibson introduced Financial Secretary to the Treasury Glenvil Hall to Stanley, believing that Marcus Wulkan might be in a position to arrange an American loan of £250 million to the UK government.

The two rapidly became friends and Stanley offered Belcher use of a house that he had rented at Margate for the duration of the 1947 Labour Party conference.

Belcher took the opportunity to invite his wife, children and mother for a two-week vacation, and it soon became apparent to Stanley that the party was too large for his rented house.

[16][17] Stanley pressed more and more gifts of food and wine, a gold cigarette-case and ultimately a suit of a quality beyond the means, and clothing coupons, of a junior minister in post-war Britain.

[19] Several people warned of Stanley's unreliability including Hugh Dalton, Leonard Joseph Matchan and Morgan Phillips.

[20] In November 1947 an MI5 report recorded that a man named "Stanley" had been passing information to Irgun from cabinet minister Manny Shinwell.

However, Sherman's record of complaints of his misconduct in a closely regulated industry led the Board of Trade to start a prosecution against the company in January 1948.

The magistrate who heard the case died before giving judgment and Sherman and his legal team galvanised into action to prevent a new hearing.

Stanley, dapper in appearance, proved a self-important, self-aggrandising witness who amused the tribunal with his idiosyncratic, colourful, yet ambiguous and contradictory, responses to the questioning.

[16] The tribunal found that Belcher and Gibson had acted improperly and they were fortunate to escape prosecution, gladly accepting the proffered alternative of resignation.

Attorney-General Sir Hartley Shawcross expressed the opinion that Stanley could not be prosecuted as the notoriety he gained from the tribunal would inhibit a fair trial.

[40] However, while Gibson and Belcher were resigning in disgrace, Stanley and his wife were enjoying their notoriety and celebrity, attending the Chelsea Arts Ball at New Year.

Stanley, it appears, drove to Ramsgate, where a personal friend took him by sea to a port near Boulogne in France, possibly Dunkirk.

On 13 April, Israel announced that it would accept Stanley's application for an immigration visa and admit him to the country on the eve of Passover as "an act of grace and mercy".

He made various claims regarding his disappearance, including that he had been kidnapped and held in France for a month, that he had escaped from Britain disguised as an admiral, and then as a military officer who became a passenger on a British destroyer.

[46] Sometime later in 1949, Stanley returned to France with some thoughts of re-establishing himself in business, but moved back to Israel in 1950, where he spent the remainder of his life in obscurity, save for the wild allegations and stories that he continued to press on the newspapers.