Sidney Stanley
Sidney Stanley (né Solomon Wulkan, 1899/1905–1969)[1] alias Solomon Koszyski,[2] alias Stanley Rechtand,[3] and alias Schlomo ben Chaim,[4] was a Polish émigré to the UK who became an unethical businessman before claiming to be a contact man who could influence politicians and civil servants in exchange for cash bribes. In 1948, his claims of being a political fixer led to a great scandal and an investigation of public corruption by the Lynskey tribunal.
Moreover, Stanley spied against the UK on behalf of the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organisation. The British government ordered Stanley to be deported, but he had lost his Polish nationality and so Stanley was a stateless person, and afterwards was placed under heavy legal restrictions and police surveillance. In 1949, he evaded police and fled to France and thence to Israel, where the government granted Stanley citizenship through right-of-return, and lived the remainder of his life in relative obscurity.
Early life
Solomon Wulkan (Sidney Stanley) was born the eldest son of twelve children, in Poland. In 1913, Stanley emigrated to Britain with his father[3] and were joined by the rest of the family and lived in Aldgate.[5] He later said he was born in Oświęcim. He was granted a Polish passport in 1927.[6] He gave an ambiguous account of his early career, claiming to been employed from the age of 14 in trade, in the garment business, and government contracts.[7] Stanley assumed and used his mother's surname Koszyski as one of his identities.[2]
After the First World War (1914–1918), Stanley married his first wife, Kate Zeitlin, and they lived with his mother-in-law in Stoke Newington.[5]
Stanley was bankrupt in 1927, under the name Wulkan, and was again bankrupt in 1936, under the name Blotz.
Meeting with Gibson
According to Stanley, in 1946, he was returning by train from a business trip to Manchester when the guard enquired whether he would make up a foursome for a game of solo whist with some other men. He consequently met George Gibson, a director of the Bank of England.[11] Gibson's account is that his party had asked Stanley for small change for their game and that Stanley had recognised Gibson through a common acquaintance, Cyril Ross.[12]
Gibson met Stanley several more times on the Manchester train before, in April 1947, running into him in the company of Marcus Wulkan, an American who had been involved in economic assistance to Britain during World War II and who was slightly known to Gibson. Stanley represented Wulkan as being his brother. Gibson invited the two to dinner, where they now met junior government minister
In October 1946, Stanley approached fur-dealer Cyril Ross, the common acquaintance from the Manchester train, with a business proposition. Ross said that he would be interested in a multiple store such as J. Jones of Manchester. Stanley agreed to pursue the matter and also to get permission for flotation as a public company from the Capital Issues Committee. Stanley, somewhat prematurely, offered a directorship in J. Jones to Gibson who, owing to his position, turned it down. Ross had originally intended that Stanley would be remunerated by equity in the new company but he ultimately lost trust, largely because of the extortionate expenses that Stanley regularly claimed, and agreed only to a fee for the work.[14]
In February 1948, Gibson introduced
Entertaining Mr Belcher
Belcher was keen to network with industrialists and was flattered by Stanley's apparent solicitude. The two rapidly became friends and Stanley offered Belcher use of a house that he had rented at Margate for the duration of the 1947 Labour Party conference. Belcher took the opportunity to invite his wife, children and mother for a two-week vacation, and it soon became apparent to Stanley that the party was too large for his rented house. Stanley booked the party into a hotel in Cliftonville and, though Belcher at this point became nervous, Stanley insisted and prevailed. In the end, Belcher indulged himself thoroughly and the friendship between the pair became increasingly intimate.[16][17]
Stanley pressed more and more gifts of food and wine, a gold cigarette-case and ultimately a suit of a quality beyond the means, and clothing coupons, of a junior minister in post-war Britain. Stanley was full of rather vague industrial and commercial propositions that never came to any resolution.[18] Stanley also paid for suits for Gibson and Minister of Works Charles Key.[19]
Several people warned of Stanley's unreliability including
Spying
In November 1947 an MI5 report recorded that a man named "Stanley" had been passing information to Irgun from cabinet minister Manny Shinwell.[21] Shinwell certainly knew Stanley whom he had approached for help in finding employment for his son Ernie, and Stanley had obtained information on the disbandment of the Transjordan Frontier Force from some government source.[16]
Football pools
Harry Sherman was a director of
In May, Stanley introduced Sherman to Gibson and to Glenvil Hall. Sherman sought a public flotation of Shermans Ltd but needed the permission of the Capital Issues Committee though neither politician was optimistic. Stanley also canvassed Key over some premises that he was attempting to sell to Sherman.[26]
On 20 April, Stanley invited Belcher to stop by his Park Lane apartment. When he arrived he found Sherman. Belcher left angrily and later rebuked Stanley. Belcher decided to drop the prosecution against Sherman but the allocation of paper was now under his direct control and Sherman became still more insistent in seeking to increase his ration. Stanley continued to intercede on Sherman's behalf and Belcher agreed to meet with Sherman and the civil servant in charge of paper rationing on 24 June. At this meeting, Sherman revealed that he had been routinely exceeding his allocation. The government team were appalled and stopped the meeting indicating that they considered the matter a serious one and that an investigation would be inevitable.[27]
