the seemingly aristocratic Shawcross, who after Labour's election defeat in 1951 quickly lost interest in the party and parliament, preferring to build up a lucrative business career outside of politics. The conduct of the proceedings continued to rankle; in March 1965, not long after Belcher's death, the Labour MP Leslie Hale spoke of the "grave injustice" that had been done to Belcher, and indeed to other, entirely innocent persons who had nevertheless become tainted by association with this "wretched tribunal". He presented a bill to the House calling for the repeal of the 1921 Act which, he said, had been "born in sin, passed without due consideration, and is continuing to live in iniquity". His bill failed, and the Act remained in force until its repeal in 2005. In the years that followed the tribunal, Belcher's family, in their distress, were heartened by many letters of support and sympathy they received from all quarters of the political spectrum. In the 1990s, more than 40 years after their father's downfall, Belcher's daughters visited his old constituency and found that older party members still remembered him with affection and were sure that he would have been re-elected, had he been allowed to stand for parliament again. Baston summarises thus: "Belcher was a bright, idealistic, working-class socialist, who was harshly treated for his naïve attempts to forge a good relationship with business and became a martyr to the puritanical standards of conduct in public life in the austere Attlee era." A more cynical judgment was expressed by one observer: "This is the sort of thing you get when the country is being run by thirty-bob-a-week railway clerks". Notes and references Notes Citations Sources External links Report of the Tribunal appointed to inquire into Allegations reflecting on the Official Conduct of Ministers of the Crown and Public Servants His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1949 1905 births 1964 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Transport Salaried Staffs' Association-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1945–1950 Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951