humour. He admitted his friendship with Stanley, and while insisting that he had not been corrupted, now realised that he had been wrong to accept gifts from him. Something of the same courtroom aggression was deployed by Shawcross against Mrs Belcher, who appeared as a witness and whose personal finances were examined in minute detail, an experience which left a lasting trauma. According to her daughter, "she never fully regained her mental health". The tribunal published its report on 21 January 1949. It rejected most of the allegations made against Belcher, and exonerated all other ministers and public figures except for George Gibson who, it reported, had sought material personal advantage from his dealings with Stanley. The report was particularly scathing in its treatment of Stanley, noting that he was a man who would make any statement, whether true or untrue, if he thought it would advantage him. It concluded that Belcher, by accepting gifts, had been improperly influenced in the exercise of his ministerial responsibilities, in particular in relation to a decision to withdraw a prosecution against the football pools promoter Harry Sherman for exceeding his permitted paper allocation. Belcher expressed himself as "surprised and grieved" by these findings. As to Belcher's dealings with Bloch, according to a Metropolitan Police report it would be possible to mount criminal charges, but Shawcross believed that it would sufficient if Belcher resigned his parliamentary seat. In the event, no criminal proceedings were instituted against Belcher or anyone else connected with the investigation. Resignation On 13 December 1948, while the hearings were still proceeding, Belcher had formally resigned from his ministerial post, while expressing his intention of remaining as MP for Sowerby. After the report's publication, Belcher's constituency party resolved to decide his future at their annual meeting, due on 26 February, when Belcher would be given the chance to make his case to them. However, after further reflection, he decided that his position was untenable and that he should resign his seat forthwith. On 3 February 1949, when the tribunal's report was debated in the House of Commons, he made an emotional personal statement in which he announced his immediate intention to take the Chiltern Hundreds, the legal device for resignation from the Commons. He was critical of many aspects of the tribunal's proceedings, and of the activities of some of the press, and asserted that he had not acted corruptly; despite