Before the investigation could get under way, Sherman alleged that he had paid Stanley so that Stanley, in turn, could pay
Stanley's arrest
Jacob Harris was a supplier of amusement machines whose solicitor also acted for Stanley. The solicitor had originally met Stanley through
On 27 August Stanley asked Gibson to write letters of introduction for his wife, who was about to leave for the US, to some of Gibson's trade union colleagues there. Gibson complied and Stanley used the letters to attempt to obtain from HM Treasury foreign currency above the usual allowance. Stanley's approach alerted officials to the possibility that he was about to flee the country.[35] 27 August was also the day when Gibson sent a cheque for GBP500 to Stanley as deposit on a share offer in Gray's Carpets Ltd. Gibson heard nothing more from Stanley.[36]
Stanley was arrested on 18 October and held in
The tribunal
A tribunal was convened. Stanley, dapper in appearance, proved a self-important, self-aggrandising witness who amused the tribunal with his idiosyncratic, colourful, yet ambiguous and contradictory, responses to the questioning.
After the tribunal
On 23 December, Stanley applied for cancellation of his deportation order but was refused.
In a debate in the House of Commons on 3 February 1949, Prime Minister Clement Attlee expressed the government view that Stanley should be deported as the deportation would be "conducive to the public good". Attlee was probably principally motivated by the spying allegations and Stanley's Zionist connections.[42]
Despite the deportation order, the British government found that it could not deport Stanley, because no country was willing to receive him. He had lost citizenship in his home country of Poland, which was unwilling to take him in. Due to the changes in Poland's borders since World War II, the Polish government required all Polish citizens to re-register home and abroad. Stanley had not done so, and in addition, the Polish Foreign Ministry announced that he would not be allowed to return. As a result, Stanley was rendered a stateless person, and could not be deported unless his country of origin or some other country was willing to receive him.[43]
In February 1949, Stanley applied for
Stanley was still required daily to report to police but reported for the last time on 1 April and an
References
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) "Stanley was 43 at the time of the tribunal (p. 63); "Stanley was 14 y.o. in 1913" (pp. 136–137)
- ^ a b c Wade Baron (1966) p.161
- ^ a b Wade Baron (1966) p.136
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.246
- ^ a b Baron, Wade. Account of his wife, published in the Sunday Dispatch 30 January 1949 (1966) p.237
- ^ Wade Baron 1966) p.242
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp136–137
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.143
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.243
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.18
- ^ a b c Wade Baron (1966) p.139
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.170
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.180
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp126–127
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.176
- ^ a b c d Andrew (2009) p.361
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp16–18
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.23
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.121
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.24
- ^ Andrew (2009) p.360
- ^ Hansard,18 November 1947 adjournment debate 18 November 1947 (football pools reorganization)
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp26–27
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.83
- ^ O'Neill, D. "Sherman brothers should not be forgotten; Time to remember[permanent dead link]", South Wales Echo, 19 November 2001
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.91
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp27–29
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.29
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.32
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp33–34
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.36
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.37
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.72
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp37–39
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.178
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.172
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp39–40
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p.232
- ^ Andrew (2009) p.362
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p. 225
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) p. 226
- ^ Andrew (2009) p. 362
- ^ Britain Has Its Hands Full in Ousting of Stateless Man[permanent dead link], February 17, 1949
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp 242–244
- ^ Jew Threatens to Sue to Get Into Israel
- ^ Stanley Outstays His Welcome in Tel Aviv
- ^ Wade Baron (1966) pp 244–250
- ^ Death of Sidney Stanley recalls 1949 scandal
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-141-02330-4.
- Hansard, adjournment debate 18 November 1947 (football pools reorganization)
- ISBN 978-0-7475-7985-4.
- Wade Baron, S. (1966). The Contact Man: The Story of Sidney Stanley and the Lynskey Tribunal. Secker & Warburg.
- Stanley, S., "How I made my escape", The People, 15 May 1949