Debate on the Address

Part of Orders of the Day — King's Speech – in the House of Commons at on 19 November 1942.

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Photo of Colonel Ralph Glyn Colonel Ralph Glyn , Abingdon

I am sure the House has listened to the hon. Member with great interest. I do not know whether he has made a calculation as to what would be involved in the form of pension that he envisages, but I think no one will disagree with him in one respect. We all receive letters showing the distress in many of the homes of the wives and families of Service men, and a better insurance system for the wives is a matter that ought to be taken up at once, because if employers in civil life have to make their contribution, it is equally right that the Government, employing men in the Service, should make theirs, so that their families shall be eligible for the same benefit.

On one matter which I am very anxious to mention there are many who will not agree with me. There is an Amendment that is to be debated in Secret Session in the next series of Sittings. The terms of the Amendment are that there are no proposals for improving the organisation and training of the Army in the British Isles. I feel that the House has a very great responsibility and duty towards the Fighting Services. This business of having Secret Sessions is inclined to make people outside think that there is something radically wrong. That is not fair on the officers who are put in responsible positions, it is not fair on the commanding officers of units, and it is something the House must consider very seriously. I should have thought there had been ample evidence in the last few days of the fighting efficiency and the training of the three divisions which form the backbone of the Eighth Army. If the organisation was faulty and they were badly trained, they would not have been able to inflict that crushing defeat on Field Marshal Rommel and his troops. There is no greater trial than for troops to be kept at home guarding this country while they see others go overseas to fight, and it is essential that we should back up those in command and give them every possible support. To have a Secret Session, when no one knows, and all kinds of rumours may be spread by mischief makers, is not performing the duty that the House should perform to the Army. Whenever we discuss the Army and the War Office it is nearly always on the lines of complaint. This, that and the other are wrong. I think we ought to realise that in the last few months there has been a complete reorganisation of the War Office system and that there has now been instituted a Secretariat of the Army Council, which has led to decentralisation and has been extremely effective.

There is another matter which is worth mentioning. The House ought to realise that after the discussion we had about improved pay what was actually done was done by the War Office very expeditiously, and there has now been a sufficient period to enable us to see how it is working. We have to admit that it is not working very well. There is what is called in the Army a field allowance, which was invented, I think, in the Crimean War, whereby a barrack officer can put a poker, a table, a wash-basin and a bed in any quarter which is considered furnished and the officer who is so supplied no longer draws field allowance. One can imagine that there has been a tremendous rush by the barrack officers to put these utensils into quarters, and the wretched officers find they are worse off than before. That is a small matter, but it causes a sense of great frustration to the individual who has been drawing the allowance. He may not want the poker, table or bed, for he may have his own field equipment, but he suddenly finds himself mulcted of so many shillings a day. These are the sort of things which are more important for this House to consider than to discuss in Secret Session the training and organisation of the Army. We are responsible in this House for expenditure, and in that field we ought to do all we can to see that these mistakes are corrected. Yesterday the hon. Member for. North Cornwall (Mr. Horabin), in an extremely interesting speech, made some statements which, although made in good faith, were not strictly accurate. If he would read the 18th Report of the Select Committee on National Expenditure he would find that some of the statements he made were explained.

There is one other matter in regard to the Service I would like to mention, because in the Gracious Speech it is stated that the main concentration of the Government must be speedy victory, which is what we all want. The Canadian troops in this country have been here a very long time. They are magnificent men, and they have been highly trained under a most able commander. We ought to recognise that they did not join up, in their view, to protect this country and do nothing else. They have, however, done it most excellently, and now they have seen American troops, well organised, coming here long after they came and going out long before them to come in contact with the enemy. For British troops it is hard enough to remain in this country and to keep their patience, keenness and energy. It is far harder for Canadians who have been divided from their homes all these years and are having to stay in this country because it is considered the right policy. The House ought to recognise very fully the magnificent service rendered by the Canadians and the way in which their commanders have kept them exercised and trained. Everyone of us, not only in the House but in the constituencies, ought to go out of our way to make this Christmas and the days to come as happy as they possibly can for these men.

There is another matter of a kindred kind with regard to the Allied troops in this country, notably the Poles and the Czechs. These are magnificent men. They are now wearing British uniforms, but they keep intact their enthusiasm, language and customs. Some of us were privileged to visit a camp of the Poles in Scotland. There they have brought into the firwoods much of what they were accustomed to in Poland. Incidentally, they make far more use of British rations than even the best A.T.S. cooks can do, and they say that they have never had such food all the time they have served. In a little wood they made a sort of gateway which led to an alley in the woods, and as you looked along it you saw an altar with a Cross and lights. Great reverence is shown by the men. That is the spirit that we have to catch. These men do believe in a crusade. They believe in their faith, they know what they are fighting for, and they patiently wait for the time when they, too, can go overseas. It should be remembered that the Poles have made their contribution not only in the Army, but in the air and at sea. The magnificent record of the Polish ships is something which I hope will be circulated in some form of book at the earliest opportunity.

I want to ask the House to be good enough to consider one other matter, and that is education. In the Army there has been a most interesting scheme initiated, called A.B.C.A. It is a great experiment, about which there was considerable doubt when it was first initiated. With its booklets, however, it has had an amazing effect in keeping the men interested in and understanding all that is going on and what it is really all about. One of the things that strikes everybody who studies this movement is the pathetic fact that not until men get into the Army and have these problems put before them do they know much or anything about them. I have asked men what makes them interested in these subjects and whether they have studied them before, and they tell me that they had never thought about them before they joined the Army. Cannot we learn something from that and make our schools more interesting and places where men and women can learn of those facts and problems which only when they go to the Army are put before them for the first time. I am all for going forward. I recognise that the old world that I knew has gone. The good old days were good for a few people and we have to make the days of the future happier for more people. We shall not do that, however, by disturbing or destroying faith or belief in certain things. I want to see thrift encouraged. I want to support the Beveridge Report all I can—