Cudlipp wrote later that Defence Regulation 2D, which Morrison had applied in the past, was "a version of the stocks", and his account of the debate was that Roberts led Liberals and Socialists against Morrison, who "suffered" at the hands of Aneurin Bevan and Fred Bellenger, who quoted back at Morrison something he had written as a pacifist of World War I. Edelman points out that Ellen Wilkinson supported Morrison. The outcome that the government made no further efforts to silence the Mirror as critic. On 19 May, Chuter Ede observed, at a "Liberal table" with Roberts the sole Liberal, there were a diverse group: Evans and Reginald Clarry (Conservatives), Alexander Erskine-Hill (Scottish Unionist), Geoffrey Shakespeare (National Liberal) and Bevan (Labour). Percy Harris with difficulty sat down. Chuter Ede considered it a "Cave of Adullam". From mid-1942 Roberts was chair of the Food and Agriculture subcommittee of the Liberals' Reconstruction Committee. Later in 1942 he was behind moves to get the annual Liberal Party Assembly in August to debate a series of progressive social policies. Lord Meston let it be known that he thought potential supporters who were businessmen might be lost to the party. In September 1942 MI5 paid some attention to Roberts, as reported in Guy Liddell's diaries (23 September). Claud Cockburn was using a small group of contacts to research stories for his scandal sheet, This Week, in an effort to embarrass the government. Derek Tangye, then a journalist, was included, as were Roberts and Douglas Hyde: but covertly Tangye was working for MI5. 1943 The Beveridge Report was published in November 1942. in which Beveridge outlined his programme for social reform. Following its publication, Roberts declared himself a supporter of the proposals. At a 1943 Liberal conference, he told the gathering "We must plan our economic system to make the very best use of all our resources". In August 1943 Roberts was part of a delegation of senior Liberal party members who met with leaders of the Liberal Nationals to discuss the possibility of merger. The discussions came to nothing. In 1944 he urged his party leader Sinclair to agree to take part in a series of public meetings, advancing Liberal party policy. Sinclair declined, commenting that the other party leaders, Churchill and Attlee, were not doing so. In his diary entry for 29 November 1943, Guy Liddell recorded another MI5 investigation of Roberts, It concerned