Foreign Affairs

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 17 November 1949.

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Photo of Mr Ivor Thomas Mr Ivor Thomas , Keighley 12:00, 17 November 1949

The hon. and learned Member for Llandaff and Barry (Mr. Ungoed-Thomas) has complained, not, I think, with justice, that some hon. Members of this House used the Assembly at Strasbourg to fight their House of Commons party battles. It seems to me even more foolish to refight the battle of Strasbourg on the Floor of the House of Commons, which is what he has been doing. Much as I admire him. I much preferred, if he will forgive my saying so, the speech made by the hon. Member for Hulme (Mr. Lee), and I welcome the opportunity of saying that I thought he made one of the best contributions to our Debate today.

What the hon. and learned Member for Llandaff and Barry must get clearly into his mind is that British Conservative Members could not possibly have swayed that Assembly by themselves The significant thing is that the Socialists of Europe shared their attitude towards this problem of European union. M. Blum has already been quoted today, and it so happens that I have in my hand a report of an interview that M. Andre Philip gave a few days ago. He said among other things: The spectacle offered at Strasbourg, so painful for all the Socialists of Europe, and which has done so great injury to our cause in the world—this spectacle should never be repeated. Then he added these very significant words: European union must be brought about. And it will be brought about. With England we indeed hope, but, if it is necessary, without her. Members of the Labour Party are free to throw us into the arms of the Conservatives if they persist in their present policy. But peace cannot wait, and we can no longer procrastinate. Whether our British Socialist friends sulk or not, European union, the great enterprise of Strasbourg—though it has its faults and its gaps, which we shall correct with time—will come about in any case I was in Italy not so long ago, when a leading Socialist said to me, "What has come over your Prime Minister? He used to say Europe must federate or perish. Now he says Britain must export or die." The old international note which used to animate the party opposite, and which was a very living faith in it, has, I am afraid, very largely disappeared. But not, I am happy to think, in the case of the hon. Member for Hulme. He is a living witness of the value of the Assembly at Strasbourg. I do not think that he showed any marked interest in the question of European union before, but he has obviously come back most convinced of its necessity.

The hon. Gentleman used to some degree a metaphor I wished to use myself, though I wanted to apply it to the Foreign Secretary. I was bound to contrast his references to European Union today with the noble speech—the very noble speech—he made on 22nd January, 1948. He seems to me to be rather like a young buck who made advances to a young lady and is now embarrassed by the warmth with which she reciprocates them. The young lady keeps asking him when the marriage is going to take place, but he says that idea was never in his head. He would really like to continue his bachelor state, flirting wherever his fancy takes him. He consults the members of his family circle, who tell him, "You must marry the girl." He looks rather longingly at the rich heiress over the water, but she sternly insists upon his making an honest woman of her. That is the position, as it seems to me, of the right hon. Gentleman today. It was his call that thrilled Europe on 22nd January, 1948; but today, I am afraid, it was a very different note that we heard from that Box.

I need not elaborate the metaphor. The family circle is, of course, the Commonwealth. Where my right hon. Friend the Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) and Mr. Amery lead, the rest of us need not be afraid to follow. From my own experience I can testify that purely colonial interests were compelling the countries of Europe to get together even before the question of Western Union was broached. Colonial interests will be powerfully advanced by the move towards Western Union, but this close co-operation of the European colonial Powers would in any case have gone ahead for reasons of its own. Therefore, from that angle, with which I have been much concerned myself, there is no incompatibility between the idea of Western Union and British Imperial interests.

With regard to the United States, the rich heiress of my parable, I hope the Foreign Secretary will get it quite clearly into his head that the United States means business about European Union. If that were not sufficiently clear from Mr. Hoffman's recent speech I do not know what will make it clear. If I read between the lines, I think it is quite possible that the United States might even come to the conclusion that we are hopeless and might turn towards Germany as the unifying force in Europe. It is quite clear that they are determined to see the unification of Europe. Their argument may be a little elementary, but they say, "We have made a great and powerful State on this Continent by coming together in a union, and Europe must do the same," and they certainly intend to see that we do make some progress in the direction of union.

