Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Air Force. – in the House of Commons at on 1 October 1941.
Mr Oliver Simmonds
, Birmingham Duddeston
asked the Secretary of State for Air the number of occasions on which Rome has been bombed by the Royal Air Force?
Sir Archibald Sinclair
, Caithness and Sutherland
No attacks have been made on Rome by the Royal Air Force.
Mr Oliver Simmonds
, Birmingham Duddeston
Is it not a fact that the bombing of the belligerent capitals has held clown around those cities vast antiaircraft defences; and would not my right hon. Friend, therefore, reconsider whether it would not be desirable, at the appropriate time, to bomb some of the many military targets in Rome, in order that the anti-aircraft defences there should not be dispersed to the other targets which are more frequently visited?
Sir Archibald Sinclair
, Caithness and Sutherland
I can assure my hon. Friend that our bombing policy is constantly under consideration and review. But in the meantime, I have nothing to add. to the statement made yesterday by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister.
Mr George Hall
, Merthyr Tydfil Aberdare
Would the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that the lives of airmen and machines are worth preserving, and should not be used in wild-goose chases?
Sir Harold Boyce
, Gloucester
Does the Government's policy of bombing Rome if Cairo is bombed still hold good?
Sir Archibald Sinclair
, Caithness and Sutherland
I have said that I have nothing to add to the statement which the Prime Minister made yesterday.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
