ABSTRACT
Morton’s central brief as Intelligence adviser to the Prime Minister, as described in his letter to Menzies of 15 May 1940,1 was ‘to keep personal liaison with certain civil Departments’, including SIS. It was his Intelligence experience and connections that formed the basis of his reputation, and constituted his principal value to Churchill. This area of his wartime activities merits, therefore, more detailed consideration. Yet even in this sphere, the ‘Morton myth’ is pervasive. His long period of service as an SIS officer, his close personal connections with the heads and senior officials of all the Agencies, his familiarity with the methods and minutiae of the secret world, are all undeniable facts. Together with Churchill’s imprimatur, they conferred an authority that he invoked when exercising his right to be kept informed, to be consulted, to intervene if he saw fit. That authority did not, however, lead to the status and responsibility in the Intelligence field that he sought. The evidence shows that much of the influence Morton is thought to have exerted during the Second World War was transitory, and that in this sphere, as in his non-Intelligence activities, his role diminished as the war progressed.