I am afraid that since the Foreign Secretary made that great call about 21 months ago the Government have given many setbacks to the idea of Western Union. First of all, various members of the Labour Party, and the Labour Party itself, began to pour cold water on the idea. There was the document issued under the title "Feet On The Ground," though I think it would be better styled "Feet In The Mud," for throughout it, every single objection that can be brought against Western Union is brought out. Of course, there are difficulties, but it is the business of statesmen to overcome them, not to parade them on every possible occasion.

Then the line was taken, for example in the memorandum presented to the Selsdon Conference, and notably in a speech by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, that the only Western Union the Labour Party would contemplate was a Socialist union. Well, that really is not good enough. The fact must be faced that the greater part of Western Europe at this time is not Socialist, and it is not possible to unify Europe on such a basis. We must unite, whatever parties may be in power in the various countries.

I come next to the composition of the delegation sent to Strasbourg, on which I should like to make just one remark. I think it was very petty of the party opposite to omit from that delegation the hon. Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Mr. Lang), who has done so much for this cause over such a long period of time. It is perfectly obvious that if any one should have been included in that delegation it was he, and it was really rather a petty action to omit him.

I pass quickly to much more important things. The stand taken by the Chancellor of the Exchequer last spring, when the Intra-European Payments Scheme had to be revised, was a very serious blow to European co-operation. Much more serious of course—and almost fatal—was the British devaluation with hardly a word of warning to the other European countries. The Chancellor of the Exchequer may have many virtues, but when he wanders into the international field I do not think he ought to be allowed to do so without a keeper.

The Government may say that they are doing a very great deal in the various organisations that have been set up to promote some aspect or other of European Union, and today the Foreign Secretary quoted a statement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer about a British initiative in the liberalising of trade. I do not wish to detract in the least from that statement, although I think it is clear that he proposes to remove quotas where their removal is not harmful to us and to keep them on where he considers them necessary in any degree.

The point I want to make is that at the present time there are far too many organisations dealing with European unity. The noble idea of European unity is getting lost in a fog of committees. I think every one of us in this House is familiar with the fact that there is no surer way of killing an idea than getting it distributed among a large number of committees. There is only one purpose that a committee serves, from the Cabinet downwards, and that is to square persons, who might otherwise be rather troublesome, by the doctrine of collective responsibility.

At the present time there are far too many bodies concerned with European union in one form or another. There is the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation; the Brussels Treaty Organisation, with its committees relating to defence, social services, and so on; the Council of Europe itself, and various other bodies. I suggest that nearly all these activities can be channelled through the Council of Europe.

If the Government and the other governments were to take this Council of Europe seriously, they could make it the focus for the unity of Europe. There are not enough experienced civil servants to man all these various organisations, and in any case the Foreign Secretary in the last resort must be responsible for co-ordinating their activities, which is becoming more than one man can do. I suggest, most seriously, that the Government should try to cut out some of these organisations. For example, O.E.E.C. is simply becoming a channel for distributing American aid, a sort of provident society. I agree with M. van Zeeland's criticism of it. That work could be done through the Council of Europe, thereby giving it enhanced status.

It is far more important than working through these organisations, that the spirit of European unity should animate the whole of our policy; and the fact that it does not do so is one of the fundamental defects in recent British policy. It is not enough simply to add a few more staff to the Foreign Office, as a kind of excrescence on the normal departmental work, and to charge them with looking after O.E.E.C., or similar bodies. What is necessary is a burning desire for Western Union permeating the whole of our foreign policy. Let us consider a few of the big questions in the past few years. For example, there was the disposal of the Italian colonies. How much did the concept of Western Europe play in that? How much did it play in regard to the Indonesian question? I could give more examples, but my time is drawing to an end. Let me conclude on this note.

European Union is going to come about in any case. That is a problem we must face. Europe will either be unified under German leadership or under Russian leadership, or under Germany and Russia combined, which is the worst possible future we can contemplate. There is a great opportunity for Great Britain to take the lead, which is what the Continent of Europe is looking for, and particularly what the Continental Socialists are looking for. We have come to a crisis in the history of Europe, which may be as significant as the fall of Rome or the Renaissance; whether it resembles the one or the other is largely in the hands of hon. Gentlemen opposite.