 In March 1968, Lord Cobham, an MCC member who wanted the tour to go ahead, met Vorster, who told him that D 'Oliveira would not be an acceptable selection to the South African government. Cobham communicated this information to an MCC Committee member, whose identity has never been made public, by private letter. Other than the recipient, only Allen, Griffith and the then-President Arthur Gilligan were aware of the letter, but they chose to keep its contents from the rest of the Committee. Allen's justification was that Douglas-Home, a statesman and former Prime Minister, had given advice which contradicted this; also, other Committee members were Test selectors and Allen believed that the information would place non-cricketing pressures on their choices for the England team. Oborne suggests that Douglas-Home's advice was made redundant by Cobham's letter, and that Allen's supposed desire to protect the other selectors was "preposterous" as the tour would have been cancelled.
