Catalogue description Prime Minister's Office: Sir Desmond Morton, Personal Assistant to Prime Minister: Correspondence and Minutes

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Major Sir Desmond John Falkiner Morton (1891-1971) entered the Foreign Office as an intelligence officer in 1919 following a distinguished military service during which time he came to the notice of Winston Churchill. He formed a personal friendship with Churchill, assisting him with The World Crisis (5 vols, 1923-1931). Throughout the 1930s, he was Churchill's close adviser, In 1932, he obtained the permission of the Prime Minister (Ramsey MacDonald) to provide Churchill with certain confidential reports and information. This arrangement was subsequently endorsed and continued by the two succeeding Prime Ministers (Baldwin and Chamberlain), and was of considerable value to Churchill's campaign for British rearmament.

In May 1940, on becoming Prime Minister, Churchill made Morton his personal assistant, a role which Morton continued throughout the Second World War. During this period, he filtered information to Churchill received from breaching of the German 'Enigma' cipher.