the findings, "I have not at any time in the course of my official duties been conscious of any deviation from the path of morality or rectitude ... however indiscreet I may have been, however foolish even, I have tried to act according to my lights." He concluded: "I shall face my future with my faith in the cause to which I have devoted the whole of my life strengthened rather than impaired and my determination to do all I can to assist my country as strong as it ever has been." In moving the adoption of the report by the House, Attlee said that Belcher had "spoken with dignity and courage." According to Herbert Morrison, "None of us who were here this afternoon saw him departing from this Chamber could help feeling deep regret, deep sorrow and deep understanding". Most who spoke were expressed some sympathy towards Belcher, although the Conservative MP Quintin Hogg stated that had Belcher not resigned his seat, he would have supported a motion to expel him from the House. At the end of the debate the House accepted the tribunal's report without a division. Later life, and death On leaving the House of Commons, Belcher wrote a series of newspaper articles which were published in the Sunday Express between 6 February and 6 March 1949, setting out the picture as he saw it. He then disappeared from public view. He returned to the railways and resumed his life as a ticket clerk, but his health was poor, and continued to deteriorate. At one point he faced possible prosecution for non-payment of tax arrears, and was helped by his former boss at the Board of Trade, Harold Wilson. He took early retirement from the railways in 1963, and died at Chase Farm hospital, Enfield, on 26 October 1964, aged 59, just after the General Election that brought Labour back to power under Wilson. Appraisal In the Commons debate on 3 February 1949, Attlee had stated: "Where any individual is highly placed, a finding that he has in any way departed from the highest standards involves a very heavy penalty ... public administration in this country and public life in this country stand unrivalled in their high standard of service and incorruptibility". Nevertheless, many of Belcher's friends and colleagues were angered by what they saw as the humiliation of a working-class minister at the hands of