Spectator's Notebook
WHATEVER the defects of the Brabin report on the murders of the wife and child of Timothy John Evans, its conclusions—and the implications of those conclusions—are clear. The most important is the weight attached by Mr Justice Brabin to the 'coincidence' (since we now know that Christie was a murderer many times over) involved in believing that Evans was a killer too: in Brabin's own words, 'can one accept that to this small house in their turn there came two men, each to become a killer, each a strangler, each strangling women always by ligature?'—nor, incidentally, does the 'coinci- dence' end there. Brabin's conclusion is un- equivocal: 'I feel that the doubts which it [the 'coincidence'] raises are such that on the state of the evidence no jury could overlook it so as to be satisfied of Evans's guilt beyond reasonable doubt.'
In other words, Evans should have been acquitted; and we now have the solemn word of a High Court judge, in an official report to the Home Secretary, to support the view consistently held by the SPECTATOR, and pressed with such relentless passion and eloquence by Mr Ludovic Kennedy, that the banging of Evans in Penton- vine Prison on March 9, 1950, constituted the most blatant instance of a miscarriage of justice in a British murder trial since the war.
But even if, in law, Evans should have been acquitted, what are the conjectural probabilities that he committed either or both murders? Here Brabin admits himself handicapped by the fact that the three key witnesses are now dead (one murdered, two hanged) and that the recollections of othets • have become unreliable sixtieir years after `the.;crimes were committede Bnr lie"coh- eludes that 'it is more probable than nor that Evans did not commit the crime of which he was accused, convicted and hanged—the murder of his child.
This seems to me to be of infinitely greater significance than Brabin's somewhat in- comprehensible second 'finding,' that 'it is more probable than not' that Evans did kill his wife. Not only was be not charged with this offence, but it is unthinkable that he would have been so charged even had he been acquitted of the killing of his child. All the evidence concerning the death of Evans's wife had already been admitted in the earlier trial; an acquittal at that trial would only have thrown grave doubt on the two main- stays of any Crown case against Evans for killing his wife: the value of Christie's testimony and of Evans's 'confession.'
Had Evans been sentenced to life imprison- ment in 1950 it is manifest that in the light of the Brabin report he would now become a free man f, indeed, this act of justice had not occurred long ago. But he was not sentenced to life im- prisonment: he was hanged. Here is food for thought for those Tories at Blackpool who hanker after a return of the death penalty. And here, too, is a spur to action for Mr Roy Jenkins. For there is no longer any honourable excuse whatever for the Home Secretary to withhold giving a posthumous Free Pardon to Timothy John Evans, Blackpoll Do party conferences have any value? And if so, what? Since Alan Watkins last week pro- nounced the death rites of the Labour party con- ference there is little more to be said about that, but what about the Tories? Some historical light on this question is shed by Tony King on page 469 of this issue; but in order to find out more about one particular conference the SPECTATOR is conducting a private poll among those taking part in this week's jamboree at Blackpool. The results will be published and analysed in next week's issue.
Spring Suddenly, it's spring. The important statement by President Johnson on Europe and East-West relations, and the subsequent apparently fruitful meeting with Mr Gromyko, must be welcomed without reserve as offering at long last a real prospect of consolidating the tenuous détente with Russia. Albeit prompted by the manpower demands of the Vietnam war, for the first time an American Presitent has made a practical and public bid for a point withdrawal of American and Russian foroesAfrom. the rest of Europe. More explicitly than ever-before, President John- son has recognised the importance (too- often ignored in this country) of the movement that is increasingly exciting continental Europeans to- wards a coming together of the two halves of Europe. There is a real prospect of a pause in the Vietnam bombing. There is even some hope of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty. In spite of Viet- nam—or, perhaps, with equal accuracy, because of China—Russo-American relations are clearly going through one of their better phases.
But welcome as all these moves are, it's im- portant to understand what lies behind them. Cynics will point to the mid-term congressional elections next month. But much more important, I believe, is American thinking about Vietnam and China. So far from indicating increased in- terest in Europe, President Johnson's statement represents an attempt to achieve satisfactory con- ditions for a gradual American withdrawal from Europe, so as to enable the United States to con- centrate still further on the situation in South- East Asia. And there can be little doubt that one major motive behind the move to improve re- lations with Russia is America's desire to reach a stage at which, if the Vietnam war were to escalate to the point of a direct conflict between the United States and China, Russia would remain on the sidelines. This remains to be seen.
This Blessed Plot The various accounts of the abortive July plot by certain largely Gaitskellite members of the Cabinet to depose Mr Harold Wilson—first made public by the admirable Mr Walter Terry of the Daily Mail—all agree on most material points. Although the attempt was thoroughly amateurish, it was enough to make Mr Wilson very scared indeed (in fact, it was this that pre- cipitated the reshuffle). The plotters' choice of successor was Mr James Callaghan : could this be why Mr Wilson and his Chancellor are barely on speaking terms these days? And the dastardly conspiracy was revealed to the Prime Minister by our old friend the Spymaster-General, Mr George Wigg. But who told Mr Wigg? This has yet to be revealed. Could it be that there was a double-agent among the plotters? And could that double-agent have been the subsequently- promoted Mr Richard Crossman? Psychological warfare knows no boundaries.
Patriotism Very little attention seems to have been paid to Sir Siegmund Warburg's closely-reasoned article 'The Case for Sterling,' which appeared in the Sunday Times 'Business News' earlier this month. This is rather a pity, since it's very rare indeed for this eminent merchant banker—with, incidentally, his own hot line to Number 10 —to commit his views to print at such length. As it happens, I found myself neither convinced by his arguments nor able to accept his conclu- sions. But what really worried me was the sec- tion in which he departed from purely financial argumentation to declare that 'I feel that those who are not Socialists should, as patriots, have the duty not to assume and pronounce that everything which a Labour government does is wrong per se, and should specifically recognise that the courageous initiation of a policy to freeze incomes and prices . . . is an act of great historical significance.'
Now when Sir Siegmund writes 'an act of great historical significance' (like, say, Hitler's invasion of the Rhineland?), he obviously doesn't mean jlitlkis: he also means that: 1001e patriots sh :refrain from public4414410'of the wage freeze. I don't, of eo whether fr'Siegmund realises that th e *sincere (as well as insincere) opponents of the freeze on both sides of the political fence. But as a distinguished refugee from Nazi Germany—to the immense benefit of this country—he will, I'm sure, be among the first to appreciate, on reflection, that the doctrine that opposition to the Government is unpatriotic is the first step on the road to totalitarianism, and as such is utterly unacceptable in any shape or form.
Tokyo Papers, please copy Time was when we were the pioneers, and the Japanese were the masters of the cheap imitation. A short while ago, I took to writing with one of those immensely satisfying Japanese fibre-nibbed pens. I've now been converted to a cheap English imitation which is every bit as good. Maybe there's a British economic miracle in the offing, after all. NIGEL LAWSON
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