Tam Galbraith

Who was Tam Galbraith?

The Hon. Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith KBE was a Scottish Unionist politician.

The eldest son and heir of Thomas Dunlop Galbraith, 1st Baron Strathclyde, he was educated at Aytoun House, Glasgow; Wellington College; Christ Church, Oxford and at the University of Glasgow.

He served as a Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve 1939-1946. He unsuccessfully contested Paisley in July 1945, and Edinburgh East in October 1945 before being elected for Glasgow Hillhead in 1948.

He was Assistant Conservative Whip, 1950; a Government Whip from 1951–57; Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 1957–59; Under-Secretary of State for Scotland, 1959–62; and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, 1963-64.

During Galbraith's time at the Admiralty, questions were raised about his connection to the Soviet spy John Vassall, a former Admiralty employee, after letters from Galbraith were found in Vassall's possession. It was thought odd that a minister would communicate by post with an official of his own department, and there was considerable speculation of impropriety in the press. Given Vassall's known homosexuality, rumours began to circulate that Vassall and Galbraith were involved with each other, and that Galbraith might have shielded Vassall from discovery. The committee of civil servants originally established to probe the Vassall affair investigated the correspondence and declared it innocent, but this verdict was not universally accepted. Eventually, the Prime Minister was compelled to open a wider inquiry, conducted by three jurists. Eventually, the inquiry determined that Vassall had not been helped or favoured by any of his seniors.