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aad Pa Club. There was further evidence before me (which was not before the Judge in the Argyll case) which indicated who the “ unknown maa” sefieelly was. . But I need not go into it here. Suffice it that it was not the Miniatit. (ji) Was Money Paid? °* OE 7 333. As to rumour (ii) here again it has been demonstrated to my entire satisfaction that the Minister did not pay money to prevent himself being cited in the divorce case. I am quite satisfied that right from the very beginning the Duke of Argyll put before his legal advisers all the evidence he had of adultéry by his wife with anyone: and that he told them that they wete not on any account to be influenced by the identity of any individual: and that, if there was any evidence against a prominent man, they were not to consider his position. His legal advisers included some of the most respected and honoured names in the profession: and it was on their advice that the case was confined to the three named men and the “ unknown map” | in the photograph with whom I have already dealt above. At my request they gave me the fullest information about the case, and I am satisfied that . their advice was sound. It was a hard fought case and no feelings were spared. I am satisfied that the Minister would have been cited if there had been evidence to justify it: and that the only reason he was not cited was because there was not such evidence. © -.- wea 334. That being so, there was no reason for the Minister to offer a sum of money, and I am satisfied that he did not do so. The Minister freely produced for my inspection his bank accounts for the relevant period, and there is not a trace of any sum of money having been paid directly of indirectly to or for the benefit of the Duke. — eo 335. I have therefore come to the conclusion that this rumour also is entirely without foundation. : 7 (iii) The Informercs 336. I have yet to deal with two other rumours. They had these characteristics in common—each of them came from an informer who waa of bad character with a criminal record—each of them recounted a story of immoral behaviour in which he or she was a participant—and each of them sought to implicate a Minister in this behaviour. In each case the story, if it were true, could point to a security risk. I have reason to think that in each case the informer had it in mind that, if he or she could convince me of the truth of the story, it would be al] the more marketable to sell to the newspapers. Indeed, I was quite satisfied that such was the intention of one of them, for it was proved beyond question. She had, even during my Inquiry, gone so far as to enter into a conditional contract with a newspaper and got a payment on account. It was obvious that the evidence of these informers muggt be viewed with the greatest caution, but, even so, I did not think it woul reject it out of hand. The story might turn out to be true, jaaiiae Keeler’s story to the newspapers was true that she bad ae #iiugigesoci with Mr. Profumo. People who seek to make moncy out @ ie own immorality may still be telling the truth. So I felt 1 had to inquisiedy each case into the story, to test it all I could, to see if there was any corroboration of it, and to put it to the person affected. This I havo donc. I was satisfied that 112 ™ ..7 *