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Only 21½ hours A.D., as Whitehall wags called the period After Denning,* the Prime Minister broadcast his own interpretation of the report. It had little to do with Denning. Said Macmillan bravely: "The report only confirms what I've said, that most people have a feeling of sympathy for us for having been treated in this way, rather than blame for having fallen a victim to deceit." He added the astonishing comment: "There is no machinery but common sense for finding out when a man is telling the truth." It was precisely the lack of common sense for which Macmillan & Co. bore a burden of blame. At this time of Profumo's ringing denials, high Tory officials knew that the War Minister had often been alone with Christine, and they had been told of a "Darling" letter from Jack—which no one bothered to investigate.
Macmillan's Kiplingesque oration was aimed primarily at the rank-and-file Tories who would attend the annual party conference in two weeks and there help decide whether he or a younger figure should lead them into the next election. One thing was certain: the government cannot now afford an election until 1964; it will probably go to the people next spring if Britain's economy is still as effervescent as it is this fall.
Neither party had quite finished with the Denning report, which should be laid to rest in a House of Commons debate next month. But the judge's bestseller was the nation's assurance that the election campaign will concern itself with issues far more vital to Britain's future than the private vices of public men.
-As opposed to B.C. — Before Christine.